Sour grapes for some reason with a few goofs, same ones who want to give Duzz 8 years to see. Transparent as hell
The myth of the greatness of wanny
- Thread starter H2P 2003
- Start date
Sour grapes for some reason with a few goofs, same ones who want to give Duzz 8 years to see. Transparent as hell
Because it's less painful than talking about our current coach and our current season.
Hardly. I want narduzzi gone ASAP.
I just see so many different people saying Dave should not have been fired, and it is laughable...especially since those same people just completely bash guys like Chryst and Walt.
I wonder what will be the last year of routine Wanny debates. 2038? Will this board exist as a hologram projected by our glasses by then?
I don't get why people keep bringing him up. Most of the time it's the people who didn't like him that post about him. No one "mythologizes" him, and he's like 5 coaches ago.
That was literally jaw dropping.
Yes that was a very unfortunate injury. He never was quite the same after it. It’s hard to not to be in awe of Graham in action,when completely healthy.
He is one of my all time favorites to wear the Pitt uniform.
Even so, I would ask you to think about what McCoy’s Junior campaign might have looked like had he stayed at Pitt. Very possibly that he would have broken 2k with a little better surrounding cast.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of one most of the two years McCoy played at Pitt. The QBs were so bad one year that the coaches literally gave up on all of them, going to the wildcat as much as possible... which turned it into a sort of “Kill the man with the ball” game. Everyone knew McCoy was getting the ball and they still had trouble stopping him. It lead me to think what other back at Pitt could have done that... TD? Maybe... Graham?... maybe... but I’m just not so sure he could have been quite as successful. Who knows though. It was truly something special to see those thee play at Pitt.
I’ve seen 3 or 4 different threads the last week where people continued to bring up that wanny should not have been fired.
Why the need to speak ill of any former coach, particularly ones that loved Pitt and gave it their all? Neither Harris or Wannstedt won enough to stay at Pitt. But either has been better than anything that has followed them. But if you want to live in the past, why not lament the departure of Mike G. or Jackie S....both of those guys actually won some ball games [although Mike only left with .600 versus Dave at .575]. Pittsburgh folks are so strange living in the past...the guys that used to coach at Pitt are never coming back...look to the future. Hail to Pitt!
Yeah, it isn't the people who realize he was a bad coach who keep bringing him up, it's his fan boys who think that a mediocre coach on his best day was some sort of great coach simply because he loves chip - chop and fish sammiches.
Yeah I haven't seen anyone say he was a great coach. Many have said we probably should have just stuck with him and likely would have continued to win 7 or 8 games for another 5 years or so. He wouldn't likely be here anymore regardless as that was what 8 years ago. I do think he would have recruited a little better in the ACC compared to the decaying BE but competition would have been stiffer so likely its a wash. I have often said canning him wasn't the problem the execution afterwards was.
Well, then can I point out the hypocrisy of a fanbase that constantly blasted Jamie Dixon, but puts wannstedt on a pedestal because we would win 7 or 8 games a year?
Look, if wanny had those records in the old big east, or the ACC, I would have signed him up for life. The reality though is what he did in the big east would be the equivalent of Chryst going 6-6 in the ACC or Walt going 6-6 facing the old big east.
We were essentially playing in conference USA by that point. Winning 9 games but choking away the conference should not be held up as a gold standard.
Pitt fans have been so traumatized that they're pining for a .489 career coach in the NFL and .573 in college football. Wannstedt is not a good coach. Period. The fact that anyone is missing him is amazing.
I mean, I just can't with the Wanny apologists. Loved the guy, nice guy, good recruiter, terrible coach. Brian Kelly said Wanny's Pitt teams were basically so repetitive that he was NEVER surprised. Ever. Randy Edsall beat a Wanny Pitt team going for it on 4th down from his own side of the field and did a little dance. Wanny lost to Ohio, UConn (3 times!!!), Navy, Bowling Green, and Cincinnati. He never won a TERRIBLE Big East outright. There's no one I wanted to succeed more at Pitt than DW but he was a bad coach, especially adjusted for the level of competition we played. He'd never win more than 7 games in the ACC and I think he'd frequently go 4-8.
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Jamie was one of Pitt's all-time best basketball coaches, pre-ACC. Unfortunately Pitt moved conferences, and Dixon was merely mediocre in the new league [kept a winning record with his annual parade of soup can, pre-conference scheduling]. Neither coach earned or deserves to be on a "pedestal." Hail to Pitt!
Yeah good points, I don’t really know how realistic shady even staying could’ve been, but that would’ve been 2009. So we could’ve potentially had shady, dion, and ray in our backfield. That would’ve been something.
But yeah I was just going off what shady did as he didn’t have the injury that graham did. You’re definitely right though, a qb on the team in 07 or shady staying in 09 and he may have been even better, which is really scary.
JD does. The BE that he coached in was the best conference in the country. He had the best winning % in BE history. He reached 200 wins in record time. Dixon should still be here...except for that asshole Barnes. I would be happy if Wanny was still here. There is something to be said for being what you are.
This futile chase for "The Guy" has never worked out since the killer B's tore everything down to satisfy the eggheads.
As I said, great coach during his tenure in the Big East, the definition of a mediocre ACC coach. Finished 5th, then tied for 9th his final two years at Pitt in the ACC. If you look under the numbers, Jamie's overall record was largely inflated by his stellar out of conference records [which of course were built on never playing games on the road, and playing soup cans]. Hail to Pitt!
Dear Lord, we are now to the point of a Dixon debate WITHIN a Wanny debate.
Again, his BE record was the best ever. That has nothing to do with OOC. Hey if you want to bag on the guy have at it. It's the Pitt fan way.
He had the best winning percentage of any coach in big east conference games.
Only someone that is completely clueless would say his record was inflated by non conference games.
Winning percentage in Big East conference games was less than John Thompson, and he was just the first guy I checked [and John won a national championship, in addition to a slew of Elite 8/Final 4 appearances]. But Pitt is/was no longer in the Big East...ACC is now what matters. Hail to Pitt!
Who said wanny was great? He's had the best results as a Pitt coach that I can remember. Wake me up the next time we see 10 wins next to the Pitt name. He wasn't GREAT, but he was imo good enough.
Wake me up when Pitt has a Hafley taking 4* players from NJ. Gattuso in WPA, and Angelicho and Walker also being very good recruiters. Maybe if the admin pays, they never lose Partridge and they continue to cleanup Florida also. DW is something thing Narduzzi will NEVER be... a man with a personality. DW was a closer on the recruiting front and also was great with the media, Narduzzi is a stubborn, arrogant jackass.
He had a top 25 class coming in before Smiley decided to blow it up. Who knows what could have become of these kids with the proper coaching. When is the last time Pitt had 5 4* players in a class (according to rivals)? I remember an article in the paper calling Pitt recruiting under DW the USC of the east.
4* Kyshoen Jarrett (PSU, Michigan, Michigan St, Va Tech, Wisconsin)
4* Bill Belton (Florida, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Oregon, PSU)
4* Jameel Poteat (USC, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Iowa, Cincinnati)
4* Marquise Wright (Miami, PSU, FSU, Michigan St, North Carolina)
4* Terrell Chestnut (Wisconsin, PSU, Michigan, Michigan St, WVU)
3* Ben Kline (Michigan, PSU, WVU, Maryland, BC)
3* Quinton Alston (Wisconsin, Iowa, Baylor, Stanford, WVU)
3* Desimon Green (Texas Tech, Michigan, Michigan St, Louisville, WVU)
3* Lafayette Pitts (WVU, Maryland, Iowa, Illinois, Rutgers)
3* Gary Nova (Cincinnati, Virginia, BC, Vanderbilt, Rutgers)
3* Deonte Gibson (Stanford, WVU, Northwestern, Cincinnati, Louisville)
3* Andre Givens (Wisconsin, Maryland, Michigan St, Louisville, Cincinnati)
3* Jeremiah Bryson (North Carolina, Maryland, Illinois, Cincinnati, Memphis)
3* Max Issaka (Rutgers, Maryland, North Carolina, NC St, UCF)
3* Justin Olack (Cincinnati, Minnesota, Illinois, Marshall, Toledo)
3* Artie Rowell (Northwestern, Temple)
3* Sam Collura (Ohio, Buffalo, Akron)
3* Khaynin Mosley-Smith (Syracuse, Toledo, Ohio, Eastern Michigan)
Wake me up when Pitt has a Hafley taking 4* players from NJ. Gattuso in WPA, and Angelicho and Walker also being very good recruiters. Maybe if the admin pays, they never lose Partridge and they continue to cleanup Florida also. DW is something thing Narduzzi will NEVER be... a man with a personality. DW was a closer on the recruiting front and also was great with the media, Narduzzi is a stubborn, arrogant jackass.
He had a top 25 class coming in before Smiley decided to blow it up. Who knows what could have become of these kids with the proper coaching. When is the last time Pitt had 5 4* players in a class (according to rivals)? I remember an article in the paper calling Pitt recruiting under DW the USC of the east.
4* Kyshoen Jarrett (PSU, Michigan, Michigan St, Va Tech, Wisconsin)
4* Bill Belton (Florida, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Oregon, PSU)
4* Jameel Poteat (USC, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Iowa, Cincinnati)
4* Marquise Wright (Miami, PSU, FSU, Michigan St, North Carolina)
4* Terrell Chestnut (Wisconsin, PSU, Michigan, Michigan St, WVU)
3* Ben Kline (Michigan, PSU, WVU, Maryland, BC)
3* Quinton Alston (Wisconsin, Iowa, Baylor, Stanford, WVU)
3* Desimon Green (Texas Tech, Michigan, Michigan St, Louisville, WVU)
3* Lafayette Pitts (WVU, Maryland, Iowa, Illinois, Rutgers)
3* Gary Nova (Cincinnati, Virginia, BC, Vanderbilt, Rutgers)
3* Deonte Gibson (Stanford, WVU, Northwestern, Cincinnati, Louisville)
3* Andre Givens (Wisconsin, Maryland, Michigan St, Louisville, Cincinnati)
3* Jeremiah Bryson (North Carolina, Maryland, Illinois, Cincinnati, Memphis)
3* Max Issaka (Rutgers, Maryland, North Carolina, NC St, UCF)
3* Justin Olack (Cincinnati, Minnesota, Illinois, Marshall, Toledo)
3* Artie Rowell (Northwestern, Temple)
3* Sam Collura (Ohio, Buffalo, Akron)
3* Khaynin Mosley-Smith (Syracuse, Toledo, Ohio, Eastern Michigan)
Dude, what are you smoking? This list is just not that impressive. Is this why we should have kept a career .500 coach:
Jarrett - good
Belton - same or worse career as Darrin Hall
Poteat - Cinci, then Pitt. Not much to speak of
Wright - no idea.
Chestnut - played 2 years at WVU, 3 INTs. Guess he was ok, not great.
Kline - under 50 tackles in his career, hurt
Alston - 1 year player, second or third team all conference. Good I guess.
Green - flamed out at TTU, think he went to Clarior or something
Pitts - came to Pitt, good
Gary Nova - saw him play. Just terrible. Is a high school coach in NJ.
Gibson - 2 year starter, third team all conference. Good I guess.
Andre Givens - went to Bowling Green, career best season 450 rushing yards
Jeremiah Bryson - started 4 games in 3 years at MTSU. Arrested in 2015.
Issaka - invisible at Rutgers. Suspended.
Rowell - 2 year starter at Pitt, decent.
Collura - 2 career games at Delaware
Mosley-Smith - 2 year starter at Pitt, decent.
Honestly, were you trolling with that class?
I don’t know how pitt ever survived without Gary nova.
Given the choice of Tino and Nova I’d take Tino 99/100 times and just run wildcat for the other 1. Tino’s only human. He needs a game off.
You’ll never know how those kids could have played out at Pitt. Many good schools thought enough of those players to offer them scholarships.
I do know that DW would have continued to clean up in recruiting the wpial instead of scratching our heads asking why Winowich, Henry, Sanders, Jeter etc left Pitt.
When shown they stunk elsewhere, just make the argument that wannstedt would have turned them into great players!
Why does everything have to be great. Why can’t solid be good enough for Pitt? We’re not and never will be a top football program. The university made that decision 40 years ago. Shutup and live with it. This isn’t professional sports where everybody has a chance to be good.
Wanny wasn’t even solid. I’d be ok with averaging 8-4 in the ACC. Doing that in the big east that he was in was NOT acceptable.
It would have been like pitt basketball moving to the AAC and finishing 4th every year...would that be acceptable?
Wanny was never a HC after Pitt. Walt was a much, much better coach than Wannstedt, but Wannstedt was a better recruiter (and interview and personality) and was handed a program in much, much better shape. Wannstedt is just scared to death of winning.
They played for the title three straight years, and lost three straights years, including coughing up a two game lead in 2010.
Playing for and losing a title in a big east with cincy, UConn, and Rutgers isn’t something to brag about. It was a dogcrap conference.
Playing for a title is good enough. We’re f’ing Pitt!!
I’d love to see what DW’s staff would look like with an extra 5 million acc dollars to spend. How much better would recruiting be. He has a much deeper pool to select from than Narduzzi’s and Chryst’s clown crew staff’s.
If wanny couldn’t win in the big east, there is zero chance he would even be competing in the ACC.
Well, we’ll agree to disagree then. I have very little doubt in my mind that with the type of nfl talent DW continued to recruit and produce, that Pitt would have been just as good as:
2013 Duke
2014 Georgia Tech
2015 North Carolina
2016 Virginia Tech
2017 Miami
Probably loses every championship game, but once again, we’re PITT....making it should be good enough.
But what difference did it make whether we got those recruits or not if we had to keep Wannstedt as a coach? DW was out-recruiting Cincinnati, WVU, Rutgers, South Florida, etc. in recruiting and it DIDN'T MATTER because he NEVER won a conference title. I mean, Dave finished with the first or second recruiting classes in 2006, 2007, and 2008 (by HUGE margins) and UConn and Cinci were always near the bottom. Dave went 3-3 against UConn and 3-3 against Cincinnati. That's awful.
You're basically saying "we didn't know how Dave would coach in 2011 because he was fired." You're cherry picking one year and ignoring the 6 seasons that he was head coach here. If he can't regularly beat Cincinnati and UConn, with far superior players how do you think he'd do against Clemson, Penn State, Virginia Tech and Miami? Are you seriously that myopic?
You're crazy. Dave Wannstedt's players at Pitt were light years ahead of Cinci and UConn and he was .500 against both. And you think it was the players that were to blame? Do you think the United States could have won in Vietnam if it spent more money?
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