in ACC, Admin Pitt, Conference, Defense, Donations, Media, Offense, Pat Narduzzi, Pitt Football, Pitt POV, Players, POV Events, Recruiting 546 Words

Hot Off the Press; POV Roundtable for 7/12/17

 

We had a blast with the call-in show last night and again we proved that no matter who shows up at the Roundtable we are the most knowledgeable Pitt fans in existence.  Of course that is facetious as I’ve met many fans through other venues who know a ton about Pitt football also.

The civil tone was lowered just a smidgen from last week with both Ike and the infamous Dr. Tom coming onboard.  I’m ordering a cut-off button today for future short-story answers to pretty simple and plain questions.

Some items discussed were:

The role of Pitt’s AD and how we feel Heather Lyke is doing… and what she needs to do.

Did Scott Barnes leave the department in good shape?

How we would feel if we had a third consecutive season with 8-5 including a bowl loss.

The D1 Learfield Directors Cup standings; this lists the comparisons of all D1 schools in all sports (not just the 128 in football). 

Cup 2

Pitt finished an abysmal 92nd place over all (above) and next to last in the ACC conference (below).  Thus the questions above of what AD Lykes has ahead of her.

Cup 1

The lingering, or non-lingering, effects of the PSU and Clemson wins last season and…

Which two players did we think were going to be first year starters at Pitt and have break-out seasons or even stardom?

Ike picked Dintino & Zeise, Tom; QB Browne & WR Flowers, Pitt-Cocks (Richard); DT Carter & LB Pine and Richman (Rich); DB Ford & QB Browne.  I said I though it would be LB Wirginis and TE Clark.

On another note:

during the podcast we discussed Ford;s eligibility for the 2018 season and in the comments yesterday it was mentioned that because he had a number assigned it might mean he’ll be on the team come September.

That isn’t necessarily so.  Ford has had a rocky last three years in HS and the concern that his academics will keep him out of Pitt for a full year is certainly valid.  As of now he isn’t enrolled for the summer term as most recruits do so they can attend the camp in August.

Here is a  Post-Gazette article describing his going to three different high schools and why he transferred from one to another. In it you’ll see that he’s work to do on the academic side.  But – going to prep school for a year can really set these young men up for the future as long as it is a viable prep school, like local The Kiski School,  and not a football factory school like Milford Academy that just pumps out faux-grades to get kids eligible to play ball.

Let’s hope he takes seriously the advantage of any extra year if that is the course he has to go… and remember he’ll have to be re-recruited as his 2017 Pitt LOI is invalid if he never enrolls.  Best if he gets things straight for Fall Camp of course.

Last Thing:

Here is a video of one of our POV’ers sons playing kick-ass BB at the underrated City League Allderdice HS and he’s in line for a D1 scholarship in the not-too-distant future.

From the POV PIV (Politically Incorrect Vault):

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58 thoughts on “Hot Off the Press; POV Roundtable for 7/12/17”

  1. From the last thread, really hoping they get Ford in this year.

    We have lamented the Director’s cup standings for several years. Obviously there has been no improvement.

    It is a very telling evaluation on how much or little Pitt values athletics.

    Will Heather make a difference? shouldn’t be that hard to improve from the bottom.

    Makes it harder to recruit in Football and Basketball, when you don’t value athletes in general.

    Probably a reason for poor attendance for football. Nerds are less likely to attend football games or be interested in school spirit. They are certainly important academically but this is primarily a football blog.

    If you are interested in the long term increase in Football attendance, a good start would be to place more value on all sports teams and bring more great athletes to Pitt in all sports.

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  2. Athletes would be less likely to leave after the third quarter.

    There are smart athletes as well, Stanford has the most National Championships in all sports.

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  3. It all starts w/ accountability. For way too long, the Pitt athletic dept has been run like an academic college at the University. Athletes graduate in the Olympic sports the coach has a job for life. How long did the tennis coach accomplish basically nothing on the court? 25 years?? Outside of football, mens/womens basketball and I guess volleyball there has been zero accountability w/ regards to athletic results. So why should anyone be surprised that Pitt is at the bottom of the standings?

    I can only imagine the backlash Lyke received for letting go the gymnastics coach of what? 30 years? And if the coaching ranks is filled w/ a bunch of lazy, do-nothing lifers… I can only imagine what she walked into on the administrative side.

    And Barnes?!? There are 2 coaches in the entire department w/ any street cred… and he forces one of them out. Yeah… good-bye.

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  4. Pitt has a pretty decent wrestling program and in recent years, was pretty good in swimming and diving … but men’s basketball was the only other pretty successful program. Maybe we have to be satisfied with the school being a leading research institution.

    While I would like all sports teams to succeed, it’s really not a high priority IMO

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    1. If we would happen to win a few ACC championships in the Olympic Sports, I highly doubt if it would get us out of the doldrums if FB and MBB were mediocre.

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  5. Accountability is not there. I agree about the coaches that have sucked and still remain. Jordano, etc.

    Pitt athletics is like Congress…..a bunch of unqualified people not producing but they remain in their jobs.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Pitt needs to start taking sports seriously. Its our front porch. A way to brand, a way to connect, a way to develop memories. Thats important for fundraising, for school donations, for school spirit. Pitt is crap when it comes to those things. Always has been. There is no identity or strong sports culture. Few give a rats arse about dear olde alma mater. Few if any traditions, bland game day experiences, no tie in to sports and academics. Other schools get it. Some get it too much…see Pedo State and the Aggies. But Pitt is excrement when it comes to sports and how sports programs can create a wonderful student experience and give alum a way to connect and more importantly pay back.

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  7. It is all about changing the culture, if we want to be CMU, drop the pretense of trying to compete and just have club teams. If you want rah rah spirit like they have at PSU, WVU, ND, tOSU you need to respect and value all sports and athletes. There are great athletes in WPA in all sports, but they leave town to play them.

    If you don’t care about coming in last, shut the athletic department down, just have football and basketball and a couple of womens sports. Unfortunately the ACC would kick us out if we did that.

    At least we had a great frisbee team

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    1. trouble is that if we keep FB, we need a handful of women’s sports to match the number of schollies (I believe Title IX is still in effect)

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  8. I hope she can clean house and stop listening to excuses every year why we didn’t produce. Ther is no excuse like in baseball to have four below 500 seasons playing the cupcakes for twelve easy wins and come in last in the conference in both divisions. Apathy and who cares I think Upitt has to agree 100% to this. It is time to clean house in more than one sport H2P. BEAT PENN STATE

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  9. I see we are projected to be last in ACC BB and not to win the Coastal in FB. I trust in HCPN but one wonders if the Administration even knows about athletics.

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  10. I’d say Barnes left the department in worse condition. He hired the men’s bball coach who guided the team to its worst overall record in 16 seasons and it’s worst conference record in 40 years in his first season. He hired a celebrated men’s soccer coach who lost every conference match in his first season (just like his predecessor in his final season). He gave the women’s bball coach an extension after one good season and women’s bball is 6-26 in conference games since. He gave the softball coach an extension after one good season and her record is 15-31 in conference since.

    I don’t see any correlation between success in no/low revenue sports and football or basketball recruiting. I’ve never once heard an athlete state it as a factor in their decision. I’ve never even seen anybody who makes a living reporting on recruiting even imply the relationship. I would be more inclined to believe that it may work in reverse in that no/low revenue athletes are attracted to schools with successful football and basketball programs.

    Pitt has upgraded its facilities for baseball, softball, soccer (including new dome) and track. They also updated The Pete just last year. Seems like there is some commitment there.

    I personally don’t have a problem if Pitt administration wants to compete at a low-mid D1 level, run clean programs and graduate good student/athletes. I am proud that 2 of those 3 have been true for years. Just be up front about it, don’t charge much if any for entrance, and don’t publicly lament the lack of fan support.

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  11. NOTE: PSN has published the just released Pitt pre season depth chart. Anybody pick up something very interesting about those listed on our offensive line?

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  12. There is absolutely no reason to have a sports team if you don’t want to win. No you can’t win every year unless you are the Harlem Globetrotters. I guess Pitt is happy being the Washington Generals.

    I agree with no correlation between Football and basketball recruiting, but is that what this is about.

    The bottom line is the University doesn’t believe in athletes unless they generate revenue. That is very sad.

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  13. I suppose you’re talking about the 4 freshman backups?

    What i found interesting was that Brightwell is listed ahead of Wirginis. Which proves the preseason fall camp depth chart is pretty much worthless to me.

    Another note lists Hamlin back at corner-back. So I am taking the list as ultra tentative conservative.

    About the new AD Heather Lyke, did we really want another AD that blows into town and starts making changes before she knows what she is talking about? Did we want to have change Upitt’s name to Upittsburgh again? She’s doing the right things in my opinion by keeping her eyes and ears open and saying very little. and BTW, she just addressed the secondary Olympic sports and has confirmed her commitment to bolstering them up to be more competitive, I say we give her some more time before rushing to judgement… or not… ike

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  14. Redshirt freshman backups on the O-line indicates some poor recruiting, and trouble if we have injuries.

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    1. There are a couple ways to look at it gc. Reese, Baker and one other I believe should be starting seniors or at least senior back-ups. Chyrst recruits.

      Or is Narduzzi doing such a fine job his O-Line recruits jumped to the front of the line?

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      1. I would not take this depth chart serious at all. BTW, Reese and Baker are long gone.
        Current OL roster:

        OL 6’6″ 350 LBS 54 JUSTIN MORGAN
        REDSHIRT FRESHMAN BRONX, N.Y. POLY PREP COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

        OL 6’7″ 320 LBS 55 JARYD JONES-SMITH
        REDSHIRT SENIOR CAMDEN, N.J. WEST CATHOLIC (PA)

        OL 6’5″ 310 LBS 56 BRANDON FORD
        REDSHIRT FRESHMAN PITTSBURGH, PA. UPPER ST. CLAIR

        OL 6’6″ 280 LBS 57 GABE HOUY
        FRESHMAN PITTSBURGH. PA. UPPER ST. CLAIR

        OL 6’5″ 320 LBS 59 TONY PILATO
        REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE GREENSBURG, PA. HEMPFIELD AREA

        OL 6’3″ 270 LBS 60 OWEN DREXEL
        FRESHMAN MONTCLAIR, N.J. MONTCLAIR

        OL 6’4″ 340 LBS 63 ALEX OFFICER
        REDSHIRT SENIOR ROCHESTER, N.Y. EASTRIDGE

        OL 6’3″ 295 LBS 67 JIMMY MORRISSEY
        REDSHIRT FRESHMAN HUNTINGDON VALLEY, PA. LA SALLE COLLEGE H.S.

        OL 6’6″ 305 LBS 70 BRIAN O’NEILL
        REDSHIRT JUNIOR WILMINGTON, DEL. SALESIANUM SCHOOL

        OL 6’4″ 310 LBS 71 BRYCE HARGROVE
        REDSHIRT FRESHMAN AKRON, OHIO COVENTRY

        OL 6’5″ 255 LBS 72 CARSON VAN LYNN
        FRESHMAN WORTHINGTON, OHIO WORTHINGTON, KILBOURNE

        OL 6’5″ 315 LBS 74 JERRY DRAKE JR.
        FRESHMAN PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLA. PALM BEACH GARDENS

        OL 6’3″ 315 LBS 76 CONNOR DINTINO
        REDSHIRT JUNIOR MASHPEE, MASS. CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL (CONN.)

        OL 6’5″ 325 LBS 77 CARTER WARREN
        FRESHMAN PATERSON, N.J. PASSAIC TECH

        OL 6’6″ 315 LBS 78 ALEX BOOKSER
        REDSHIRT JUNIOR PITTSBURGH, PA. MT. LEBANON

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        1. Wouldn’t that indicate lack of depth recruiting by Chryst? No poor recruiting, but lack of #’s.

          Narduzzi is getting the #’s – hopefully the depth is serviceable with future starters with NFL potential…

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      1. Bond: So Mr Goldfinger, I suppose you expect me talk

        Goldfinger: No Mr Bond, I expect you to die

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  19. wwb, yes they are long gone. What I meant to say there is that they should be in the mix but imo and theirs I think, they were out of the loop for playing time due to better younger players. Which to me means that Narduzzi is doing ok recruiting O-Lineman and PITT should be good there in the short future at least.

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  21. About that new PITT depth chart. This Narduzzi is still thinking he’s some kind of a C.I.A. director. I’m not buying it although a portion of it could be true. He still reminds me of Jackie Sherrill with all the shrouded mystery and secrecy. Get ready to learn as little as possible come fall camp. AND NO ACCESS REED!!

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    1. Well said Ike. You bring back fond memories of one really great Pitt HC. Thanks for comparing the two.

      I Lyke it!

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  22. Excuuuse me.. knights of the ROUNDTABLE….
    Reed , I emailed you a couple of questions to ask Tyler…Why he chose PITT… What was his take on the Heinz atmosphere, ( did it matter to him) what he would suggest to improve attendance and the atmosphere

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    1. I remember reading that he was likely going to PSU if it weren’t for the sanctions, ironically, I believe former PItt WR coach Bobby Engram (a former Nit) was instrumental in recruiting him.

      And if memory serves … HCPC brought in Clairton teammates T Webb and B Coles to help entice Boyd

      But for all I know, he may have always intended on attending the local school

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  23. Just looked at the round table article. The 4 lowest ACC schools in the directors cup just happen to be the 4 schools located in major cities with multiple pro teams. Hummmmmm

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Just the thought of Dennis Briggs starting at safety gives me the willies! My last thought of him is standing there trying to make a tackle on a running back 1 on 1. I think it was the Bowl game. He looked like a deer in the headlights in open field.

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  26. Thanks EE, Sherrill was a one of a kind man and coach.

    BigB, great question. Question for you. Why aren’t you a knight of the round-table yet? Bet you have great stories.

    Anon, B Coles = Trenton Coles.

    PittFaninSC, I wouldn’t worry too much about Briggs starting at safety right now.

    JoeKnew, you raise a great point. Playing in a pro stadium is one thing while practicing with a team at the facility of the Steeler’s stature is just a little bit different. (better) as Tossing points out concerning the other bigger city school’s with Pro teams. Will PITT ever see one without the other? Highly doubt it.. ike

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  27. I know. But just the thought of it freaks me out. Can anybody on the site take the test for Paris Ford?

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  32. Urban schools do have it harder but still no excuse for this level of surreal incompetence. Urban schools need to be more selective in what sports to put money into. They need to work harder for the entertainment dollar and do a better job with connecting with alumni. Most elite schools are your large state schools located in the middle of (nowhere) states with no competition from pro teams. Pitt has really missed out on basketball. I dont see Pitt ever being more popular than the Stillers or Pens…hell Pitt doesnt even have a D1 hockey team yet (but a damn good club). I think Lacrosse could be big. Baseball and soccer will always play second fiddle. Wrestling, volleyball, swimming and track might not draw, but Pitt could be competitive.

    But dont talk down to me Heather about attendance. Pitt gets what it deserves.

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  33. Ike .. plan on joining in soon.. only time I participated (had a blast) I was drinking my Manhattens thought I would check it out just messing around -called in via telephone – was so surprised when Reed answered !!! Need to get microphone for computer( I have never communicated via computer-skype) then down a few dark n stormies give’er a go and see if I can log-on…..

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  34. Just watched the round table. Richman – thanks for the slow walking tour of your house & introducing us to your dog & wife. But you need to share your snacks. Dr Tom – Is that a live oak in your yard? Ike – always a pleasure to interact with you. Reed another good round table. It should have been, we had three tries at it.

    Someone else needs to join because I am obviously the weakest link in the round table. I did see a deer just outside the kitchen window during the discussion. Normally, they stay at the tree line 150′ away.

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  35. Pitt-cocks: weak link my ass. Your wisdom, knowledge and experience makes for great conversation. Richman with his wife and dog sounded like they were up to hi-jinx with his giggling at times. 🙂 Meanwhile, I mumble like a half-wit but have so much fun doing it.

    Where has Pittman been? Get with it man and hope all is well!

    Doc and Reed are just great with Reed correcting Doc on the straying from the question with his answers. PRICELESS!! We are just real PITT fans talking about our team… It’s all about the POV…..us …ike

    We All We Got
    We All We Need
    H2P!

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  36. BigB, you will need a mic and bluejeans is not even a download. You hit a button type in Reed’s pass-code and start spreading your vast history and knowledge while having a blast. Have to get in form for the upcoming season, which should be loads of fun. BOOM! …………….. …ike

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  37. Sorry about the trifecta here but wanted to drop Reed a note since it takes him awhile to read all his E-mails. We didn’t talk about he nice psu porch-flag you sent and wanted to say thanks. (already sold it for $25)

    Found a nice psu little girls tee-shirt at Dicks sporting goods today I was going to buy and send you but at fifty bucks, you would probably prefer the cash next month? 🙂 …ike

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  38. TX P – I agree that urban schools have it harder, and also agree with the no excuses comment. Out here Denver University decided, without much history, to be good at hockey, lacrosse and men’s basketball. Within a few years they were. They play D-I hockey and lacrosse and have won national championships in both, I believe. They’ve been up and down in BB. Nice campus located within the city limits a few miles from downtown. Not much physical room to grow the campus. Pitt just needs the will. And then they will find a way.

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  39. I am posting this PSN article for two reasons:

    1) it is a blatant example of an article Reed posted recently, and

    2) sometimes we make inferences as to why a player is no longer on the roster .. most of the time, we assume that the coaches give them their walking papers, but that’s not always so

    http://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2017/07/13/challingsworth-honor-late-brother/

    The article says that Zach has a year of eligibility left but my guess that if you uses it, it will be at Cal (PA) … but best wishes to him on whatever he does

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  40. Just looking at the 2 deep, holy cow, we have a young team which is set to reap dividends next year and beyond (I would be satisfied with 7-8 wins in ’17 with this young group) It’s a damn shame ” the yips-droppsies” isn’t a medical diagnosis. Jester would have at least one more year of eligibility.

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  42. The article says Hamlin will play safety, but the depth chart has him at corner?

    Wonder if he is finally healthy.

    In any case, I think there will be multiple changes by the first game.

    Jerry Drake must really be something.

    With the problems at ESPN, will the ACC ever get its own network?

    Will ND ever get off its high horse and be a full member?

    Is it better or worse to play one or two tough out of conference games each year?

    Especially when we get ND, FLST, or Clemson on the schedule?

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    1. as i said above, I would take this depth chart with a grain of salt

      I agree that Drake must be good … but it also indicates the lack of OL depth with all of the attrition in the off-season

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  43. Pitt is asking for new members for the Panther Fan Experience Committee. Just got an email.

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  44. About Hamlin’s position confusion? That tells us a lot about the depth chart put out. It’s not written in concrete.

    I’ve read a couple places that Hamlin” recovered and ready to play.

    I agree with you completely.

    Drake will start many games in his PITT future. (maybe the first game) Drake and Warren were great additions last year

    The ACC network is still very much on according to Swofford and his recent press release. BTW, I think football networks are exactly what ESPN is looking to do. (pay per view)

    ND won’t do what it doesn’t have to. They actually sicken me with their smugness.

    Remember just recently there was talk about extending the college football season an extra week and playing one more game, giving teams an extra off week. How this will effect schedule is unknown.

    Attendance puts PITT in a catch 22. Playing weak teams don’t draw fans but wins are almost a given. Playing the tougher teams could cost them a playoff spot. (see PITT vs psu last year) oops.

    Actually playing local rivalries makes the most sense to me while throwing in a team like Oklahoma State this year. Hopefully the years they play the bigger teams they are up to the task. Like next year. This years schedule worked out perfectly for PITT imo..

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  45. Yeah I read mine as well. Would we have to be meet in person? I’m not doing that. How bout they use bluejeans?

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