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From the Desk of Jim Snyder
A few thoughts on the Pitt coaching situation
Most colleges keep their coaches under contracts with four or five years remaining on them. This is often done to insure recruits that the coaching staff will probably be on board for the duration of their college career. The University of Pittsburgh brought Coach Harris back this year with only three years remaining on his agreement. The administration was unwilling to buy Coach Harris out after a season in which the team clearly under performed expectations. However, they were also sending him a clear signal that the team better show clear and significant progress in 2004.
So far there has been absolutely no sign of progress. Going into the season it was quite possible Pitt might bounce back with a record of 8-3. They had a favorable schedule with Boston College, West Virginia and Nebraska all at home. In addition Ohio U, Furman, Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple, UConn and South Florida all looked beatable on paper. Carving at least eight wins out of these ten games was not totally out of the question.
This past Thursday, Pitt again played poorly at Connecticut. In fact they played very poorly but still might have won if two possible interceptions had been returned for touchdowns and if the referees had made a proper call on a UConn fumble. The game was tied at 10-10 when the loss of kicker Adam Grassele starting giving UConn great field position. It is a little unusual to lose a kicker to a concussion but it happened Thursday night.
Pitt once again showed no ability to run the ball, a condition that has plagued them the past two years. The defense also gave up 185 yards rushing to Cornell Brockington. On paper this defense this year looked a little more athletic, a little quicker and appeared to be better tacklers. In real life they gave up 385 yards and 25 first downs to the Huskies.
Coach Harris is now in his eighth year. He took over a program that was at the very bottom of the Division 1 barrel. He has made them competitive but has not been able to get the over the hump. In some areas they may in fact be experiencing a slight backslide.
Pitt currently finds it very difficult to recruit effectively in Western Pennsylvania as players and high school coaches worry over the direction and the stability of the football program. In addition the football program is rapidly losing the confidence of their fan base. Pitt has suffered for many decades with a small fan base and cannot afford to alienate those who have stuck with the program through many disappointments. Season ticket sales are down, there are too many no shows and thousands are heading for the exit in the third quarter.
Any college football program must have the support of both their administration and the support of their fan base to succeed. On a number of occasions over the years Pitt football has lost the support of the administration. This time around we do not believe that is the problem. The loss of support by alumni, however, can also be devastating to a football program.
After the UConn game several hundred Pitt fans gathered at Pantherlair.com to vent their frustration with Coach Harris and the direction the program seems to be heading. We had approximately a quarter of a million page views in a 24-hour period. We saw many subscribers who are infrequent posters expressing their frustrations. We witnessed a rather broad based rejection of the current path Pitt is on.
Coach Harris performance probably first came under question with the spread offense experiment a few years ago when he was trying to play a quarterback (David Priestly) who was ill suited to run that formation. The result was a loss to upstart South Florida. Saturday we saw the “slide” play. This ultra conservative play might have been appropriate if you were a prohibitive underdog but Pitt was only a one-touchdown underdog coming into the game. It really was a signal of what he thought of his offense. Not only have Pitt fans lost confidence but also apparently so has Coach Harris.
In many ways Coach Harris seems to make the game of college football far too complicated. The scholarship limitations that went into effect 15 years ago insure that all teams will play about 5 true freshmen each year. They also will play several redshirt freshmen. Only a few schools will have the luxury of playing with an experienced team. Inexperience will hurt you in the first couple of games. If by the fourth game of the season your team does not know the system it is too complicated. This is college football not the NFL.
We kept an informal list of some of the potential coaches that Jeff Long might consider as submitted by our readers. Former Panthers Sal Sunseri, Russ Grim, Matt Cavanaugh and Dave Wannstedt were all mentioned. In addition Utah’s Urban Myers, Boise State’s Dan Hawkins, Mt Union’s Larry Kehres, Florida’s Ron Zook, Kansas’ Mark Manzio, and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz have all been mentioned. All of these are currently college head coaches. Southern Cal assistant Norm Chow, Oklahoma assistant Bo Pellini, Oklahoma assistant Brent Venerables, New Orleans assistant Mike McCarthy, Virginia assistant coach Dan Rocco, Dallas Cowboys assistant Sean Payton, St Louis Ram Assistant Bob Babich, Georgia assistant Brian Vander Gorder, LSU assistant Jimbo Fisher all had some support from our readers.
There are also two former head coaches that are out of work that have college experience. Former Florida coach Steve Spurrier and former Nebraska coach Frank Solich names were thrown out as possibilities.
It is our understanding that 2-3 coaches from the lists shown above have already made calls to Pittsburgh to talk to alums to say if Pitt is considering making a change they would like to be considered. These calls were made hoping their names would be called to the attention of Pitt AD Jeff Long at the appropriate time.
If we have any advice to Jeff Long it would be to go slow and make sure you get the right man for the job. Penn State Joe Paterno once joked that each athletic director only gets to select two college head football coaches. If he guesses wrong they throw out the athletic director. In this one case JoePa has it right.
I am reminded of the situation at Auburn this past winter. Auburn President William Walker and two trustees met secretly with Louisville coach Bobby Patrino. The story got out about their clandestine meeting and Coach Patrino eventually stayed at Louisville, where his Cardinals are currently 4-0 and ranked in the Top 25. Auburn Coach Tommy Tubberville also survived and he now has his War Eagles at 5-0 and ranked in the Top 10. It apparently has worked out fine for both Coach Patrino and Coach Tubberville. The only loser was the Auburn president who was forced out. We are not sure just what the moral of this story is except that administrators are probably best advised not to tamper with coaches currently under contract.
Many of the coaches on the list above already have jobs. Most are under contract. This means if you want them to seriously consider many of these candidates you have no choice but to be patient. Most on this list are not available until December at the earliest and in the case of pro coaches probably not until January.
Will it hurt recruiting to change coaches? You bet your life it will. It is unavoidable. Fortunately the scholarship limitations mean that some players will still be available. Pitt will scramble to keep those that have already committed. On the other hand they might pick up one or two that might not have come without a change.
It makes no sense not to support the players now attending Pitt. Players like Tyler Palko Darrell Revis, Mike Phillips, Clint Session, HB Blades, Kelvin Chandler, Brandon Mason and others will have to help lead Pitt out of this mess. I am not sure anyone wants another eight-year rebuilding plan.
An upgrade to hoops recruiting
Rivals.com President Terry Shannon once played college basketball at a small school in Nashville. He is a hoops nut and has promised publishers to upgrade basketball coverage. The rebuild of basketball coverage started well over a year ago.
The new Big East Conference should be the best basketball conference in America next year so basketball coverage is not unimportant to Pitt fans and to all Big East fans. Some have described the new Big East as the best basketball conference ever assembled in college sports history.
Rivals.com will issue a press release today to announce that Bob Gibbons will join Tim Watts and Jerry Myers to give Rivals.com a very strong group of national talent scouts.
Bob Gibbons has been a longtime member of the McDonald’s All-American selection committee. He has been a camp organizer of the National Basketball Players Association Camp held annually in Virginia. He has been a consultant to the ABCD Camp and the Roundball Classic run by Sonny Vaccaro. He has appeared on ABC’s Nightline and CBS’ “60 minutes”. He also appeared in the documentary “Hoops Dreams”. He has covered national recruiting for over 30 years.
Also joining the Rivals family will be Frank Burlison and Rob Matera. Burlison will serve as West Coast Analyst. He is in his 32nd year as a sports writer. He was an original member of the McDonald’s All-American committee. Matera will serve as East Coast Analyst. He is a member of the Basketball Writers Association and writes for Basketball News.
Hopefully once these three are on board and up to speed basketball coverage will move to a new level and the B_Man will be very pleased.
Note to Pantherlair.com Fans: The staff at Pantherlair.com works diligently to bring you the best information on University of Pittsburgh football and basketball recruiting (in addition to game coverage). Thousands of Panther fans visit our site on a daily basis. We have received a tremendous amount of e-mail thanking us for our efforts. If you like our site, please feel free to tell other fans about it. “Spread the word” and let’s add to our online family of Panther fans.
From the Desk of Jim Snyder
A few thoughts on the Pitt coaching situation
Most colleges keep their coaches under contracts with four or five years remaining on them. This is often done to insure recruits that the coaching staff will probably be on board for the duration of their college career. The University of Pittsburgh brought Coach Harris back this year with only three years remaining on his agreement. The administration was unwilling to buy Coach Harris out after a season in which the team clearly under performed expectations. However, they were also sending him a clear signal that the team better show clear and significant progress in 2004.
So far there has been absolutely no sign of progress. Going into the season it was quite possible Pitt might bounce back with a record of 8-3. They had a favorable schedule with Boston College, West Virginia and Nebraska all at home. In addition Ohio U, Furman, Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple, UConn and South Florida all looked beatable on paper. Carving at least eight wins out of these ten games was not totally out of the question.
This past Thursday, Pitt again played poorly at Connecticut. In fact they played very poorly but still might have won if two possible interceptions had been returned for touchdowns and if the referees had made a proper call on a UConn fumble. The game was tied at 10-10 when the loss of kicker Adam Grassele starting giving UConn great field position. It is a little unusual to lose a kicker to a concussion but it happened Thursday night.
Pitt once again showed no ability to run the ball, a condition that has plagued them the past two years. The defense also gave up 185 yards rushing to Cornell Brockington. On paper this defense this year looked a little more athletic, a little quicker and appeared to be better tacklers. In real life they gave up 385 yards and 25 first downs to the Huskies.
Coach Harris is now in his eighth year. He took over a program that was at the very bottom of the Division 1 barrel. He has made them competitive but has not been able to get the over the hump. In some areas they may in fact be experiencing a slight backslide.
Pitt currently finds it very difficult to recruit effectively in Western Pennsylvania as players and high school coaches worry over the direction and the stability of the football program. In addition the football program is rapidly losing the confidence of their fan base. Pitt has suffered for many decades with a small fan base and cannot afford to alienate those who have stuck with the program through many disappointments. Season ticket sales are down, there are too many no shows and thousands are heading for the exit in the third quarter.
Any college football program must have the support of both their administration and the support of their fan base to succeed. On a number of occasions over the years Pitt football has lost the support of the administration. This time around we do not believe that is the problem. The loss of support by alumni, however, can also be devastating to a football program.
After the UConn game several hundred Pitt fans gathered at Pantherlair.com to vent their frustration with Coach Harris and the direction the program seems to be heading. We had approximately a quarter of a million page views in a 24-hour period. We saw many subscribers who are infrequent posters expressing their frustrations. We witnessed a rather broad based rejection of the current path Pitt is on.
Coach Harris performance probably first came under question with the spread offense experiment a few years ago when he was trying to play a quarterback (David Priestly) who was ill suited to run that formation. The result was a loss to upstart South Florida. Saturday we saw the “slide” play. This ultra conservative play might have been appropriate if you were a prohibitive underdog but Pitt was only a one-touchdown underdog coming into the game. It really was a signal of what he thought of his offense. Not only have Pitt fans lost confidence but also apparently so has Coach Harris.
In many ways Coach Harris seems to make the game of college football far too complicated. The scholarship limitations that went into effect 15 years ago insure that all teams will play about 5 true freshmen each year. They also will play several redshirt freshmen. Only a few schools will have the luxury of playing with an experienced team. Inexperience will hurt you in the first couple of games. If by the fourth game of the season your team does not know the system it is too complicated. This is college football not the NFL.
We kept an informal list of some of the potential coaches that Jeff Long might consider as submitted by our readers. Former Panthers Sal Sunseri, Russ Grim, Matt Cavanaugh and Dave Wannstedt were all mentioned. In addition Utah’s Urban Myers, Boise State’s Dan Hawkins, Mt Union’s Larry Kehres, Florida’s Ron Zook, Kansas’ Mark Manzio, and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz have all been mentioned. All of these are currently college head coaches. Southern Cal assistant Norm Chow, Oklahoma assistant Bo Pellini, Oklahoma assistant Brent Venerables, New Orleans assistant Mike McCarthy, Virginia assistant coach Dan Rocco, Dallas Cowboys assistant Sean Payton, St Louis Ram Assistant Bob Babich, Georgia assistant Brian Vander Gorder, LSU assistant Jimbo Fisher all had some support from our readers.
There are also two former head coaches that are out of work that have college experience. Former Florida coach Steve Spurrier and former Nebraska coach Frank Solich names were thrown out as possibilities.
It is our understanding that 2-3 coaches from the lists shown above have already made calls to Pittsburgh to talk to alums to say if Pitt is considering making a change they would like to be considered. These calls were made hoping their names would be called to the attention of Pitt AD Jeff Long at the appropriate time.
If we have any advice to Jeff Long it would be to go slow and make sure you get the right man for the job. Penn State Joe Paterno once joked that each athletic director only gets to select two college head football coaches. If he guesses wrong they throw out the athletic director. In this one case JoePa has it right.
I am reminded of the situation at Auburn this past winter. Auburn President William Walker and two trustees met secretly with Louisville coach Bobby Patrino. The story got out about their clandestine meeting and Coach Patrino eventually stayed at Louisville, where his Cardinals are currently 4-0 and ranked in the Top 25. Auburn Coach Tommy Tubberville also survived and he now has his War Eagles at 5-0 and ranked in the Top 10. It apparently has worked out fine for both Coach Patrino and Coach Tubberville. The only loser was the Auburn president who was forced out. We are not sure just what the moral of this story is except that administrators are probably best advised not to tamper with coaches currently under contract.
Many of the coaches on the list above already have jobs. Most are under contract. This means if you want them to seriously consider many of these candidates you have no choice but to be patient. Most on this list are not available until December at the earliest and in the case of pro coaches probably not until January.
Will it hurt recruiting to change coaches? You bet your life it will. It is unavoidable. Fortunately the scholarship limitations mean that some players will still be available. Pitt will scramble to keep those that have already committed. On the other hand they might pick up one or two that might not have come without a change.
It makes no sense not to support the players now attending Pitt. Players like Tyler Palko Darrell Revis, Mike Phillips, Clint Session, HB Blades, Kelvin Chandler, Brandon Mason and others will have to help lead Pitt out of this mess. I am not sure anyone wants another eight-year rebuilding plan.
An upgrade to hoops recruiting
Rivals.com President Terry Shannon once played college basketball at a small school in Nashville. He is a hoops nut and has promised publishers to upgrade basketball coverage. The rebuild of basketball coverage started well over a year ago.
The new Big East Conference should be the best basketball conference in America next year so basketball coverage is not unimportant to Pitt fans and to all Big East fans. Some have described the new Big East as the best basketball conference ever assembled in college sports history.
Rivals.com will issue a press release today to announce that Bob Gibbons will join Tim Watts and Jerry Myers to give Rivals.com a very strong group of national talent scouts.
Bob Gibbons has been a longtime member of the McDonald’s All-American selection committee. He has been a camp organizer of the National Basketball Players Association Camp held annually in Virginia. He has been a consultant to the ABCD Camp and the Roundball Classic run by Sonny Vaccaro. He has appeared on ABC’s Nightline and CBS’ “60 minutes”. He also appeared in the documentary “Hoops Dreams”. He has covered national recruiting for over 30 years.
Also joining the Rivals family will be Frank Burlison and Rob Matera. Burlison will serve as West Coast Analyst. He is in his 32nd year as a sports writer. He was an original member of the McDonald’s All-American committee. Matera will serve as East Coast Analyst. He is a member of the Basketball Writers Association and writes for Basketball News.
Hopefully once these three are on board and up to speed basketball coverage will move to a new level and the B_Man will be very pleased.
Note to Pantherlair.com Fans: The staff at Pantherlair.com works diligently to bring you the best information on University of Pittsburgh football and basketball recruiting (in addition to game coverage). Thousands of Panther fans visit our site on a daily basis. We have received a tremendous amount of e-mail thanking us for our efforts. If you like our site, please feel free to tell other fans about it. “Spread the word” and let’s add to our online family of Panther fans.
