Walt!
- Thread starter TIGER-PAUL
- Start date
Could he come back as OC. Chaney is terrible.
That would be so great. No doubt in my mind we would have a great offense and defense if Walt was our Offensive Coordinator. Ignored too many positions recruiting as head coach, but good offensive mind and QB genius. Also, he would take that job in a heartbeat and probably would do it for free. Walt loves Pitt.
Remember that well. The really disturbing part of that is as soon as he dropped it our offense started humming and we had a very strong finish to the year--I believe we won out including our bowl game. Makes you wonder what could've been.
Great to see Walt looking well. One of my all-time favorite Pitt coaches, and a cool guy to talk to...
Go PItt.
so what? Dick Lebeau was leading super bowl defenses at that age.JoePa was in his pedophile enabling prime at that age....
It wasn't the spread so much as the no huddle that killed them that year.
Both combined were a mess. Walt had a great West Coast offense. Why he ever would try anything else was beyond me.
This was right in the heart of my College Years at Pitt. Walt was way ahead of the curve. The problem as I saw it was the personnel. He didn't have the right QB or RB for it at the time. Priestly/Turman were pure West Coast Passers that could read and throw verticle not read option. The RBs (Barlow/Goings) were more of the run down hill mode, not plant a foot in the hole and go type. Alas, It was a lot of fun, sometimes confounding, to watch that brand of football.
I see Walt at most home games. He usually sits with Brian Deal (former recruiting coordinator for Walt) in Club Section 234. His seats are 3 rows in front of my seats.
He would be a giant upgrade at OC over Chaney.
It was Northwestern's offense that he was trying to emulate. He and his staff spent the spring up there studying it. They really didn't have sufficient time to digest and install it. The offensive line was a fire drill with no one knowing who to block. After he was told to change it, they won out. With sufficient early preparation, things might have been different. Loved watching his offenses.perform.
Eal
Walt, the guy who used to pass from the one yard line? Walt, the guy who took Fitz out of the game during the most crucial drive of the Tire Bowl? Walt of the slide and the swinging gate? No thanks.
walt looks ready to step in and call a swinging gate at a moment's notice!
but to not be mean i'd take him as qb coach in a heartbeat
he's not interested in that or OC either. i'm sure he and narduzzi talk pretty frequently but walt doesnt want to be back in the grind again and that's fine
but to not be mean i'd take him as qb coach in a heartbeat
he's not interested in that or OC either. i'm sure he and narduzzi talk pretty frequently but walt doesnt want to be back in the grind again and that's fine
Maybe, but given how Cheney frustrates fans by abandoning the run too soon, would Walt be the best choice?
Walt helped to improve Pitt but after he left Pitt, his two years (2005 and 2006) at Stanford as head coach were pretty much a disaster and his offense there was poor ..... he was out of football in 2007 and 2008, then was the QB coach at Akron in 2009 followed by the offensive coordinator at California (Pa.) DII in 2010 where his offense again didn't do all that well and he was let go after one year ..... he has been out of coaching the last 5 years ...... IMO Walt's better days are far behind him ...... I like the guy but think he would be a bad hire for Pitt as OC, maybe I'm in the minority but I'd much rather have Chaney.
He looks well, and I am happy for that. Some of us (not myself) were happy to see him go, but I don't think anyone can say his stay at Pitt was bad for the program. He took the team that lost 70-0 to tOSU and I think 50-0 to ND and go them a winning record in one year...beat PSU and closed out Pitt stadium on a win against ND...plus some exciting WRs to watch. I will be grateful to him for that and wish him well.
But not before calling a timeout because he had absolutely no idea what play to call.
Walt Harris in his prime could turn Dontez Ford into one of the top 2-3 WRs in the ACC.
Boyd's numbers would be just crazy.
Boyd's numbers would be just crazy.
Chaney is horrible. So you like the to start slow and/or be behind in every game ? Yeah that's a hell of a coach for you.
I think what Walt did here is largely overlooked by the casual fan. He was able to take us from a doormat to a respectable mid-level P5 program in eight years, largely without true support from the administration (who still wanted to run things on the cheap). He wasn't Majors of the mid-70s but he did do a lot of heavy lifting to get us back.
Agree 100% with this. He deserves an absolute ton of credit for pulling us out of the bottom of the heap, and even though we were never a match for the big boys, he got us back to respectability and left a good foundation for the next guy. It was time for him to go when he went, I think he maxed out what he's capable of doing, but that shouldn't diminish what he did for Pitt football. Then he went and ruined Stanford football. Go figure.
Good to see Walt. Thanks for posting the picture. While his ending was less than storybook, Pitt should always appreciate what he did at the time for the Pitt football program. H2P
The problem was Walt tried to marry the two systems and it did not work. The WCO is very complex and very wordy. The spread is the exact opposite. It is extremely simple and almost all of the reads are pre-snap reads.
Walt tried to meld the best of both worlds and it just confused the shit out of everyone - including Walt himself.
Ironically, the game has changed from then to now and these days teams HAVE married the two concepts quite nicely. It is no longer a pure spread or a pure WCO. It's elements of both systems. I think Walt could easily serve as an OC today but I'm not sure he'd be too interested in putting in all of those long hours.
Walt tried to meld the best of both worlds and it just confused the shit out of everyone - including Walt himself.
Ironically, the game has changed from then to now and these days teams HAVE married the two concepts quite nicely. It is no longer a pure spread or a pure WCO. It's elements of both systems. I think Walt could easily serve as an OC today but I'm not sure he'd be too interested in putting in all of those long hours.
I respect your opinion but totally disagree with it ...... especially the part that Chaney is HORRIBLE ...... Chaney's offense was a new one that the players had to learn, Chaney had to learn what the players were capable of doing, the OL had to be reshaped as the two best OL from last year graduated and are on pro rosters and another would be starting tackle was lost for the season with injury, we have played most of the season with one good WR who is double and triple teamed and have had to try to develop a legitimate 2nd and 3rd WR, the loss of Conner was devastating to the team and the offense .... in fact with a healthy Conner I would bet Chaney would be receiving high praise ...... we had to transition in a new QB during the season, in some games PN admitted that he told Chaney to be more conservative especially near the end of games that PN felt the defense would win....... with the above transition, the offense is a work in the making but not HORRIBLE by any stretch of the imagination.
Furthermore, my post said that I would rather have Chaney as the OC now then the 2015 Walt Harris ...... I like Walt and acknowledge that he stabilized and improved Pitt football at a critical time in our history and that he was a very good offensive coach ..... I wasn't very happy with the circumstances regarding his departure after the 2004 season but am glad to see him around the football program ...... but look at Walt's track record in football since 2005 until today and I'll take Chaney over hiring Walt as our OC.
I'm not a fan of Chaney's either, but it's too early to write him off. I'm hoping we build on the 2nd half of the ND game since we were forced to open things up a little.
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