Watching 1988 Pitt vs PSU on Youtube and forgot how good...

[USN_Panther]

...that 1988 team was despite only going 6-5. Very strong on the offensive and defensive lines. Jerry O at MLB flanked by McDonald and Bray. Curvin Richards was the TB. Spelled by Adam Walker and Ronald Redmon getting some carries at FB. Williams, Tuten and Osborne at WR. Riddick at safety, Holloway and Hampton at the corners. And man was Dickerson talented. Able to extend the play and still get the ball down the field. He threw the ball like it was a dart.

And that team was very young. Oh what could have been!

The schedule was brutal that year with ND and WVU both being top 10 teams and Syracuse was good that year too.

Here is the link if you want to watch it:

 

[paulbl99]

...that 1988 team was despite only going 6-5. Very strong on the offensive and defensive lines. Jerry O at MLB flanked by McDonald and Bray. Curvin Richards was the TB. Spelled by Adam Walker and Ronald Redmon getting some carries at FB. Williams, Tuten and Osborne at WR. Riddick at safety, Holloway and Hampton at the corners. And man was Dickerson talented. Able to extend the play and still get the ball down the field. He threw the ball like it was a dart.

And that team was very young. Oh what could have been!

The schedule was brutal that year with ND and WVU both being top 10 teams and Syracuse was good that year too.

Here is the link if you want to watch it:

View embedded media

JerryO was a maniac that night.
And Dickerson if remembering correctly ,and to his everlasting credit , was maybe alone as a Pitt QB to beat State College and Grandpa Munster twice.......unless Marino did

 

[9nationalchampionships]

Pitt has had great individual talent since the mid 70s. I like how Duzz gets it that you need talent at every position.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

...that 1988 team was despite only going 6-5. Very strong on the offensive and defensive lines. Jerry O at MLB flanked by McDonald and Bray. Curvin Richards was the TB. Spelled by Adam Walker and Ronald Redmon getting some carries at FB. Williams, Tuten and Osborne at WR. Riddick at safety, Holloway and Hampton at the corners. And man was Dickerson talented. Able to extend the play and still get the ball down the field. He threw the ball like it was a dart.

And that team was very young. Oh what could have been!

The schedule was brutal that year with ND and WVU both being top 10 teams and Syracuse was good that year too.

Here is the link if you want to watch it:

View embedded media

Pitt finished, what, 6-5? That is not great. 10-1 is great. 11-0 is great. 6-5 is mediocre. Just like almost every Pitt football entry over the last 35 years. So no, the team was not great. It may have had great talent, but in the end it was another underachieving gutless Pitt team who at any sign of adversity folded, while the stars of that team then would man up when they got paid and did well in the NFL. That is Pitt football since Jackie Sherrill left.

 

[DruidTM]

I'll have to watch....I think that game the cameraman went right down the drumline before a commercial break....I was told I got on National TV that day but never saw it myself.

 

[sherepower]

Shame Pitt's higher ups got rid of Gottfried. This Pitt team had so much young talent. The announcer Carso said Pitt was the best young team he seen all year. Along with Oklahoma.
Ridiculous how Pitt is its own worst enemy. Throw in 2 top 5 recruiting classes coming up the pipeline..........geezus! Why would they let Gottfried go?

 

[paulbl99]

Shame Pitt's higher ups got rid of Gottfried. This Pitt team had so much young talent. The announcer Carso said Pitt was the best young team he seen all year. Along with Oklahoma.
Ridiculous how Pitt is its own worst enemy. Throw in 2 top 5 recruiting classes coming up the pipeline..........geezus! Why would they let Gottfried go?

He was 2 -2 against Grandpa
2-2 v ND and 3-1 v Hoopie
As a Pitt fan you'd sign up with that for life back in the day.
Plus he could recruit his tail off....

Some say Gottfried was crazy and caused his own downfall while others swear it was the Killer Bs

We never recovered from replacing him with Buddy Hackett

 

[USN_Panther]

Pitt finished, what, 6-5? That is not great. 10-1 is great. 11-0 is great. 6-5 is mediocre. Just like almost every Pitt football entry over the last 35 years. So no, the team was not great. It may have had great talent, but in the end it was another underachieving gutless Pitt team who at any sign of adversity folded, while the stars of that team then would man up when they got paid and did well in the NFL. That is Pitt football since Jackie Sherrill left.

I don't see where I said they were great. I agree that 10-1 is great and 6-5 doesn't cut the mustard. They had very good young talent. It could have been an upward trajectory. Instead with the firing of Gottfried in 1989, the decades long downturn began.

 

[thebadby2]

Pitt has had great individual talent since the mid 70s. I like how Duzz gets it that you need talent at every position.

That team in 88 had big time talent all over the field, not just individual talent. We haven't seen anything close to the Gottfried era talent level at Pitt since. But they were huge underachievers.

No question Pitt brought in a different level of player back then, I mean every recruiting class was like Christmas Day for Pitt fans. It was also the steroid era and these guys were just physically imposing monsters up close. Unfortunately it didn't translate to consistent winning.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

They finished in top20 in 89, then...

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Shame Pitt's higher ups got rid of Gottfried. This Pitt team had so much young talent. The announcer Carso said Pitt was the best young team he seen all year. Along with Oklahoma.
Ridiculous how Pitt is its own worst enemy. Throw in 2 top 5 recruiting classes coming up the pipeline..........geezus! Why would they let Gottfried go?

Gottfried was alot like his namesake at NC State basketball. A great recruiter (LOL) with alot of help, but not so great coach.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I don't see where I said they were great. I agree that 10-1 is great and 6-5 doesn't cut the mustard. They had very good young talent. It could have been an upward trajectory. Instead with the firing of Gottfried in 1989, the decades long downturn began.

Not to parse over semantics, but you said "you forgot how good they were". Again, if they were that good, they would have been better than 6-5. If you said "how talented" then you would have been dead on.

And it was a much different era then. Before really big money, and before mass reaching TV Contracts, were back then Pittsburgh was one of the few areas completely wired for cable...............so we were very popular with ESPN and therefore recruits. This is also why the Big East in BB was so dominant then. A kid in Cali or Texas would see Syracuse/Georgetown on national TV.

 

[pittmeister]

That team in 88 had big time talent all over the field, not just individual talent. We haven't seen anything close to the Gottfried era talent level at Pitt since. But they were huge underachievers.

No question Pitt brought in a different level of player back then, I mean every recruiting class was like Christmas Day for Pitt fans. It was also the steroid era and these guys were just physically imposing monsters up close. Unfortunately it didn't translate to consistent winning.

Bullseye. In my opinion, for the top talent he brought in every year, Gottfried was the most underachieving coach in Pitt history. Not even close.

 

[Swervin27]

if you look at just the back 1/2 of 80's, the talent and recruiting classes were sick... The records, not so great. We had some bad luck with injuries and transfers. We signed #1 recruit in nation 3 out of 4 years. Guys like bray were injured a lot, bad qb play in 87. Eastern independent football was real deal back then too. We played 3-4 top 15 teams annually.

 

[sherepower]

Bullseye. In my opinion, for the top talent he brought in every year, Gottfried was the most underachieving coach in Pitt history. Not even close.

Well, most Pitt fans cry the blues saying coaches need 4 or 5 years to get his players. Well Gottfried got 3 years with 2 top 5 recruiting classes he never got to groom. I am willing to bet if he stayed for 5 years to coach the insane talent he brought in. History would be much different

 

[paulbl99]

Well, most Pitt fans cry the blues saying coaches need 4 or 5 years to get his players. Well Gottfried got 3 years with 2 top 5 recruiting classes he never got to groom. I am willing to bet if he stayed for 5 years to coach the insane talent he brought in. History would be much different

I agree...he had disappointing losses for sure but came in amidst a lot of turmoil....

Then the Ath Dept's institutional memory , stupidity, reared its ugly head again.

They fired him and after winning a nice bowl game , Possvar comes into the locker room and hands the job to Hackett.
Did the AD staff get drunk during that game upstairs and stagger their way into that one ??

Pitt still has yet to recover from that hangover

 

[rpost3]

I've watched a few of those 1980s games. Ridiculous how talented Pitt was back then but man were they terrible fundamentally. And like clockwork, Pitt goofs the opening kick return that PSU game.
Lots of suspensions and dead-ball penalties too. Still great talent and pretty good teams.
And then the administration pulled the plug on football b/c it was embarrassed the local media called the players thugs lol. Still hard to believe a university would do that, but they did.

 

[Nanty Glos Finest]

...that 1988 team was despite only going 6-5. Very strong on the offensive and defensive lines. Jerry O at MLB flanked by McDonald and Bray. Curvin Richards was the TB. Spelled by Adam Walker and Ronald Redmon getting some carries at FB. Williams, Tuten and Osborne at WR. Riddick at safety, Holloway and Hampton at the corners. And man was Dickerson talented. Able to extend the play and still get the ball down the field. He threw the ball like it was a dart.

And that team was very young. Oh what could have been!

The schedule was brutal that year with ND and WVU both being top 10 teams and Syracuse was good that year too.

Here is the link if you want to watch it:

View embedded media

USNP

I hope all is well on the other side of the World.

Let me know when you come back to US for a Pitt game.

Fight the Power,
NGF

 

[big marty]

Hackett was a disaster. Gottfried never should have been forced out. I'll take a staff that brings in talent. The label of underachieving or cant win big games or has a bad loss every year is so subjective to evaluate. Lets start with talent and then coach. Narduzzi is the best coach here in decades.

 

[USN_Panther]

if you look at just the back 1/2 of 80's, the talent and recruiting classes were sick... The records, not so great. We had some bad luck with injuries and transfers. We signed #1 recruit in nation 3 out of 4 years. Guys like bray were injured a lot, bad qb play in 87. Eastern independent football was real deal back then too. We played 3-4 top 15 teams annually.

Swervin27, The 1988 Pitt team played both teams who played for the National Championship that season--ND and WVU. Both were undefeated in the regular season.

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

The excitement for the future was what made this 1988 season fun. Blew the BC game and seemed poised for a bowl game until losing the final two @ NC State and @ 10-2 Syracuse.

Gottfried was such a good recruiter he loses freshman AA, Mike Chalenski, and replaced him with Keith Hamilton then loses Dickerson and Van Pelt was in the pipeline.

Glad the school pulled the plug after 1989. Awesome winning only 32 games in the 1990s. Hope it was worth it.

 

[BFo8]

Not sure if it was ever confirmed, but I thought Gottfried got in some trouble over sexual escapades with a secretary or something like that?

I thought it was common knowledge that Pitt was cheating pretty hard in recruiting at that time? Was a student during those days, future NFL'er Jon Carter and sprinter Lee McRae were my neighbors on the 6th floor of Tower C.

 

[bwh05]

Not sure if it was ever confirmed, but I thought Gottfried got in some trouble over sexual escapades with a secretary or something like that?

I thought it was common knowledge that Pitt was cheating pretty hard in recruiting at that time? Was a student during those days, future NFL'er Jon Carter and sprinter Lee McRae were my neighbors on the 6th floor of Tower C.

I've got news for you, everybody who was any good was cheating then. Most good teams still are now.

 

[pittmeister]

I've watched a few of those 1980s games. Ridiculous how talented Pitt was back then but man were they terrible fundamentally. And like clockwork, Pitt goofs the opening kick return that PSU game.
Lots of suspensions and dead-ball penalties too. Still great talent and pretty good teams.
And then the administration pulled the plug on football b/c it was embarrassed the local media called the players thugs lol. Still hard to believe a university would do that, but they did.

Bingo. The coaching and discipline was still lacking in year three and it wasn't going to be better in year four. He was a bad coach but a great recruiter.

 

[Pitt79]

Not sure if it was ever confirmed, but I thought Gottfried got in some trouble over sexual escapades with a secretary or something like that?

Who cares? If she's 18 +1 day old, it's legal, why ruin a good thing over someone's PLEASURE?

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Well, most Pitt fans cry the blues saying coaches need 4 or 5 years to get his players. Well Gottfried got 3 years with 2 top 5 recruiting classes he never got to groom. I am willing to bet if he stayed for 5 years to coach the insane talent he brought in. History would be much different

We cheated our asses off then.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I agree...he had disappointing losses for sure but came in amidst a lot of turmoil....

Then the Ath Dept's institutional memory , stupidity, reared its ugly head again.

They fired him and after winning a nice bowl game , Possvar comes into the locker room and hands the job to Hackett.
Did the AD staff get drunk during that game upstairs and stagger their way into that one ??

Pitt still has yet to recover from that hangover

Really, we have yet to recover from letting Sherrill go. Sherrill stays through 1990, Pitt likely wins NC in 1982 (Marino's Sr year) and probably at least one other. We become "the U".

 

[thebadby2]

Well, most Pitt fans cry the blues saying coaches need 4 or 5 years to get his players. Well Gottfried got 3 years with 2 top 5 recruiting classes he never got to groom. I am willing to bet if he stayed for 5 years to coach the insane talent he brought in. History would be much different

I tend to believe this as well.

People forget the coaching talent we had on those staffs back in those days as well. The program was still at a very different level back then than it has been since. It was loaded.

Whatever Gottfried did to get fired must have been really bad, worse than just chasing skirts, because he never coached again.

 

[Swervin27]

Swervin27, The 1988 Pitt team played both teams who played for the National Championship that season--ND and WVU. Both were undefeated in the regular season.

football in our part of the world (Eastern) was sick back then, independent ball was incredible.. We were basically the SEC before the sec was relevant.. I think it was me, Gary and Shere posting a few weeks back about the 89 season.. we played 4 top 10 teams and a PSU team that was having an off year, still ranked in mid 20s.. That includes #1 ND, which if memory serves me correct, was an ugly game. Tim brown and rocket still keeps me up at night. Every year you had a really good PSU, WVU, Cuse team, all top 15 caliber programs, we had annual games with irish who were usually top 5, a top 10 Canes team. It's hilarious how pitt fans now say our upcoming schedule is brutal.. This schedule would be deemed a joke circa late 80s..

 

[sherepower]

We cheated our asses off then.

Like i said before recruits. I was tight with most of Pitt's OL back then. All were heavily recruited. They never said Pitt paid them to come here.

Now was there jock sniffing guys who never let them pay for drinks or food..... yep!

I don't consider that cheating. Every program has those types

 

[9nationalchampionships]

We did cheat back in the day but it did seem that every major ( pun intended ) was cheating. For you youngsters here is an old piece in the PPG

Golden Panthers: Booster Group Is House Divided .N's'- .The Club's ...

 

[thebadby2]

We cheated our asses off then.

it was fun though, wasn't it? Fun to see us get 3 of the top 5 LB prospects in the country, fun to see us go down to Alabama and get a 5 star wide receiver, fun to see us grab the top dual threat QB in the country out of Detroit King right out from under Bo Schembechler';s nose, fun to get the Gatorade national H.S. POY like 3 out of 5 years, fun to watch draft day when 5-6 of our guys would go in the first few rounds, etc. etc. Hell, I was in college in Michigan and there was no internet and far less media than there is now, so I never heard a thing about cheating at Pitt, but it went on EVERYWHERE then.

I do like the direction we're going in now, finally. We will never see the kind of star-studded rosters of the Gottfried era again, but I'll settle for an organically grown, hard-assed, motivated, physical team in the MSU mold. I really like Narduzzi, but I hope he can keep his staff together and develop some internal consistency, that is really critical. Once he gets this ting up and running, then we will have to worry about keeping him, but no sense putting the cart before the horse. Losing your OC after Year 1 is not good, but hopefully Canada is the real deal.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Like i said before recruits. I was tight with most of Pitt's OL back then. All were heavily recruited. They never said Pitt paid them to come here.

Now was there jock sniffing guys who never let them pay for drinks or food..... yep!

I don't consider that cheating. Every program has those types

Shere, and I posted links indicating the investigations and crap that was going on. Maybe your friends lied. Maybe not everyone was getting xtra benefits....but my god we employed a gangster bagman during that time! Again, Google "Frank D'Alonzo". I am not going to post all of the links before.

I don't think the NCAA came down on us because we basically gave ourselves serious sanctions when hiring Paul Hackett and J Dennis OConnor coming in and deemphasizing football and basketball.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

it was fun though, wasn't it? Fun to see us get 3 of the top 5 LB prospects in the country, fun to see us go down to Alabama and get a 5 star wide receiver, fun to see us grab the top dual threat QB in the country out of Detroit King right out from under Bo Schembechler';s nose, fun to get the Gatorade national H.S. POY like 3 out of 5 years, fun to watch draft day when 5-6 of our guys would go in the first few rounds, etc. etc. Hell, I was in college in Michigan and there was no internet and far less media than there is now, so I never heard a thing about cheating at Pitt, but it went on EVERYWHERE then.

I do like the direction we're going in now, finally. We will never see the kind of star-studded rosters of the Gottfried era again, but I'll settle for an organically grown, hard-assed, motivated, physical team in the MSU mold. I really like Narduzzi, but I hope he can keep his staff together and develop some internal consistency, that is really critical. Once he gets this ting up and running, then we will have to worry about keeping him, but no sense putting the cart before the horse. Losing your OC after Year 1 is not good, but hopefully Canada is the real deal.

Yeah it was fun. But all of that, our best year during then was 8-3-1. And not just the talent, but look at the assistant coaches we had in that era, you had at various times, John Fox, John Harbaugh, Jon Gruden, Marvin Lewis, Mike McCarthy, among many others. And all of that 4-5 star talent, and all of that coaching talent, and we can do 8-3-1 as our best on the field effort. You can't tell me this program is jinxed and has a losing mentality that causes it to cap itself. Even during the Wanderful Wanny Eras, losing to NC State or UC or UConn.....just mindblowing.

As for "cheating", again I have no illusions. College football is big business. However you can get players here, if it needs some outside help, I don't care. Just as long as they aren't criminals and rape and pillage the city, and no coverups, if we have to buy some players.....go for it.

 

[thebadby2]

Like i said before recruits. I was tight with most of Pitt's OL back then. All were heavily recruited. They never said Pitt paid them to come here.

Now was there jock sniffing guys who never let them pay for drinks or food..... yep!

I don't consider that cheating. Every program has those types

Don't kid yourself shere, there Golden Panthers were hard at work to bring us 5 star kids from Detroit, Alabama, NJ, etc., and to keep in-state superstars like Gilbert, Reuben Brown, Spindler, Bray etc. home and happy. It was the way of the world at that time, not just at Pitt but everywhere. I personally know of several examples from other programs at the time, friends of mine from various football camps etc.. The only real question was where the money was coming from--was it assistant coaches funneling booster money, boosters directly, or sports agents that hung around all the major programs like vultures. And then there was the academic fraud, which was rampant. Assistant coaches all over the country pressured faculty members to change grades, pass kids, etc.

Almost always the head coaches maintained plausible deniability by acting through their assistants, but they were well aware of, and in many cases directing, the illegal activities. It was the Wild West. Things have been cleaned up to some extent , but there is still plenty of cheating going on. Always has been, always will be.

 

[Swervin27]

Shere, and I posted links indicating the investigations and crap that was going on. Maybe your friends lied. Maybe not everyone was getting xtra benefits....but my god we employed a gangster bagman during that time! Again, Google "Frank D'Alonzo". I am not going to post all of the links before.

I don't think the NCAA came down on us because we basically gave ourselves serious sanctions when hiring Paul Hackett and J Dennis OConnor coming in and deemphasizing football and basketball.

I don't think anything will compare to the roy chipman days with our hoops squad.. YOu know it's bad when other big east hoops coaches confront you, not exactly coaches running clean programs themselves..

 

[DruidTM]

I was right... Wow at about 36:36... Snare drummer w "Rockstar" sunglasses.... I never saw this game ( but was told of it) because obviously there and playing... Cool to see that clip of the 88 drumline seems a lifetime ago I remember lots of high fiving in the drumline all game long..

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

Landing all those stud defensive linemen, getting Baron Jackson

Yeah it was fun. But all of that, our best year during then was 8-3-1. And not just the talent, but look at the assistant coaches we had in that era, you had at various times, John Fox, John Harbaugh, Jon Gruden, Marvin Lewis, Mike McCarthy, among many others. And all of that 4-5 star talent, and all of that coaching talent, and we can do 8-3-1 as our best on the field effort. You can't tell me this program is jinxed and has a losing mentality that causes it to cap itself. Even during the Wanderful Wanny Eras, losing to NC State or UC or UConn.....just mindblowing.

As for "cheating", again I have no illusions. College football is big business. However you can get players here, if it needs some outside help, I don't care. Just as long as they aren't criminals and rape and pillage the city, and no coverups, if we have to buy some players.....go for it.

Pitt went 8-3-1, but who else played the top two teams in college football that season? Pitt always over scheduled back in the day. It's a reason the school had lost over 500 games in its history.

 

[Swervin27]

how bout this for a stat.. from '85 - '89, we played 12 Top 10 teams including playing the #1 team (at time of game) 3 times.. If I ever get my hands on a time machine, I go back for the sole purpose of eastern independent football. Not to manipulate stock market, not to gamble on games like Biff, no correcting man's mistakes, stopping wars, inventing technology, nope, I go back and chill at some of these epic college matchups and this time, I enjoy it, recognize how truly great it is..

After that, I might go try to hook up with a young, early 20's aged, Leah Thompson but only after these games..

 

[pittdan77]

Gottfried chose to more or less ignore SWPA despite how freaking deep the WPIAL was in the fall of '86. Top 5 class. Better than Penn State even though PSU just won a NC.

Yeah.