What would of happened if.......

[cbpitt2]

Perhaps I should of titled this post - How would it be different if.....

Perhaps Pitt's most disappointing defeat in the last few decades was the 45-44 loss to Cincinnati that enabled the Bearcats to win the Big East Conference and go to the BCS Sugar Bowl against Florida to get annihilated by the Gators. The Panthers would go to the Meineke Car Care bowl instead and finish the season 10-3.

The next season Pitt would fall back to 8-5 and Dave Wannstedt was let go by Stevie P. before the BBVA Compass Bowl which Pitt would play in the next three years.

What would of happened if Pitt beat Cincinnati and won the Big East and went to the Sugar Bowl and not the Meineke Car Care Bow? How might things been different?

On the other side of things, in one of Pitt's most memorable victories in the past few decades:

It's 2007 and Pitt's 4-7 and will not make a bowl game for the third consecutive year after going 5-6 in 2005 and 6-6 in 2006. Pitt's facing #2 ranked West Virginia in Morgantown and a four-touchdown underdog in The Backyard Brawl. Pitt fans are becoming restless in Wannstedt's third season as Pitt's record has fallen back from the past two mediocre seasons and now three games under .500.

Then the Panthers shock the college football world and defeat the Mountaineers 13-9 in one of the worst and most biased and unfair officiated games of all-time as Big East officials did everything they could to give the game to then national championship game bound West Virginia.

The Panthers finish the season on a glorious note, 5-7 and looking forward to 2008. The game serves as a springboard to success as the Panthers go on to win nine games in 2008 and 10 in 2009.

What would of happened if Pitt had lost that game, blown-out as expected by the 28-point favorite Mountaineers? How would of things been different for Pitt if Pitt had not won that game?

 

[NTOP]

Perhaps I should of titled this post - How would it be different if.....

Perhaps Pitt's most disappointing defeat in the last few decades was the 45-44 loss to Cincinnati that enabled the Bearcats to win the Big East Conference and go to the BCS Sugar Bowl against Florida to get annihilated by the Gators. The Panthers would go to the Meineke Car Care bowl instead and finish the season 10-3.

The next season Pitt would fall back to 8-5 and Dave Wannstedt was let go by Stevie P. before the BBVA Compass Bowl which Pitt would play in the next three years.

What would of happened if Pitt beat Cincinnati and won the Big East and went to the Sugar Bowl and not the Meineke Car Care Bow? How might things been different?

On the other side of things, in one of Pitt's most memorable victories in the past few decades:

It's 2007 and Pitt's 4-7 and will not make a bowl game for the third consecutive year after going 5-6 in 2005 and 6-6 in 2006. Pitt's facing #2 ranked West Virginia in Morgantown and a four-touchdown underdog in The Backyard Brawl. Pitt fans are becoming restless in Wannstedt's third season as Pitt's record has fallen back from the past two mediocre seasons and now three games under .500.

Then the Panthers shock the college football world and defeat the Mountaineers 13-9 in one of the worst and most biased and unfair officiated games of all-time as Big East officials did everything they could to give the game to then national championship game bound West Virginia.

The Panthers finish the season on a glorious note, 5-7 and looking forward to 2008. The game serves as a springboard to success as the Panthers go on to win nine games in 2008 and 10 in 2009.

What would of happened if Pitt had lost that game, blown-out as expected by the 28-point favorite Mountaineers? How would of things been different if Pitt had not won that game?

The hoopies would have lost in the champ game. RichRod would still have gone to Michigan, SP would have fired Wanny & Chris Peterson would be our coach, with at least 2 MNC's to his credit. The new Pitt Stadium opened on 9/2/2012.

 

[cbpitt2]

Sorry NTOP, I meant how would of things just been different for Pitt if they'd of lost to WVU. I made the edit in my original post.

 

[NTOP]

Sorry NTOP, I meant how would of things just been different for Pitt if they'd of lost to WVU. I made the edit in my original post.

That was what I assumed.
I liked Wanny, but his prevent defenses doomed him. We'd have had a coaching carousel at some point, maybe still have the Duzz here.....which is good.

 

[OriginalEther]

Wannstedt was actually extended....technically by Pederson, but really by Nordenburg.....right before that Wvu game, so I really doubt he would have been fired after losing it.

As for your first part, defeating Cincy and winning the Big East buys him a lot of rope. He'd have shown that when he got the breaks his program could come through.
That, for me, was one of his biggest indictments. It wasn't that Pitt couldn't win the Big East, it's that they had a golden path in both 2009 and 2010, and still blew it.

The x factor to this question is how would a loss or win in the respective scenarios affected recruiting. Does Pitt get Jon Baldwin after a loss to Wvu?

So in short, probably the same after a Wvu loss, and somewhat better after a Cincy win, because I don't think the Haywood/Graham experience would have happened.

 

[Las Panteras]

FIRST....its good to see a football discussion at this time of year.

I think we may have lost a few recruits. Maybe Baldwin goes elsewhere......Im not sure of any "moving the needle" one way or the other.

As a previous poster said......Wanny was extended before the Brawl....so he would stay on as HC

 

[Swervin27]

I think it's more of commentary on level of white trash which follows country music more than anything else.

It's more the area than the music. Many chesney concerts in different venues in other cities that don't have this aftermath. You get 45,000 twenty year olds an 8 hour tailgate, it doesn't matter if it's country, soul, gospel or classic rock.

 

[Swervin27]

Because it is disgusting.

I also have a feeling you would be making racist, trash remarks if this is what happened at the Beyoncé concert.

Beyoncé? I doubt 45,000 sixteen year old girls will cause much trouble.

 

[OriginalEther]

How'd you get the Kenny Chesny comments over here, with quotes to boot?

 

[Swervin27]

How'd you get the Kenny Chesny comments over here, with quotes to boot?

This concert ruins some of these posters lives, every summer, it's so weird.

 

[pittdan77]

That's such a weird thought. Long term, losing that game probably has zero effect but it might have cost a few recruits near term.

 

[Swervin27]

I'd be curious if Wanny had the intelligence to hand over his offense, QB recruiting to Cignetti, only focus on defense and shaking alumni hands, delegating more responsibility, if we could have maintained and elevated this program...

A part of me says yes but the end of '10 was ugly, real ugly. You can't tell me that team didn't quit on Wanny. That brawl at Heinz was an embarrassment. That UConn team going for it on 4th and 3, in their own territory and running it over us, was beyond pathetic. I've watched football for the better part of 3 decades and cant recall a coach going for it in that situation, running it too and easily getting it..

 

[9nationalchampionships]

^^^ I would take this a step further and say

- if Wanny would have turned the O and D over to his coordinators and he stuck to recruiting and fund raising he could have taken our program higher. I was not impressed with his game day decisions. Sound familiar?

 

[Swervin27]

^^^ I would take this a step further and say

- if Wanny would have turned the O and D over to his coordinators and he stuck to recruiting and fund raising he could have taken our program higher. I was not impressed with his game day decisions. Sound familiar?

Yeah, good call. Was our DC Bennett? Obviously a good coach. Not sure if he had a lot of freedom or not, I'd guess Wanny was still calling the shots with the defense. I believe Wanny could have been a good coach had he not mettled with everything.

sit back, let you asst coaches recruit, he could have been the "closer" with recruitment, shake hands and kiss babies (aka wpial coaches), told the glorified gym teachers how important they are and we could have had a nice thing at pitt. oh well.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

I'm glad the OP asked the question because it is an interesting one that I think people too often miss.

I think Pitt's loss to Cincinnati, while obviously disappointing, is easily among the most overrated losses in Panthers history. I know I've been around a very long time and personally I can't think of a more overrated loss on the field. However, off the field, it was catastrophic because of how heinously some of our fans and the administration overreacted to it.

First let me say that the lost was ridiculous. We had a big lead at home and we made a number of ridiculous mistakes to allow them back into the game.

Had Pitt beaten Cincinnati they would have been absolutely sodomized by Florida in the Sugar Bowl in Tim Tebow's final collegiate game - just as Cincy was - and Pitt would have ended up right where it did ultimately.

How do I know that? Because I saw what happened after the Utah game - also a BCS bowl against an Urban Meyer coached team.

We went to a BCS game, played poorly against a much better team, and were blown out. The reaction to it was like we had lost to Duquesne. It was absurd.

This one would have been far worse, IMO. Florida was significantly bigger, stronger, and faster than that Utah team and that 2009 Pitt team, while certainly better than the 2005 edition, was still nowhere close to good enough to compete with a team like Florida with Tim Tebow and a dozen or so NFL players.

We would've been blown out and the exact same dissatisfaction people felt after the Cincinnati game, they would've felt after the Florida game. I have absolutely no doubt about that.

 

[bwh05]

I don't think we get killed anywhere near as badly as Cincy did vs Florida, but I think we'd have lost 28-14 or somewhere thereabout.

 

[Swervin27]

I'm glad the OP asked the question because it is an interesting one that I think people too often miss.

I think Pitt's loss to Cincinnati, while obviously disappointing, is easily among the most overrated losses in Panthers history. I know I've been around a very long time and personally I can't think of a more overrated loss on the field. However, off the field, it was catastrophic because of how heinously some of our fans and the administration overreacted to it.

First let me say that the lost was ridiculous. We had a big lead at home and we made a number of ridiculous mistakes to allow them back into the game.

Had Pitt beaten Cincinnati they would have been absolutely sodomized by Florida in the Sugar Bowl in Tim Tebow's final collegiate game - just as Cincy was - and Pitt would have ended up right where it did ultimately.

How do I know that? Because I saw what happened after the Utah game - also a BCS bowl against an Urban Meyer coached team.

We went to a BCS game, played poorly against a much better team, and were blown out. The reaction to it was like we had lost to Duquesne. It was absurd.

This one would have been far worse, IMO. Florida was significantly bigger, stronger, and faster than that Utah team and that 2009 Pitt team, while certainly better than the 2005 edition, was still nowhere close to good enough to compete with a team like Florida with Tim Tebow and a dozen or so NFL players.

We would've been blown out and the exact same dissatisfaction people felt after the Cincinnati game, they would've felt after the Florida game. I have absolutely no doubt about that.

yeah dude, but we pitt fans could have gotten weird on bourbon street, together, united as one.. That in itself made this loss heartbreaking. Imagine us, binge drinking and throwing our red plastic cups on the street, with Kenny Chesney cover songs playing at the bars? It would have been epic..

 

[Seneca_Valley]

I'd be curious if Wanny had the intelligence to hand over his offense, QB recruiting to Cignetti, only focus on defense and shaking alumni hands, delegating more responsibility, if we could have maintained and elevated this program...

A part of me says yes but the end of '10 was ugly, real ugly. You can't tell me that team didn't quit on Wanny. That brawl at Heinz was an embarrassment. That UConn team going for it on 4th and 3, in their own territory and running it over us, was beyond pathetic. I've watched football for the better part of 3 decades and cant recall a coach going for it in that situation, running it too and easily getting it..

Pitt did not quit in that game. The margin was attributed to 6 fumbles (three lost) and an early interception that was a almost a pick six. All the other game stats were pretty much in Pitt's favor. Poorly executed, yes; quit. no.

UConn ran on a 4th and 1, not 3. A gutsy call by their coach, but it was a sound decision given the fact their defense was playing like a sieve. Hell, I would have called it given the strength of their run game.

 

[NTOP]

Pitt did not quit in that game. The margin was attributed to 6 fumbles (three lost) and an early interception that was a almost a pick six. All the other game stats were pretty much in Pitt's favor. Poorly executed, yes; quit. no.

UConn ran on a 4th and 1, not 3. A gutsy call by their coach, but it was a sound decision given the fact their defense was playing like a sieve. Hell, I would have called it given the strength of their run game.

The problem with the UCONN fiasco was that we were still in a prevent defense...3-man front & LBs 5 yards off the line. Anyone watching the game KNEW they were going off their left tackle. I was screaming at the time to put 9 in the box....if they popped a long run through a seam, the game would have been over, anyway. NFL mentality.

 

[Old School1]

I'd be curious if Wanny had the intelligence to hand over his offense, QB recruiting to Cignetti, only focus on defense and shaking alumni hands, delegating more responsibility, if we could have maintained and elevated this program...

A part of me says yes but the end of '10 was ugly, real ugly. You can't tell me that team didn't quit on Wanny. That brawl at Heinz was an embarrassment. That UConn team going for it on 4th and 3, in their own territory and running it over us, was beyond pathetic. I've watched football for the better part of 3 decades and cant recall a coach going for it in that situation, running it too and easily getting it..

I always said the same thing!
Wanny would still be here today had he delegated the offensive play calling 100% to a strong offensive coach and focus on exactly that you mentioned. He overwhelmed his not so large brain with to many details!

 

[Swervin27]

The problem with the UCONN fiasco was that we were still in a prevent defense...3-man front & LBs 5 yards off the line. Anyone watching the game KNEW they were going off their left tackle. I was screaming at the time to put 9 in the box....if they popped a long run through a seam, the game would have been over, anyway. NFL mentality.

Wanny loved that bend but don't break mentality. Sadly, it morphed into a "death by a thousand cuts." I remember leading up that navy game at Heinz, wanny said "I want to limit Navy to 5 yards per rush". I read that and wanted to put my head thru a plate glass window..

 

[OriginalEther]

I don't think we get killed anywhere near as badly as Cincy did vs Florida, but I think we'd have lost 28-14 or somewhere thereabout.

While Florida was obviously better than Cincy, people forget that Brian Kelley didn't even coach that game. He'd gone off to Notre Dame. You'd think his presence would have made the game a little more competitive.

Anyways, the whole it's just as well they didn't play in the bcs game is a losers mentality.

 

[cbpitt2]

I also subscribe to the better to have lost in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans than won the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte line of thinking. Far more prestige just making it to a BCS/major bowl game. Easier to sell that to recruits.

 

[Panther Parrothead]

Pitt did not quit in that game. The margin was attributed to 6 fumbles (three lost) and an early interception that was a almost a pick six. All the other game stats were pretty much in Pitt's favor. Poorly executed, yes; quit. no.

During his game commentary on the radio, Bill Fralic used various ways to describe that the team quit - without actually using the word "quit". When he says it, that's good enough for me.

That was the only game that I've left early - my way of showing my displeasure without booing (which I never do). And I wasn't the only one walking up the aisle.....

 

[JoseLind13]

The manner in which Pitt lost the game to Cincy was certainly disappointing, but I wouldn't say that losing to that Cincy squad as a massive failure or disappointment. Cincy was a road favorite and their offense was phenomenal that season. It was a great game, aside from the final score.

 

[PhPanther1]

Players giving up on a game after getting their ass handed to them over and over again happens more than you think and has NOTHING to do with players having respect for their coach. It has to do with this situation sucks and I don't want anything to do with it anymore. Vince Lombardi could be coaching and you get the same result after the game is out of hand.

 

[OriginalEther]

Players giving up on a game after getting their ass handed to them over and over again happens more than you think and has NOTHING to do with players having respect for their coach. It has to do with this situation sucks and I don't want anything to do with it anymore. Vince Lombardi could be coaching and you get the same result after the game is out of hand.

Yes and no.
Yeah, it happens, but given the context of how the season had gone and what that game meant, it was a really bad time for the team to pack it in.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

While Florida was obviously better than Cincy, people forget that Brian Kelley didn't even coach that game. He'd gone off to Notre Dame. You'd think his presence would have made the game a little more competitive.

Anyways, the whole it's just as well they didn't play in the bcs game is a losers mentality.

My attitude is definitely NOT that it is just as well that they did not play in a BCS game. I was as disappointed as anyone after that loss.

I remember walking out of Heinz Field commiserating with the guy next to me. We were nearly out of the stadium before I realized it was current Buffalo Bills GM Doug Whaley. Needless to say, he was deeply disappointed in some of our decision-making.

My point is that people would have reacted to a blowout BCS bowl loss in exactly the same fashion that they reacted to a narrow home loss to Cincinnati. In other words, nothing in the trajectory of the Pitt Panthers football program would've changed even one bit. How can I say that with such certainty? Because I saw it myself after the loss to Utah in 2005, that's how.

Nobody spent that 2005 off-season talking about our big wins throughout the season. Nope, instead they focused almost entirely on being blown out in our BCS game and how embarrassing it was getting destroyed on national television by a non-BCS team. For far too many Pitt fans, making a BCS game was almost a negative.

It was that off-season that I first coined the phrase "self loathing Yinzers." Now, people use that term all the time and I'm proud of that. However, it was coined to point out to people that making a BCS game is a big accomplishment – regardless of how the game itself turns out.

Now, obviously Florida and Utah are two different animals. However, there is very little doubt in my mind that the Gators would've handed it to us pretty good. They were bigger, stronger and faster than we were and it was Tim Tebow's final game as a Gator, so they were highly motivated too.

There is no way anyone will ever convince me that the notoriously insane Pitt fan base would have been understanding after a blowout loss on the big stage. It only would've delayed the rage for one more game.

I still would've liked to have experienced a BCS game in New Orleans. I really enjoyed my time in Tempe and hoped to do it again. However, this fairytale that the Pitt fans would've been sane after a blowout loss to Florida in the Sugar Bowl is completely ridiculous and 100% contrary to the behavior of a fan base I know very well and have followed closely for decades.

The disaster wasn't the one point home loss to a good Cincinnati team. The disaster was and how insanely people overreacted to that loss. That was the craziest thing I have ever seen and that is what set the stage for the purgatory we have been in for the past several years now. Too many crazy and emotional people making completely insane decisions that just struck the program right to its knees.

I say this every time this topic comes off because it is so important. I know in my heart people will never listen to this bit of commonsense but I feel I must say it anyway.

A school like Pitt, a "small market" major college program if there ever was one, should never, ever, EVER fire a coach who is winning but not quite winning enough! We simply cannot afford to be that petulant and in the past when we have fired those guys, we have always lived to regret it.

 

[TempleBAPittMPA]

LMAO at this "would OF. should OF, could OF" thread.

 

[rkohberger]

Wannstedt was gone after the last game of the 201 regular season no matter what... unless beating Cincy would have somehow kept his players from committing numerous and violent crimes. That is what the firing hinged on folks.

 

[OriginalEther]

Wannstedt was gone after the last game of the 201 regular season no matter what... unless beating Cincy would have somehow kept his players from committing numerous and violent crimes. That is what the firing hinged on folks.

I remember you saying that year's ago. I really don't buy it.
If Pitt wins that Cincy game and the Big East at 10-2 in 2009, and/or goes 9-3 or even 8-4 with a Bcs berth in 2010, I doubt he's fired. I mean, he was extended after the 2009 season. Surely, the players off field issues didn't just sprout after he signed the extension.

I do think the arrests made it easier for Pederson to get Nordy..who had solidly supported Wannstedt all those years prior... to sign off on the firing.

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

Pitt did not quit in that game. The margin was attributed to 6 fumbles (three lost) and an early interception that was a almost a pick six. All the other game stats were pretty much in Pitt's favor. Poorly executed, yes; quit. no.

Correct. Those who wanted Wanny gone use the quitting excuse versus WVU, which is absurd. Also, the team won the following week and though the Bearcats stunk that season, don't tell me Pitt has never played down to the competition and lost to less talented teams. Pitt has thrived at doing it. That 2010 season was brutal with the Romeus and Mason injuries and then the UConn and WVU losses at the end. Can't forget the Miami game, either.

Wannstedt should have never been fired and setting the program and fans up for a hideous ride of bad decisions by the AD and a mediocre product on the field with all the player turnover. Pitt administrators never learned to just plug and grind away. It always pulls the plug thinking a change is always the right answer. Pitt had the Steelers in its own backyard to learn from and refused to do so.

Oh, the players' off-the-field issues as a reason to fire Wannstedt are still comical to read. Welcome to big time college football as it will happen from time to time. You clean it up and move on rather than acting like it's the end of the world.

 

[rkohberger]

Correct. Those who wanted Wanny gone use the quitting excuse versus WVU, which is absurd. Also, the team won the following week and though the Bearcats stunk that season, don't tell me Pitt has never played down to the competition and lost to less talented teams. Pitt has thrived at doing it. That 2010 season was brutal with the Romeus and Mason injuries and then the UConn and WVU losses at the end. Can't forget the Miami game, either.

Wannstedt should have never been fired and setting the program and fans up for a hideous ride of bad decisions by the AD and a mediocre product on the field with all the player turnover. Pitt administrators never learned to just plug and grind away. It always pulls the plug thinking a change is always the right answer. Pitt had the Steelers in its own backyard to learn from and refused to do so.

Oh, the players' off-the-field issues as a reason to fire Wannstedt are still comical to read. Welcome to big time college football as it will happen from time to time. You clean it up and move on rather than acting like it's the end of the world.

Uhhh, that is exactly what Pitt did - they fired DW, cleaned up the program and moved on. The administration acted like firing DW wasn't the end of the world which btw it wasn't. You keep expecting Pitt to act like other programs "in big-time college football" and they don't.

They believe that, and act like, athletics is secondary to the Institution itself and that pisses off hard core fans who have win at all costs attitudes.

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

Uhhh, that is exactly what Pitt did - they fired DW, cleaned up the program and moved on.

Except Wannstedt cleaned it up by getting rid of those three or four troublemakers that fall and moved on. Pitt made the situation way worse by firing Dave in December.

 

[OriginalEther]

Uhhh, that is exactly what Pitt did - they fired DW, cleaned up the program and moved on. The administration acted like firing DW wasn't the end of the world which btw it wasn't. You keep expecting Pitt to act like other programs "in big-time college football" and they don't.

They believe that, and act like, athletics is secondary to the Institution itself and that pisses off hard core fans who have win at all costs attitudes.

Again, if Wanny was running a dirty program the whole time, how the heck did he get extended in 2007 & 2009? It sure wasn't for his gameday record.

And if it just blew up before the 2010, that's rather harsh. I mean, for all his faults, he did throw off the serious troublemakers.

I may be wrong, but I don't think he was running the program the way Paterno or Brilles ran theirs.

 

[PhPanther1]

He was fired because he couldn't win a shit conference. The clown brigade want to use the arrests as a scape goat. That's fine, but don't expect people with a brain to believe it.

Who were the players with criminal records that he recruited before they got to Pitt?
Who were the players with criminal records that he fought to keep on the team?

I'll wait patiently for the long list of players.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

I remember you saying that year's ago. I really don't buy it.
If Pitt wins that Cincy game and the Big East at 10-2 in 2009, and/or goes 9-3 or even 8-4 with a Bcs berth in 2010, I doubt he's fired. I mean, he was extended after the 2009 season. Surely, the players off field issues didn't just sprout after he signed the extension.

I do think the arrests made it easier for Pederson to get Nordy..who had solidly supported Wannstedt all those years prior... to sign off on the firing.

This is the correct answer.

The arrests were used by Pederson as an excuse to get rid of Wannstedt.

Steve Pederson sold the program down the river for his own personal gain - to get rid of someone who had become a very serious political rival.

The press conference that MORON held to apologize for all of the crime that happened throughout college football – which was the net effect of holding a press conference in that situation – remains the single dumbest goddamn thing I have ever seen in my life from a person in that position and is probably the most infuriated I have ever been at anyone associated with Pitt athletics.

For years and years and years our recruiting rivals have scared the hell out of parents by claiming that Oakland is a dangerous place and the only types of kids that would go to school at Pitt are thugs and criminals themselves. Why would any mother send her son into that environment?

That press conference literally validated all of those lies and put the program – regardless of who is coaching it – behind the eight ball for a very long time. I still get pissed just thinking about it. Whoever made the call to hold a press conference in response to an embarrassingly flimsy (and almost certainly lightly read) Sports Illustrated story should have been fired right on the spot and immediately escorted out of the building.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

I don't think Wannstedt was a great coach by any means and I do think he made some mistakes on some kids recruiting-wise. Also, I definitely agree that he should have done more than he did at Pitt.

However, and I say this every time, Pitt is not a wealthy program. As such, we cannot afford to be petulant with our coaches. If our coach is winning but not quite enough, we do not have the luxury of firing that coach. Michigan can do that. Nebraska can do that. Pittsburgh cannot do that.

I say that UNLESS we plan on replacing him with a bigger name and putting a lot more money into the program.

Pederson had no succession plan whatsoever and he definitely wasn't going to put more money into the program. So what was the point in replacing the guy? To run a cleaner program?

Puh-lease.

They were going to hire Al Golden for pete's sake! Has anyone bothered to follow up on how Golden's track record at Temple in Miami?

That's a bunch of horseshit.

Just firing Wannstedt and rolling the dice on someone new was beyond stupid. That plan was never, ever going to work.

Never!

Neh-VER!

The fact that we rolled the dice not on one Wannstedt successor but on 39 of them, only made that ridiculous decision all the more foolish looking in retrospect.

And yet, we still have some people that refuse to admit it was a mistake. How is that for the power of stubbornness?

Remarkable.

 

[OriginalEther]

This is the correct answer.

The arrests were used by Pederson as an excuse to get rid of Wannstedt.

Steve Pederson sold the program down the river for his own personal gain - to get rid of someone who had become a very serious political rival.

The press conference that MORON held to apologize for all of the crime that happened throughout college football – which was the net effect of holding a press conference in that situation – remains the single dumbest goddamn thing I have ever seen in my life from a person in that position and is probably the most infuriated I have ever been at anyone associated with Pitt athletics.

For years and years and years our recruiting rivals have scared the hell out of parents by claiming that Oakland is a dangerous place and the only types of kids that would go to school at Pitt are thugs and criminals themselves. Why would any mother send her son into that environment?

That press conference literally validated all of those lies and put the program – regardless of who is coaching it – behind the eight ball for a very long time. I still get pissed just thinking about it. Whoever made the call to hold a press conference in response to an embarrassingly flimsy (and almost certainly lightly read) Sports Illustrated story should have been fired right on the spot and immediately escorted out of the building.

Lol...political and personal gain.
Everybody loves a conspiracy, I guess....

 

[Swervin27]

Lol...political and personal gain.
Everybody loves a conspiracy, I guess....

Lol, I was thinking the same. Making this out to be a Sam Clancy novel here. He was fired because he didn't do a good enough job on or off field. Who cares why he was fired. Too many losses, players running over pedestrians on Carson st at 2am or knocking up cheerleaders, I don't recall an ad having to give a reason anyhow