in Pitt Football 1,190 Words

POV: Some Practice Thoughts

Before I begin I want to share this new document with you – it is Pitt’s Guest Practice Rules & Regulations:

Practice rules

As you can see certain conduct is expected when you are there as a media guest, and specifically afterward, and they are clearly spelled out. It really is almost exactly the same limitations I have put on my own writing after watching practices anyway. With that in mind I read this as not-so-much pertaining to the “Media Open Window” time period but the whole of the actual practice time where some invited guests are allowed to watch the stuff that is fully closed to the media.

Today there was some NFL Scouts who stayed an extra day, high school coaches, coaches from way-smaller colleges and some player’s family members.

See – they get to watch the actual X&Os and proprietary part of the real practices including players getting screamed and, at least today, a brawl… which I’m upset I missed.  But I had a chance to see 40 minutes of work today vice the normal 20-25 minutes so I’ll describe some of what I saw.

First off the players break into their respective units; 1st, 2nd and 3rd for both offense and defense and then the kickers.  Then they start running some very basic warm up plays.  Here’s what I concentrated on in some sort of order.

I watched the kick return coverage teams working on shedding blocks while at full speed downfield. The RB/ST coach Andre’ Powell is very active with this, very vocal and stopped some individuals a few times to do hands-on training to immediately correct what he saw.

As that was going on the QBs were tossing warm-up passes.  Brown, DiNucci, MacVitte, Pickett and walk-on FR Jake Zilinskas (from Indiana, PA)  are the five we have on roster.

What I did was purposely not look at the QBs’ names next to their numbers – I just concentrated on the jersey numbers and since I can’t remember who wears what numbers anyway it was like a blind test.  I felt I could be more objective that way.

 So – the QBs broke into two groups with Browne and Pickett taking one unit and DiNucci and MacVitte with the other.  I think sometimes the QBs switched around to the different groups to get a chance with all the backs & receivers.

For some reason #3 (DiNucci) left after the warm-ups and I didn’t see him on the field again – he may have come back after we media left though.  Now remember when I write this next part these are basic drills and not full speed or plays with the defense on the field.

First were half speed plays with the RB out to the short flat pattern.  Then came quick release  passes to WR and RB directly to the far side LOS – a play I have always hated. The speed and zip of the throws was increasing with the two patterns but the coaches still wanted shorter passes. 

Then they started throw 10 yard button hooks (each  QB had about 3-4 passes before they switched patterns) . Then they ended up with 15 yard out passes which required more timing and more strength on the ball.

Of course this is early days and who threw well today might screw up tomorrow but here is a quick impression of what I watched.

All the QBs had mostly good throws but if I was awarding a 3″ trophy as to who had the best speed on the ball it would have been #8 (FR Kenny Pickett).  The QB who seemed most accurate would have been a tie between #4 (Browne) and Pickett – with a slight edge to Browne. #7 (MacVitte) had some nice passes also but on this one day the other two guys were a bit more on the mark to my eyes.

The best throw of the day though was from #19 (Zilinskas) as he double clutched when a receiver stumbled then rifled it complete before the receiver went out-of-bounds.

Some impressions of the WRs:  Jester Weah and Aaron Mathews are both big guys.  The roster lists them as 6’3’/ 210 and 6’2″ /205 respectively but they both look thicker than that – both are muscular kids.  Mathews made a beautiful tough ‘high-point’ catch right in front of me on one of those out patterns and held onto the ball.

WR Quadree Henderson made a nice running below the belt one-handed catch on one of those flat patterns.

Then the offense ran some half-speed plays against defensive players. Those were mostly handoff and blocking scheme work – Ollison was getting the RB1 carries it looked like but again, it’s early.

It is interesting that each of these work periods was a full five minutes then a whistle blew and the kids went into different drills and sometimes at different spots on the field. It was that well choreographed.

After all those separate unit drills everyone but the kickers joined at the far side of the field for calisthenics.  So I walked down to the Steeler’s end of the field (one end zone is labelled “PITT” and the other is “Steelers”) and watched the special teams.

rsSR Ryan Winslow was booming his punts and was very accurate at hitting the corners when he was placing the ball. I watched him have eight nice punts in a row from around the 50 yard line – 4 ones with good downfield hang time, 2 into each corner and 2 in the endzone. I saw our Aussie Kirk Christodoulou punting a bit.  He’s going to need that full year with Winslow still here to round into American college ball shape – some of his were high and long bombs but he’s up and down.

I think Winslow is underrated by us fans – he was the 35th ranked punter last year and with a rookie PK we need his deep leg in ’17.

In his third season as the Panthers’ starting punter, averaged a career-best 42.6 yards on 56 attempts…placed 12 inside the 20-yard line…achieved his personal single-game high with a 48.8-yard average (on five punts) at Virginia…had a season-long 53-yard punt in four different games (Villanova, Oklahoma State, North Carolina and Miami)…punted a career-high 11 times at Oklahoma State, placing a season-best four inside the 20.

rsFR Alex Kessman will be our placekicker this season and it looked like he made all his practice tries from 35-40 yards out.  LS Conrad Brake and OL Brandon Ford shared the long-snapper duties and were accurate.

To no one’s surprise Chris Clark is running with the 1st team. I tried to see who was the 1st team Center but each play always looks like a bunch of angry water buffaloes on short stampedes out there to me.

As you can see I had a limited time so I concentrated on the offensive players.

Some bit of new info – in the past the Pitt’s Pro Days haven’t been opened to the media.  EJ worked on that, Narduzzi said yes and it was a great success for everyone involved.  Every person I talked to said they really enjoyed the whole day.  Thanks for that!

103 thoughts on “POV: Some Practice Thoughts”

  1. Pickett and Dinucci are dual threat QBs while Browne and MacVittie are pro style QBs. Peterson and savage were also pro style QBs…..I think Voytik was dual.

    I guess what I am saying is why are we recruiting dual threat QBs? Most know how I feel about Dinucci and the future TE at Notre Dame…..our success lies in a solid pro style QB based offense.

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    1. Yo are aware Mac V ran at times as a HS QB. You do know he is an outstanding runner and runs a 4.5 forty at 6=5 225. He is hands down the best duo threat QB on the roster.

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      2. MacVittie is still a pro style QB. Great wheels which doesn’t hurt but is a pro style QB. I am a huge fan of him and would have no issue if he beat out Browne. My concern is who is behind MacVittie in this recruiting class.

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  2. thought Matthews was taller. Was very impressed last season with him.

    conjunto, who is the future TE at ND?

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    2. Jurkevic……tremendous athlete but ND is never going to play him as a starter at QB. He will grow into a TE.

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  3. After the experience he got last season, I expect Aaron Mathews to be a significant contributor this season. For whatever reason, he and NP couldn’t get on the same page… but Aaron should be at another level of confidence this season.

    Go Pitt.

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  4. OK OK, a new Reed vs ike controversy brewing. Pickett vs McVittie. I know you like Pickett Reed and what I know more is that you are an honest reporter but… what is it about Tommy Mac that doesn’t float your skimmer? Does he really have that bad an arm or is it nothing about him jumps out at you? From all accounts, Narduzzi loves the young man as does his teammates. Maybe it is that Kenny Pickett did just blow you away today but you have been doubting KP for awhile now. but anyways..

    I thought Aaron Mathews was taller than 6’2″??

    It is good that PITT has Winslow for next year for sure. PITT will need consistency more than anything else next year from their punter.

    Phil from PR is who tcp has projected as the next tight end for ND

    Great to see some of EJ’s ideas are being used now a days. PITT would be smart to listen to this man for lots of great ideas.

    What will some of you fuss about next year when Ollie finally gets some carries? Just kidding, Hall will have a breakout season… back to blocking Ollie. Seriously, PITT will have 3, 4 or 5 backs they can rely on for next year. Great news…

    Reed, really appreciated the fine and hard work you do. … ike

    H2P

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  5. Any idea about the D-line and linebackers?
    Dokish claimed. Pine was tearing-it-up, but I think Brightwell has moved to first team middle linebacker given Wirginis’ injury.
    Is Hendrix playing?
    What about Camp and the happy Hawaiian?
    Not worried about the offense; it’s the defense that terrifies me.

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  6. I have to learn to proof read on the POV. Still looking for that edit button down there by the date??

    “doubting TM not KP” and appreciate, not appreciated.

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  8. wwb.. I watched all but one of our games lasts and don’t remember Mathews getting many targets to qualify him at this point as a solid receiver.. he has the wing span to be one but only time will tell if he can be a good one … Tre Tipton is a good player ( from my HS alma mater) but is light and has been injured 2 yrs in a row… hope my dear Watson can expand the passing game to get QH involved vertically, not just jet sweeps and short passes into the flats… would love to see him catch the ball 12 -20 yards past the LOs in open space one on one.. Could you imagine having 2 or even 3 big-time threats to score ( including Mathews in that scenario)!!!

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    1. correct. I should amend my statement above … was very impressed with him “in the little time I saw him”

      I base this on the fact that he was a natural freshman who started out way low on the depth chart … Ford, Henderson, Weah, Lopes, Tipton, Challingworth, etc were experienced WRs who were ahead of him but by the end of the season, he was out there playing … and made a couple catches over the middle in traffic.

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  11. MissingWlat.. nice job by you RT al on the round table discussion Tuesday evening!!! Youins are naturals….

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  13. Reed – enjoyed your write up on the Pitt practice from today. It has been a long time since we got to see inside a Pitt FB practice.

    Pulled this from Pitt’s athletic site under baseball –

    Pitt (8-10, 1-5 ACC) returns home after suffering a mid-week loss to MAC powerhouse Kent State on Tuesday.

    MAC and powerhouse don’t belong in the same sentence…Is our new AD from EMU having an influence already on the sports reporting?

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  14. Mac powerhouse. Pitt should never lose to mac in baseball 8 wins and 6 of those against Siena and cupcakes in Florida. Time ti examine all sports. Clean dead weight and get a winners attitude. Upitt your baseball what’s the story

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  16. Off topic – If Xavier can win consistently over P5 schools this deep in the NCAA BB tournament, then Pitt can too with the right coach –

    http://www.azdesertswarm.com/basketball/2017/3/24/15046610/arizona-wildcats-basketball-sean-miller-takes-blame-loss-xavier-musketeers-sweet-sixteen-final-four

    Former Pitt PG and Arizona HC is getting blasted on the internet for not being able to make the Final 4 in his 13 year career. Sound’s eerily similar to what Pitt fans said(say) about Jamie Dixon.

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    1. Be careful what you wish for Arizona fans, there could be a Barnes/Stallings deal lurking in your future.

      Oh, what could of, should of happened with a well thought out plan to hire Jamie Dixon’s replacement.

      Legacy’s are a terrible thing to waste.

      I’m hitting the Lyke button and hoping this nightmare goes away.

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  17. For all … the title of that article Erie posted above is “Arizona basketball: Sean Miller takes the blame for Wildcats’ loss to Xavier”

    Did you read that, Stallings? A novel concept, isn’t it? … a college BB coach making millions accepts the blame for a loss.

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  18. I missed the true height on Mathews. He sure is bigger than 6’2″.

    We have to remember that with the QBs all we media see is not full speed with real defense until the Spring game.

    Some receivers dropped easy passes yesterday also.

    TE Clark is not as sturdy built as our past TEs. Rather slight it seemed. He’s our starter by default I think just as Browne will be.

    One thing I forgot to post was that I mentioned to Aaron Donald that I have written that Talent has a “Donald like” first step and he said that Taleni really gets off the snap.

    Donald doesn’t look like a NFL DL in civvies at all. Way too short and not really all that wide.

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  19. Gasman, the only thing to fear is fear itself. Pitt’s defense will be so much better this season that by midsession your terrified apprehensions will be replaced with a new hope because of so many players stepping up to the challenge of transforming this defense into a force to be reckoned with.
    Once again, new contributors will be numerous. Pine, Camp, Watts, Wheeler, Pugh, Coleman, Miller, M. Henderson, Stocker, Weaver, & Carter, so much potential. Guys like Hendrix, Zeise & Hamlin trying to comeback from injury to reach their full potential. Then we have Paris Ford. Does he come in and provide the same immediate impact of previous star freshman recruits like Tyler Boyd & Jordan Whitehead?

    And less we forget, the newbies that cut their teeth just last year with significant playing time, who also produced impactful, game changing plays, Brightwell, Taleni, Edwards & Jackson. Guys like these only get better as they evolve into their roles of veterans on this Narduzzi installed defense.

    So much potential, so many new faces, an attitude and culture that is poised to transform this team. Consider this, come this fall the majority of this team will have only experienced the winning Narduzzi program. All of these kids were elite players for their HS teams. Many of those teams where of championship caliber themselves. This is a different squad than Pitt has assembled for many, many years.

    The fans apprehensions are understandable. We’ve seen mediocrity personified in Pitt’s play over the the years. Our self imposed acronym sticks because of that history. We all know what SOP stands for. We have witnessed “Pitting” time and time again. So why shouldn’t we flinch a bit when we think back to the obvious deficit of last year’s porous defensive secondary that cost us multiple wins? Well mainly because of all of those names mentioned above.

    The reinforcements are coming. The talent will be raw and mainly untested but the quality and quantity of athletes that this team will field this season will be better than last year. Even more so the mindsets of these talented players are different. These guys expect to win. And when you expect to win, then you do the things necessary to prepare yourself to meet those expectations. That is what I see on the horizon.

    One team beat last season’s National Champions, ONE. In that game against Clemson, the Panthers had plenty of opportunities to fold up their tents and go home with the rationalization that they had played a tuff game in defeat. Pitting was right there for the taking, but there was no SOP in that effort. That win came as a result of them wanting it more than they did. No gifts, the Panthers earned that victory. That’s a cultural change that we witnessed in that contest, as Panther fans it’s a mindset we have to embrace ourselves.

    You’ll see that difference all season long come 2017. It may not result in a championship season but it will result in a team that has no quit in it. The rest will take care of itself.

    Hail to Pitt!

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    1. Doc, I agree with your views here. Might take until after the GT game, but this defense is going to be tough once these guys get some experience. The talent is there; the only thing missing now is that part of the learning process that can only come from experience in real games.

      Go Pitt.

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    2. Doc, what do you eat for breakfast each day? I’d like to go out right now and get some of what you had. I think I’d be flying pretty high all day long.

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  21. Just a note….our offense is losing 4 NFL draft players. The offense is going to slip.

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  22. For those complaining about the baseball team, Kent State has been one of the top teams in the MAC year in and year out, making the NCAA tourney 6 times in the past decade and appearing once in the College World Series during that span. They had a pitcher drafted in the 1st round of the MLB draft last year. College sports besides football and basketball are different animals, you would be surprised what schools can compete with the big boys. Losing to Kent State in baseball isn’t that embarrassing … losing to Kent State in the sweet 16 is another story, not sure if I’ll ever get over that loss.

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  23. Concerning a post ^^^

    That’s right wwb, some hold it against Tom Mac, that he didn’t start at QB until his senior season. MacVittie was behind a two or three year starter at QB but he did play and excel at WR his junior year.

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  24. Hey Chris Dokish and Chris Peak,

    I’m not sure I understand your perceived glee by Arizona losing last night.

    What did Sean Miller do wrong? All he did was to quash internet rumors that he flew to Pgh to sign on as Pitt BB coach. And he did it without one negative word about his alma mater (go back and read the statement.)

    That is called ‘class’ … something the current Pitt BB coach, whom you seem to champion, sorely lacks!

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    1. By the way, I’m afraid Pitt has become Rumor U! A few famous incidents

      1) all Pitt athletes are being called into the sports admin offices to announce that Pitt will be 12th member of the Big 10. (national news story)

      2) Walt Harris flew to Kentucky to interview for the HC position (he never left town)

      3) Sean Miller was seen arriving at Pgh Int’l Airport to accept Pitt BB HC position (national news)

      4) Tom Bradley will be the hired as new Pitt FB HC (from a Channel 4 sports source)

      and of course … Dam Marino is on drugs (In fact, before drafting him, Shula actually called Foge to ensure this was false)

      These are off the top of my head …. I’m sure you all can readily think of more

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  26. Reed, was there any vertical passing in the time you spent there? Trying to get a handle on arm strength for these guys. Also,how about on-the-field presence. Did Browne seem to want to take control?

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    1. FWIW, while arm strength is certainly a great asset for a QB to have …. there are certainly more traits to consider. On-the-field presence is certainly one of them.

      Van Pelt, Palko and Stull are were effective QBs at Pitt … and if anything, they were among the weakest arms to start here.

      IMO, the biggest asset is having a great OL to protect you.

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  27. wwb, Van Pelt, Palko and Stull all played professionally, at least for awhile. and right, they didn’t have rifles for arms.

    BTW Reed, I checked Nate Peterman’s height and it looks like he is listed at 6’2″..

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  28. Guys, you are overblowing the Sean Miller deal. The internet only went against him after he himself said he was outcoached by the Xavier Coach. He did that to take the pressure off his guys that couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn for the last 3 minutes and also….wait for it….because the Xavier head coach was his assistant coach at xavier and they are great friends. Why not be respectful and say something nice to a guy that helped you make $5M a year or whatever Miller gets. Miller in essence, gives Xavier Coach and players additional confidence going to the next game by saying that. Class Act. So quick to crush, when it was harmless. Miller took the blame for his guys failing to sink a basket.

    Stallings could learn from this for sure but I don’t see any great friendships that he has developed. What does the Stallings coaching tree look like? Perhaps that is another way to measure how good a head coach is. I don’t know the answer but would love to find out.

    I miss the swearing……

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  30. I find it weird we didn’t open up Pro Days to the media in the past. Who wouldn’t want to get all the tape on a kid? If the kid doesn’t think he has good tape, why would he go to the pro day?

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    1. LOL, you would think they would hold the scrimmage at the indoor facility to ensure secrecy.

      However, I hear the the robotic engineering dept is working on a gigantic clone of silence to encompass the field.

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  32. Missing Wlat.

    I enjoyed your “man cave” on the podcast. I actually own a sports memorabilia and framing shop and would enjoy showing you how those jerseys “could” look with some different framing.

    Shoot me your email. Mine is jason@mvp-authentics.com

    NOTE This is not an attempt to break the “no solicitation” rules on here. Just trying to show off some cool Pitt stuff to a fellow fan.

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    1. Thanks, Jay. I know what they could look like with professional framing. I also know how much it costs. Also, the wall space I had for the 4 jerseys is not big enough for the full sized frames.

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  33. One of the problems with this years’ BB team is several (I think 4) players were drafted and all signed (which was a surprise).

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  34. Are the Miller brothers really that much better than Jamie Dixon. Better recruiters for sure. But maybe that means Dixon did almost as good with less talent. Just a thought.

    At this point, I would take their dad as head coach at Pitt.

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  35. John Miller was so much fun to watch.. He’s 74 now but I’d pay to see that little guy screaming and yelling again.. Could he be worse than Stallings?

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  36. Look at Dr Tom, eating the breakfast of champions every morning while lounging down south in the warm climate. Funny though. Not a real big breakfast fan. Love the late night snacks.

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    2. In larger cities, people are much less likely to take ownership of the local college team, especially when it is competing with a local, revered NFL team. This is Pitt’s issue in a nutshell

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  40. There’s plenty of issues with PITT’s attendance and a smaller consistent fan-base is probable the biggest. Here may be another. We all look at the road schedule for PITT and see if there is a destination we might like to attend. Plenty of nice schools with rural campuses we all like to enjoy. The same can go for PITT. It’s a fairly big city with lots of things to see. Visiting fans will dry up as the season goes along and deep towards the holidays. Especially if PITT has a non-rival game scheduled. The students are all home for their holiday and no one is going to visit PITT on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

    There’s also the big issue with having a big school/rivalry game scheduled. We found that out last year, as I fully new ahead of time, that visiting teams fans buy season tickets show up big time and have zero plans of coming back to a PITT game. This reason is obvious to most.

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  41. Pitt in a down cycle

    Chris Peak‏ @PantherLair 9m

    #Pitt women’s basketball news: leading scorer Brenna Wise is leaving the program, the school announced today

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    1. The good old days — 2009

      Pitt FB 1 point shy of BCS bowl; Men’s BB 2 points shy of Final 4 … and even Pitt Women’s BB finished 25-8 losing in Sweet 16

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  43. Over at PSN there’s a nice interview with Rob Harley on our 2017 linebacking crew that was just posted. Speed , speed and more speed seems to consensus from the coach. Now if he can just get them running in the right direction along with keeping constant pressure on the opposition QB’s.

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  44. ^Good point. Here we find out that Galambos wasn’t exactly a slug but has ok speed for a middle linebacker. Who knew? Superman couldn’t have dropped back into coverage when the opposing QB’s took a shot gun snap and immediately lunched the ball. It’s going to take adjustment by the defensive coaches to change up the scheme. Kind of like when a running back gets fumble-itis. The other team is going to try extra hard to strip the ball from him each and every time. Speed won’t matter until PITT fixes the problem of the hike and heave!

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  45. If your unsuccessful when dropping into coverage then the only alternative is to blitz on almost all plays and leave the CB’s on their own, Kind what we have been doing the past two years without much success. Getting to the QB(and not letting him get away) one second sooner on average might make a dramatic difference this coming year. Let’s hope so anyway.

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  46. Reed,
    You’re the next best thing to being there!!!
    Dr Tom,
    Too much information about breakfast!!! :>)

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  47. ShowerThoughts: If our secondary ever gets to the point where they are mentally and physically capable of playing isolated football, I would love for opposing teams to just toss the ball up and hope their receiver catches it.

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  48. Reed – really enjoyed these last two articles with a great inside look at the program.

    I think what I am most encouraged by from all these practice reports and everything else i read or seen pertaining to Pitt football is that it is clear that Narduzzi’s culture has set in.

    Every interview or practice report seems to highlight the constant competition, intensity, and toughness that Narduzzi has instilled in this program, which really seems to have been exemplified with the outgoing senior class. They set the expectation for younger players that Narduzzi wanted and they seem to be damn proud with what they accomplished with Narduzzi. Imagine that, a generation of players who want to come back and support this program (their old coach still there) with all their heart Recruits always seem to mention the likability of Narduzzi, the organized/up tempo practices, and the family atmosphere. On top of that (and the reason I give Barnes more credit than the rest of you), the support staff has been developed and really emphasize success off the field. I have a couple buddies in the department who can attest to that.

    Although the last two years were 8-5 seasons, I have never felt as optimistic about the program as I do now. I think Narduzzi is building something for the long haul and seems to be doing it the right way. We will never be Penn State football and that is just fine because Duzz seems to be carving out his niche in the CFB landscape.

    The ultimate test will be keeping him here. I already hear rumors of ND taking major interest in him. Of course many would say he’ll jump ship for such an elite program, but I must say, in my gut, Narduzzi feels different…

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  49. Attended the Pitt at Miami womens BB game last year. Sat with Mr. Wise and a couple of other parents. Mr. Wise was all positive about Pitt at that time. A couple of other parents weren’t thrilled about Suzie’s daughter being on the team. Wonder what happened with Brenna Wise between then and now. This is beginning to look like Agnes part II.

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  50. Looks like psu will be celebrating the 35th anniversary of the 1982 NC when they face Pitt in creepy valley this September.

    One of my business partners was on that team and just received his invite…

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  51. Mass exodus of players on an under performing basketball team that lost to Duquesne.
    Oh, this is the women’s team.
    Brenna Wise all-ACC Academic team.
    Lead Pitt in rebounds and points.
    Not good.

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  52. About the attendance issue. I sat in the upper tier visitors side for the Georga Tech game last year and found out that the gang in that part of the stands were all Dubois coaches and athletes that came down to the Pitt game because Fullington Trailways( the official PSU bus line) purchased hundreds of season tickets just to set up package bus trips for the PS game. They still had oodles of them so gave a freebie Pitt game to the Dubois gang. Also talked to ND fans at Wm. Penn one year who all had bought Pitt season tickets just for the ND/Pitt game. If these tickets don’t get put up and sold on e-bay that accounts for a lot of empty seats that were sold but don’t produce fans for other Pitt games. Of course if western Pa. had some economic growth maybe we would have more alums in for day trip games instead of losing so many to far away parts of the country. Was in that boat myself for 15 yrs. Hopefully the new gas cracker plant and the spin off industries it will spawn will start to reverse that and keep more alums in the area if the wacko environmentalists from Philadelphia don’t still find a way to derail this.

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    1. in 2013 opener vs Florida St, we sat next to a couple of ND fans from the North Hills who did the same. They purchased season tickets just to watch the ND game later that year (Pitt beat them.) That was the only other game they attended.

      Law of supply and demand … the less demand for tickets, the lower the price.

      Yes, we need a smaller stadium … but maybe not in Oakland.

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  55. here is an excerpt from a Centre Daily Times article of a statement former FBI director, Freeh, released yesterday after the verdict:

    The two-page document Freeh sent out following Spanier’s verdict ended with criticism for the current administration and board.

    “Barron and a coterie of ‘Paterno denier’ board members, alumni, cult-like groups such as Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, a former professional football player, and certain elected state political hacks, have been nothing but apologists for Paterno, Spanier, Schultz and Curley, more concerned about bringing back a bronze statue than worrying about the multiple child victims who have forever been so grievously harmed on the PSU campus,” he wrote. “Barron can do one, last good act of service to PSU by resigning, and taking along with him board members like Anthony P. Lubrano and Albert L. Lord, who have no vision for PSU except a ‘rear-view’ one.”

    Freeh’s statements were verified by his attorney, Robert Heim.

    “They are authentic,” he said. “They reflect Judge Freeh’s considered opinion.”

    Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/education/penn-state/jerry-sandusky/article140671973.html#storylink=cpy

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    1. read the comments from the linked article above …. more denials from the the deniers

      maybe the wall intended to Make America Great Again should be built around Centre County PA

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  56. Living in central PA, I find the comments to be scary, but not surprising.
    409 stickers all over. JVP.
    I would contribute funds for a wall. Money well spent.

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  60. That’s a great subject Reed, I have it written down for round-table discussion I was going to send to you. An article would even be better.

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  61. PittPT: as a memorial to his lasting earthly image, they shudda put Joe in his coffin face down!!

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  62. Why is everyone so infatuated with filling a 70k stadium. In Pitt’s glory years, it was 50k max. That was before Pittsburgh lost 500k of its population. Build a smaller stadium. In the meantime, begin tarping off sections of Heinz. Getting 40k into a stadium is pretty good for any college team particularly a city school. Dont try to act like a big state school located in the middle of nowhere.

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  63. Tx, missed you again last Tuesday night

    Would love to know the cost of tarping off large sections of Heinz Field. The stadium authority isn’t going to pay for that. I also don’t like the idea much because it’s a defeatist attitude. The fans sitting at home should be forced to see an empty seat they should have been sitting in!

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  64. BTW, I meant no offense to the long distance PITT fans with my last comment. I realize that some of you guys live a little to far to commute to every game.

    Anyone pick up the diverse group of guys that Reed had on the round-table the other night? One from the Pittsburgh area (me), one from Georgia. (Doc), one from Texas (Pittfan4) Texas, one from Wilkes-Barre (Wlat) and one from Maryland (Reed himself)

    Join in all you other other guys.

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  65. Unbelieveable WI – FL game last night. Two shots into overtime and at end.

    Reminds me of our football losses.

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  66. It may be a defeatist attitude but it’s also a realist attitude. If Pitt isn’t playing the domers, nitters or hoopies, the stadium will be half empty. Hence build a smaller venue. Or make Heinz more cozy and less cavernous. We need to embrace who we are. A city school with 30-40k of loyal fans who rival any other fans in any other conference for loyalty. And that says something for being a city school that’s had CRAPPY AD’s over decades and chancellors who don’t care about sports. Pitt has done everything to give itself a self imposed death penalty yet it still has a pulse. Think about that. It’s pretty amazing that we still draw the numbers we do and are at least regionally relevant with a recognized brand.

    Could have made that change yourself TX… Other than that I agree with every word. This puts any AD in a tough position.

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  68. Living in suburbia Houston, TX ( now the 3rd largest city in the US of A, the Houston Cougars have the same attendance problem but even worse! Here’s a city 5xs or more bigger than the Burg and U of H attendance traditionally lags behind the Pitt Panthers. As we all know, Miami also struggles with attendance. In fact, basically all urban universities share in this struggle. As one cagey old timer once said “it is what it is.” The response (from another older guy “just win baby!”

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  69. And the cougars just built an on campus new stadium, right? 40k seats? Cincy got it right. They tried playing in the pro stadium and quickly realized they needed to put the money in nippert. 45k seats. Miami, same thing. University of ky just finished a $125M refurb in order to keep stoops happy, and their team stinks!

    45k stadium works for Pitt. How many seats is the CMU stadium?

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  70. The college game is meant to be played in a college venue on campus. Without it, students and fans miss out on the college experience and traditions. The experience creates memories associated with alma mater. Memories lead to loyalty and donations. That’s the front porch. An OCS.

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  71. I look forward to Populous releasing their feasibility study this summer. Heinz only has another 15 years. Where does Pitt want to be when the implosion happens?

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  72. Huff,
    Good point. Our problem is where do we put the stadium?
    Maybe float it on the Mon! :>)

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  73. Their still isn’t much in panther hollow so why not resurrect the plan Pitt had at the time of Majors II and put it there.It’s true the on campus atmosphere makes the game day experience. When I was at Pitt we lived at the Bellefield. On game day we were up early policed the apartment grabbed something to eat and trudged up center avenue to the game. After the game we were home in time for early supper and then hit the books for the eve. unless it was a big win like in 59 when Pitt knocked off undefeated ND and PS whereupon we marcher straight to the Luna and joined in the celebrations that spilled out onto Craig and Center. Yes on campus is better for all. The north side sucks as far as I am concerned its barren and overly commercialized by the down town moneygrubers. H2P

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  74. The CMU stadium seating capacity is 3,500 in the grandstands with multiple standing room viewing options available.

    Nice track though…

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