What if....

[Saboteur]

Michael Anthony Haywood had not gone ballistic and created the situation where he had to be fired?
The coaching carousel would have not suffered the ignominious fate of his firing, Todd Graham would not have given us a Penny for every year he coached and ...
Pondering the imponderable, but I wondered...would we be any worse off?

 

[MyNameisJoe]

What if...he won and - nah, nevermind lol

 

[McKee Place]

It by far doesn't matter and Pitt's issues only start, or maybe end, with the coach.

But I personally had no issue with his hiring, as some did. He'd had some success as a HC at one level below. A taste of an assistant at a blue blood. An African American, which I think is great for a school like Pitt. And the hard asz attitude didn't bother me.

Mostly since a core of fans didn't like the hire, Pitt used the opp to get rid of him immediately when the allegations hit. Can't argue with them for actually listening to the customer.

And he didn't go on to anything after our situation, so nobody else must have thought particularly highly of him, suggesting he wouldn't have done much for us either. If he was a hot commodity, somebody eventually would have given him a shot.

But obviously in hindsight things still didn't go well for us after him, so it always makes you wonder what if...

 

[BFo8]

Not like he is setting the world on fire at Texas Southern. In his career at 2 schools has had a winning record only once.

Pass.

 

[Mikefln]

If I'm playing the what if game then my what if would be...what if Pitt was serious about football after firing Wanny.

If they were not going to take football serious which all evidence suggest they should have just kept Wanny.

 

[wbrpanther]

Michael Anthony Haywood had not gone ballistic and created the situation where he had to be fired?
The coaching carousel would have not suffered the ignominious fate of his firing, Todd Graham would not have given us a Penny for every year he coached and ...
Pondering the imponderable, but I wondered...would we be any worse off?

Haywood was not a popular hire to begin with but I have also often wondered the same thing. He was hired to come in and be a hard ass after the perception that Pitt was too undisciplined. The fact of the matter is we will never know.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

Michael Anthony Haywood had not gone ballistic and created the situation where he had to be fired?
The coaching carousel would have not suffered the ignominious fate of his firing, Todd Graham would not have given us a Penny for every year he coached and ...
Pondering the imponderable, but I wondered...would we be any worse off?

He would have been fired anyway at 4 years and we would still have Narduzzi. So we would have missed the Graham/Chryst eras and no real change. Haywood had two senior citizens as his coordinators. Players were supposedly not impressed in the 1st month. I think his miracle turnaround year was mostly a fluke at Miami OH. Heck he was demoted at ND prior to taking that job. What a total bonehead hire.

I used to be a moderate fan of Pederson, but the move to Heinz and the hiring of Haywood were just too cataclysmic to overwrite any good.

 

[Saboteur]

He would have been fired anyway at 4 years and we would still have Narduzzi. So we would have missed the Graham/Chryst eras and no real change. Haywood had two senior citizens as his coordinators. Players were supposedly not impressed in the 1st month. I think his miracle turnaround year was mostly a fluke at Miami OH. Heck he was demoted at ND prior to taking that job. What a total bonehead hire.

I used to be a moderate fan of Pederson, but the move to Heinz and the hiring of Haywood were just too cataclysmic to overwrite any good.

Would have been a cool episode of Quantum Leap.

 

[Jakey_John]

I also wonder how he would have fared here. He had a few guys on his roster from Gateway so it wasn’t like he was unfamiliar with the area.

 

[PITTLAW]

It by far doesn't matter and Pitt's issues only start, or maybe end, with the coach.

But I personally had no issue with his hiring, as some did. He'd had some success as a HC at one level below. A taste of an assistant at a blue blood. An African American, which I think is great for a school like Pitt. And the hard asz attitude didn't bother me.

Mostly since a core of fans didn't like the hire, Pitt used the opp to get rid of him immediately when the allegations hit. Can't argue with them for actually listening to the customer.

And he didn't go on to anything after our situation, so nobody else must have thought particularly highly of him, suggesting he wouldn't have done much for us either. If he was a hot commodity, somebody eventually would have given him a shot.

But obviously in hindsight things still didn't go well for us after him, so it always makes you wonder what if...

On paper, I was not troubled initially by the hire...but I was beyond unhappy when he formulated his staff of senior citizens. Pitt got lucky and likely dodged a bullet. Hail to Pitt!

 

[McKee Place]

On paper, I was not troubled initially by the hire...but I was beyond unhappy when he formulated his staff of senior citizens. Pitt got lucky and likely dodged a bullet. Hail to Pitt!

Yes, they were baffling hires for sure

 

[hermdigity]

No kid was going to play for a coach that would make their time in college not fun. Recruiting would’ve been abysmal. He was disliked from the get go like Stallings and he would’ve been gone just as fast.

 

[drp1tt]

Michael Anthony Haywood had not gone ballistic and created the situation where he had to be fired?
The coaching carousel would have not suffered the ignominious fate of his firing, Todd Graham would not have given us a Penny for every year he coached and ...
Pondering the imponderable, but I wondered...would we be any worse off?

I will stand by what other coaches said about Haywood. He was the real deal and players loved playing for him and he was well respected.