We had an abbreviated Call-in show last evening due to 1) being on a bye weekend and 2) there’s only so much to discuss at this point that hasn’t been covered in other Roundtables. We even dragged out recruiting which is, let’s be honest, so highly subjective that discussions about it don’t really get anywhere.
But even with that we had a good time last night bouncing thoughts around between Matt, Richard and myself.
Recruiting is a funny business
Much has been said about Narduzzi and staff’s recruiting over the last three years. A commenter posted up Chris Dokish’s latest article about this subject – a response to Pitt fan’s disappointment over missing out on Kwantel Raines and the shortage (void actually) of 4* recruits in our 2018 class. Here it is and it is a good read.
I’ll post the summation because that is the heart of these discussions:
1. Yes, it’s great to have a roster filled with 4 and 5 star prospects if you want to win a national championship, but there’s only about a dozen programs that can do that. Pitt isn’t one of them.
2. Pitt, however, is in the next group of programs, and that group can win with a roster filled with mostly 3 star prospects, as long as they identify the right players, and put them in a position to succeed. In other words, recruiting and coaching.
3. Recruiting websites are a great resource, but they should not be taken as gospel. Five star prospects often do nothing, two star prospects often do a lot, and three and four star prospects are the same level of player.
4. Like Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma State, Pitt is capable of getting into the top 15, too, because they are all recruiting similarly. And getting into the top 25 is even more possible because at worse, they recruit as well, and in a handful of cases they recruit significantly better.
5. It’s still an unknown if Pat Narduzzi is one of those coaches, like Mike Gundy, Paul Chryst, and Justin Fuente, that can identify talent, then put them in the best position to win, but if he isn’t one of those coaches, we know that that it is possible that Pitt can be just as successful as Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma State with the right coach.
In a nutshell Chris is saying that if you can’t get top shelf 4* or 5* kids you have to rely on coaching… well that certainly makes sense. But it still does not mitigate the need to still get the best possible HS players possible for your program to overcome any shortcomings you may have on your coaching staff.
It is kind of silly to honestly look at this issue and think that it is OK for our high school recruiting to be average because we have the coaching chops on the staff to turn lower ranked kids into highly productive or star players en masse. You just cannot do that at this point in time.
Just because that does happen sometimes doesn’t mean that it will do so all or even most of the time. I believe everyone and his brother would say that you want to stockpile the best and most talented kids you can on your roster to ensure your talent level is high enough to win games on a consistent basis.
Sure, some 4* kids don’t pan out – but a hell of a lot of 3* kids don’t pan out either. I’ll take a majority of the higher ranked kids in that case. Isn’t that just logical as hell? To want your across the board talent level to be as high as possible to account for the cases where the other players don’t make the grade?
I think this article was a lengthy excuse making attempt for this staff and their rather tepid recruiting so far. Sure you can cherry pick other schools and say “since they did this well Pitt can also‘ but that is kind of pie in the sky thinking especially when you are pointing to only three out of 128 D1 schools?
And please read that #5 paragraph again and let me know what he’s trying to say here. I think it is that if Narduzzi isn’t as smart as those other three HC’s when it comes to both targeting talent and getting the most out of those average players (BTW fans – the dreaded Paul Chryst is named as one of these can-do coaches)… then if Pitt gets another coach who is that way… we can succeed.
That is obvious – if a coach fails then replace him with someone who doesn’t. In other words can Narduzzi and get someone else who does overcome poor recruiting with brilliant coaching.
Whatever.
I’ll address this and keep it strictly to the University of Pittsburgh’s football program. Our best years in the modern post-WWII era have been Dave Wannstedt’s 2008, ’09 and ’10 seasons when we had 27 wins, averaging 9 wins per year.
In the years leading up to that, 2006, ’07 and ’08, Wannstedt recruited 16 4* and one 5* player.
Is there anyone out there who cannot see the cause and effect here? That the better, more highly rated recruits he brought in directly accounted for better play on the field and thus more wins than we had in 30+ years?
We can parse this subject until the cows come home but I’ll say this again – if you have a roster populated by 3* recruits you are going to see 3* play out of that team… unless as Dokish says you have an unusually adept coaching staff.
If you feel comfortable watching 4* kids turn their backs on Pitt on a regular basis as we have seen over the last two years (with only three 4* recruits out of 37 combined commitments in both 2017 and so far this year ) then good for you. Since Narduzzi got here he’s landed 10 4* players out of 76 total recruits counting those 2018 kids. That is 13% folks, not good and is dwindling each year.
2015 – we landed two 4* recruits
2016 – five 4*
2017 – three 4* and
2018 – zero (0) so far
Spin this anyway you or Chris Dokish want to, and bamboozle with numbers, but our recruiting hasn’t been anything like we fans and the media expected when we hired Pat Narduzzi – especially after two eight win seasons to start off. Can you honestly say that you didn’t think our recruiting was going to really take off with the reputation, energy and personality Pat Narduzzi brought to Pitt back in 2015?
But not only didn’t the recruiting get better but after his first two years it has been dwindling. I think it shows a real lack of recruiting prowess in the case of this staff and it will bite us in the ass in the long run.
We’ll find out next year and the year after just how effective he has been overall in his recruiting efforts – but I read 100+ times over the offseason how this season was going to be special because Narduzzi finally had his own recruits in the starting lineups. Then after the season started and we faltered I read that it isn’t the talent level of these players but their inexperience that is holding us back.
Part of that is true of course and part of it may well be that the recruits he has been landing are your basic and average 3* recruits who are playing at a basic and average 3* level. At this point I keep my fingers crossed that we’ll defy the belief that you must have a superb coaching staff to win with those type of recruits (as Dokish and many of you have said over and over) because I do not think Narduzzi and staff are up to that level of competency.
What would help immediately is to get a real Director of Recruiting instead of someone who has been learning on the job for the last five years at Pitt – Mark Diethorn has not shown anything at all in his three years with Narduzzi in that position in my opinion. He was involved in Pitt’s recruiting for two years under Chryst before Narduzzi came on board and our recruiting wasn’t all that great then either. His track record is… blah.
That might mean twisting an arm or two for some extra money to pay someone capable of succeeding in that position – but something has to change on the staff. Is Charlie Partridge the answer? Fans seem to think so but I’d rather see him in the DC job as his sole responsibility and a good and dedicated Recruiting Director hired to facilitate what is in essence the lifeblood of any college program.
But let’s do stop making excuses for an area of Narduzzi’s coaching responsibilities that really hasn’t lived up to what he said he’d do and what we expected him to do. Is our recruiting terrible – no, not really. Is it good? No, not really also.
And there are young players on this team, 3* kids, who I am really looking forward to watching grow into good, solid players for us in the next few seasons. But I also look at the starting lineups we have now, as young as it is, and don’t really see any players I can point to as game changing contributors. That is also subjective but is how I feel at this point.
So our recruiting is what it is… but it has to be a hell of a lot better if we want to even sniff division, conference or national championships.
pittpov.com 
Reed.
Stop using logic..
All I see is rainbows and unicorns. 2019 National Champions!
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Let me add another variable here….the presence of that smooth-talking used car salesman just to the east, and Brian Kelly at ND. That’s some added pressure that has had a significant impact on the targeted local high school kids that Wanny didn’t have to deal with.
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What is the difference between recruiting director and recruiting coordinator (Harley)?
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Joe Paterno was no bad operator when it came to recruiting he was getting all the good players also over there at PSU.
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PITT is a decent to good QB away for next year. Dinucci is bound to get a little more comfortable through his playing time this year and the surrounding cast of players should be better all around, except…..
for maybe the O-Line. PITT needs O’Neil to come back for PITT’s sake.
It’s not crazy to think it may be a little early to zing Narduzzi for having a down year. Dantino, Franklin and many new coaches may need to take a few years to get put their stamp on a program. Some head coaches walk into a really great setup with a firmly in place football program. << Those guys are are doing well but you still have to wait to how they do with a turnover of some’s else players. It works both way’s imo
Seriously, I’ve been following college football for many many years and considering we are talking about PITT and not Alabama, Ohio State and other elite football programs, I just have never experienced such vitriol toward a brand new Head Coach that starts out with 2, eight regular season wins.
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Reed, I have one issue with what you write above. How can you call Narduzzi’s recruiting tepid yet?
His first class was rated 65th due to the late start. His 2nd class would be sophomores now if not redshirted, like most of them were. His 3rd class are all natural freshmen.
If two years from now, you can see no or little progress … then I will join you.
Boyd who played in a position that relies more on instinct made an immediate impact, but I can’t think of any other recent natural freshman to do so … even Conner who gained approx 500 yds before his breakout in the bowl game vs a MAC school. D Johnson started as a natural frosh due to injury, but struggled his firs 2 years.
I see RS freshmen and sophomores making progress this season … and even more that has shown promise in their limited time ….. like natural freshman Pinnock, DeMarie and of course Pickett.
My question …. where are the 4th or 5th year players on this current roster? Only 1 on defense (Maddox) while Officer and Jones-Smith and even Weah have not played up to good standard.
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The fact that there only a few 4th and 5th players on the current roster is indeed tepid recruiting
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Exactly!
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Out of those 4* recruits back with Wanny that were mentioned (think 15) at least 9 of those players played like 3* at best. << most were invisible.
Plus the comment that they also had “good” 3* recruits sounds like what some on the POV are saying. That PITT is getting some “good” 3* recruits and it’s not just not being excepted.
The cry that a team in PITT’s football situation can’t win with the recruits they have gotten and will be getting is jumping the gun 100%. Calm down and have some dip… ike
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Reed you kind of spout “Fake News” to substantiate your own POV sometimes. You REALLY read 100+ times how “special” this team was going to be?
Really? I read a lot about how getting guys like Browne, Carter, Clarke, Hendrix & Flanagan all on the field that Pitt could weather the loss of all of that senior talent that no longer is around for this year.
With those types coming in the “potential” was his go IF they lived up to expectations. Without a doubt, other than for Flanagan, nobody came in carrying their own weight straightaway. Add to that the suspensions and dismissals at the beginning of the season combined with Aston’s key injury & Paris Ford’s late arrival, we got just what was expected at 2-4 for the first half of the season.
The second half f the season remains to be seen. Getting to 6-6, well that would be special, wouldn’t it?
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Yes, where are all PC’s recruits now and don’t tell me JJS, Officer or O’Neill? << the O-Line has been much maligned all year until recently. Words used like he stinks of he’s terrible. Lumpy stuck it to PITT pretty good.
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Didn’t someone already take a look at those 4 and 5* recruits Wanny got that you mentioned in your article and lay out how most of them were nothing more than average players? Maybe I’m wrong but I thought someone laid that out in a post somewhere. From what I recall, a lot of Wanny’s big gets didn’t prove to play at their proposed star level ranking….not that he didn’t get some good players.
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A question for you locals that might have some access to high school coaches..
How is Narduzzi perceived by coaches and parents? Guys like Fazio, Gottfried and Wanny were well liked locally and their recruiting (not coaching) reflected that. Harris and Chryst were not overly impressive to local coaches and that too, was reflected. Graham was hated and the results showed in recruiting.
Is it not alarming that Narduzzi isn’t “wrapping a fence” around the WPIAL as some others have- particularly after two 8-win seasons. PSU and Notre Dame have always had strong pull in the area, as has WVU so using that as an excuse isn’t really accurate.
I’m not poking at anyone. It’s a valid question. Does anyone have any insight?
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Looking over past Pitt Headcoaches over the last 34 years, the Nard Dog is off to the best start of ANY of them.
Heck he is off to even a better start than Johnny (first time). And with Jackie it’s close for first 2 years.
Jackie had 9 wins + 8 wins for 17. Nard has 8 + 8 for 16. Had we split the Bowls, it would be tied.
Now to go back even farther, you have to go back all the way to Pop Warner, for a coach that
had a better start to his coaching career at Pitt than Nard Dog. Pop was 16-0, his first 2 seasons.
Jock was only 5 wins + 8 wins and then 5 wins again, first 3 seasons. Granted they didn’t play 12 games
then. But still.
So maybe this puts things into perspective.
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Johnny started with absolutely nothing.
The offense was loaded with firepower last year and Canada’s innovation.
Not to downplay what Narduzzi has done so far, but next year is the key.
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Miles Sanders, Khaleke Hudson Lamont Wade, David Adams, Josh Lugg, Donovan Jeter, CJ Thorpe, Kenny Jackson, Sterling Jenkins, Kevin Givens, Jurkovec, Raines, and the Gateway kid that went to IMG Academy, are all local kids that could have made a big difference at Pitt
No, we will never get them all, but Narduzzi is not getting enough and is missing his best opportunity to change the local dynamic and improve the team’s trajectory.
Wanny said he wanted to put a fence around the WPIAL. It is still a worthy goal.
This is not something new. Lavar Arrington, Brandon Short, Sean Lee, Terrelle Pryor and many others were local guys that could have made a major difference to Pitt’s fortunes.
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I agree 100% even if without the data. PSU and Clemson alone give him the cred.
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Yep…and Pitt brass likes his energy and discipline.
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jj posted :Didn’t someone already take a look at those 4 and 5* recruits Wanny got that you mentioned in your article and lay out how most of them were nothing more than average players? Maybe I’m wrong but I thought someone laid that out in a post somewhere.”
Hey jj, the guy you’re talking about was Reed himself…….. wish I could find the comments but it’s true. Now the big guy is going to be pissed at me but that’s how I remember it.
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Narduzzi is recruiting the South, especially Florida, better than either coach in the recent past before him.
I’d like to see him bring in more elite local talent, sure, but Whitehead, Hamlin and Ford have all been big gets for this head coach.
Premature to ridicule, too early to pass judgement. Recruiting, like a fine vintage wine, improves with age. Patience.
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Forgot about Foge….Foge won 9 wins + 8 wins = 17 wins his first 2 season before the bottom fell out.
He had the remnants of three 11-1 teams though, plus Hall of Famer Danny M at QB for the 9 win season.
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Foge was given the keys to the Ferrari and drove it into a ditch.
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lol
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Kevin Gibbons a local kid? Lets get map-quest out.
Altoona to state college….. 47 miles
Altoona to Pittsburgh 98 miles
Let’s not talk falsely here said the joker to the thief. (all along the watchtower)
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..says the guy who didn’t realize Morgantown was three times further away from Aliquippa than Oakland.
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..says the guy who didn’t realize Morgantown was three times as from Aliquippa as Oakland.
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as soon as PSU offered, Givens accepted. Pitt never had a chance after that.
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Altoona does play in the WPIAL. Quad A….
And believe it or not up until a couple of years ago (2007 or so) the 50 mile drive to creepy valley was just as brutal if not worse than the drive to the burgh.
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Reed
10 out of 76 4* recruits? There were 76 4* recruits from WPIAL?
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Is that over 10 years?
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If anyone happened to stay up after game 7 was over last night, one of the main things talked about was how did the Astros go from continually having 100 loss seasons to becoming World Series Champions? The answer was clearly stated and restated: piling up young 1st round draft picks. Thus, pursue TALENT if you want to be a champion.
My friends, Mr Reed is correct. You want to win college football championships? You must recruit TOP PLAYERS!!!
Gentlemen, who in the world of sports in their right mind would disagree with this strategy????
In fact, this simple life strategy is universal: If you want to make great tasting chicken soup – start with a high quality chicken. You want to have a long successful marriage? – marry a high quality mate whom you love, etc., etc., etc. This is not brain surgery guys – but if you need brain surgery get the most highly rated neurosurgeon available!!!!!
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Agree, the recruiting needs to pick up some. I don’t care if it is WPIAL, Florida or Alaska. Top teams recruit all over.
Disagree, that you can judge the younger players on the team now.
Reed, you keep saying you see no stars in the making. Not sure what team you are watching. I keep using Weaver as an example. I can name others. Many of these kids are first year players. Aaron Donald was not a force year one. Be realistic on the evaluation of the young players.
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Weaver is a 2 star rated player too.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
Let’s name a few other “stars in the making” –
P.Ford
S.Brightwell
D.Jackson
Hamlin
Hall
Reynolds
C.Pine
And for kicks, how about everybody’s favorite Kenny Pickett
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Even back in the mid to late 70’s and early ’80’s we did not get all the top recruits locally. Probably no more than half of them(if that). And there were a lot more to get back then, not so much today.
Majors and Sherrill were the 2 most successful coaches at Pitt (other than Pop & Jock) because they
recruited more nationally, especially the Deep South.
For example Pitt’s 1980 defense(probably our greatest defense ever) included:
Hugh Green – Mississippi
Ricky Jackson – Florida
Jerry Boyarsky – Scranton Pa.
Steve Fedell – North Hills- Pgh
Sal Sunseri – Central – Pgh
Tim Lewis – Bucks County – Philly
Greg Meisner – Valley HS – Pgh
Bill Neill – Montgomery County – Philly
Lynn Thomas – Mississippi
Carlton Williamson – Georgia
Rick Trocano – Ohio
Only 3 of the 11 starters were from Pittsburgh-WPIAL
Most of the backups were from places other than Pittsburgh, those include
Rich Kraynak – King of Prussia area
Al Wenglikowsky – Dayton, Ohio
MIchael Woods – Mississippi
J.C. Pelusi – Youngstown, Ohio
Yogi Jones – Ringgold HS – WPIAL
Terry White – Georgia
Pappy Thomas – Mississippi
Mark Reichard – Cleveland, Ohio
Dave Bucklew – Pittsburgh
Again only 2 of the 9 backups who saw any considerable action were from WPIAL-Pgh.
So of the Top 20 players on Pitt’s 1980 defense, only 5 were recruited from WPIAL-Pgh.
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Recruiting nationally is a lot easier after you win a National Championship
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Apparently recruiting in and around Pittsburgh wasn’t any easier after winning a NC.
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Emel finally someone on here gets it. There is way too much much effort put into keeping WPIAL players home.
Go get the best players for Pitt that want to be here. The south has always produced for Pitt because the opportunity for a southern fringe kid to come to Pitt offers than an experience that they couldn’t have dreamed off. Also gives them an education equal to or better than most of the southern schools.
Don’t believe me? Read the SI article that had Hugh Green on the cover. He tells the story of how a southern kid feel in love with the cultural mecca of the Appalachia.
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Good grief
One sentence OP praises sweet simple Paul Chryst as a paragon of college football coaching and spends the rest of the post bashing his successor who’s already won more games in fewer contests against a far tougher schedule. Did Chryst ever even have a winning season here?
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Cheesehead Paulie was exactly .500 at Pitt. 19-19
Had the one winning season when the much maligned Chad Voytik led us to our last Bowl win,
to finish 7-6 that year.
The wins that year included:
New Mexico
Old Dominion
Duke
Virginia
Notre Dame
Syracuse
Bowling Green
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and the following year was even easier. in 2014, Pitt played one team that finished ranked …. one
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So Dumpy had one good win while here…coaching genius for sure…
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The great PITT fan and my good buddy named oddly enough Pittman4ever posted this @ 1:20.
“Thus, pursue TALENT if you want to be a champion.
My friends, Mr Reed is correct. You want to win college football championships? You must recruit TOP PLAYERS!!!”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Pittman, why are you not sure that PITT is pursuing top talent? imo, of course they are. PITT didn’t get Raines although I’m quite sure they were pursuing him, right? Along with all the kids that don’t come PITT’s way.
Narduzzi spent hours and hours trying to get all the good local kids, (except for Jurkovic)
I’m also a bit skeptical of the word must. For now it is what it is. Narduzzi has to regroup next year and rebound enough to keep some local players at home. His hand is forced, He must win with the players that want to come to PITT regardless of what their star rating are right now.
This is why I would like to find out what kind of QB KP is. Live snaps are important right now, even if they are very limited. PITT will be as good as the QB next year.
Hey Pittman, you still dancing in the streets? . . . . .ike
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The 2012 Pitt team(Paulie’s 1st year) wins were against :
Gardner (Del) Webb
Buffalo
Temple
Buttgers
USF
VT
Another Murderers Row
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And just to finish up with Paulie, his last year wins :
Delaware
BC (7-6)
Florida International
VT (7-6)
Syracuse (3-9)
Miami (6-7)
Another Murderer’s Row 🙂
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yes, that was PC’s 3rd year …. and you left out the famous Akron Zips loss … yet Reed and Barvo would tell you that it doesn’t matter.
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And the infamous losses to Duke at home(hash mark right), UNC on the road in the waning seconds.
He was a terrible in-game coach as well.
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Turrable, to quote Charles Barkley.
Moose would have an overall losing record if he was in his sixth year at Pitt. Barry snagged him just in time to make it good for both Wisconsin and Pitt.
I like Duzz’s record after year 2 – should have won one or two more games, IMO. This year is bad. Needs to win out or take 2 of 3 to gain some MO for next season. Tough schedule in ’18, but he needs to find a way to win 8 to 10. Year 5 he has to win at least 10.
Pitt football needs to fix a lot to accomplish my list above.
Tear the Tar Heels a new hole!
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Right, a D1 college kicker can’t hit a 25 yard field goal from the hash. Yet I’ve seen several do it this year alone. Syracuse’s kicker hit a 21 yarder and a 30 yarder from the hash in their win over Clemson.
BTW, Blewitt missed field goals in 2013 and 2015 from that distance.
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I have never said that the Akron loss doesn’t matter. A lost to a 5-7 MAC team in year 3 of the program in a 6-6 season is a big failure. Notice how I looked at the entire season and context?
Now we’ll see what PN does in year 3. One thing I can say unequivocally is that he still doesn’t have any shabby losses like that on his resume while at Pitt. He dodged a bullet with YSU this season.
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If a local kid sees 28,000 yellow seats on a Saturday after the biggest win for a program possibly ever and then sees 105,000 at State College for Georgia State the decision in where to commit is pretty easy no matter who is coaching. All the momentum from that Clemson game was killed by that pathetic excuse for a crowd for the Duke game. What was the attendance for the next home game at PSU after they beat Ohio State last year? Oh yeah a sell out.
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Emel didn’t you hear? Paul Chryst is the greatest coach ever according to some on here and Chad Voytik was the next Marino but damn that Narduzzi ruined it all……give me a break people
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Careful, Emel is one of those people who believe that Narduzzi ruined Voytik.
I can tell you that in his one season as a starter in his RS-So year that Voytik had a very comparable season to Nate Peterman’s RS-Jr year.
I love your conviction though.
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I don’t want to hear any of this strength of schedule boogeyman junk as we all it doesn’t mean a thing. Well except for the college selection committee who uses it as their second most important criteria.
Therefor Georgia jumping up to #1 with Bama dropping. It’s all subjective in ratings but there is no doubt the very same team playing two completely different schedules, a tougher schedule compared to an easier one would make all the difference in the world record wise.
Now if Narduzz and PITT would have played patsies instead of OSU and psu they could have won two more games. It’s basic commonsense and football logic 101. . . ..ike
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OF COURSE IT MEANS SOMETHING ….. for goodness sakes, we just beat a 5 – 2 team, so we must have become a really, really good team … right?
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There’s the overt smugness! Glad you’re back to normal.
A 5-2 team that appears to be facing a difficult remaining schedule just to hopefully finish at.500.
Keep beating that mid season SoS drum though.
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I agree recruiting needs to get a bit better overall. But also, keep in mind, when wanny was here, the school was okay with recruiting troublemakers. Wasn’t there an article in sports illustrated about that?
Coaches no longer do that at Pitt. Perhaps because the chancellor has told them to try not to. That leaves us at a disadvantage from other schools from the go.
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PittPT, what we heard at the tailgate last week was that Aston is most likely done for the year…and that he is on track to graduate in May. I was not aware of that. I can follow up on Thursday.
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Thanks, Anonymous !
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Yes, you have to recruit your way up the rankings ladder but no you do not have to have all 5* recruits. But if you do not then it’s “coach em up” as Narduzzie says. I think he also feels the need to perform differently in this area hence his reasignment of recruiting duties this year. If more money,personnel are needed here then it’s up to Pitt to get it there. Take a look some time. Pitts coaches are in the bottom 25% of the 140 D1 programs.
Pitt and Peterson blew their opportunity to get a jump on our local recruiting rivals by the 5 year cluster____ on coaches and program. Every PSU game I watch the play of Sherrife Miller, Troy Apke(whose father started at Pitt) Kevin Givens and Miles Sanders and am reminded of this. Givens only committed to Pitt because of PS scholie limit and when that came off he was gone north just as he had for camps for 2 summers. Money and attendence are the 2 biggest negatives for Pitt program right now.
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Ike @ 2:13,
The problem is buddy………………………
I can’t dance! :<(
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Reed
Really? We are saying Mark Diethorn (sp?) is under preforming?
Please tell me your knowledge of his responsibilities and how he isn’t getting his job done, LOL.
That is a reach for negativity my friend.
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Sorry that’s Lastrow as anon. My bad.
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PSN reporting from CBS sports that Whitehead may be 2018 first round to the Eagles.
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Fran – Would like to discuss next week’s tailgate. I have a pass for Red 5A. Pls email me at joelaw12260@gmail.com
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Seeing the improvement of the defense, o line and running game, if dinucci can improve as much, another 8 win season is a possibility.
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If you look at the make-up of the top 4 teams, they run the ball effectively behind a very good Oline. There QB is a better runner than passer and manages the game well. The D is stoudt and neutralizes the opposing O.
Three of the 4 coaches have been to the NC game with their current team and 2 have won it all. One is in his 2nd year as a HC.
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Take a listen here… Hope this is what the Narduzzi criticizers will be singing in the very near future. It’s a good song… ike
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What does Pitt want to be? Contender for ACC division titles each year. The occasional ACC championship. A nice bowl every once in a while. Am I right?
And doing it with scholar athletes, without breaking rules or major violations, and not going into the red from a budget standpoint.
All while trying to live off the ACC money and the low revenue figures from attendance. See thats the problem.
I understand that the university doesnt want to cheat or play dirty. But I dont understand the cheapness because you cant win by being cheap.
Heather’s job is to raise money to support our sports programs. Does she have a clue?
Without money you dont get the best coaches and staff, you dont have a recruiting budget that is competitive, you end up with a mediocre program thats just getting by.
Pitt has over 500,000 fans yet such a small percentage attend games or even donate…including myself. Heather – you need to engage these people and give them a reason (share your vision).
I stopped attending, flying in for homecoming and donating after experiencing years of mediocrity and empty overtures by an incompetent administration. There is no serious commitment to winning or changing the sports culture.
Just when you think Pitt is about to turn the corner and begin building momentum and achieving sustained excellence, the administration does something stupid. Like hiring Mike Haymaker, Fraud Graham, plucking Paulie based on Barry’s advice, going after another assistant and paying cheap, hiring a compliance person instead of someone with a strong fundraising and football background, talking about a front porch and not delivering, this years marketing, etc
Pitt gets what it deserves. Pitt is its own worst enemy.
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On that I say AMEN!
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Wow I couldn’t have said it better.
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Reed: You are spot on. Our recruiting under Narduzzi has been average. Not horrible but not good enough to elevate us above Miami, VaTech, Clemson, etc. Better talent gives you a better chance to win. No guarantee but certainly gives you a higher ceiling. What amazes me is this; if recruiting ratings didn’t matter, then why on earth would schools and coaches spend so much time and money chasing the highest rated recruits?
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Good points Tx_ you put the blame where it it is deserved.
The last thing PITT needs now or even after another couple of years is more instability. Constantly with the changes and mucking around with continuity has been one of the many downfalls of PITT football over the past several years.
What’s interesting, is my above comment circles right back to the PITT administration and the University of Pittsburgh Board of trustees. << Don’t I hear all the time “A commitment to excellence” ?
I put zero blame on Heather for two reasons.
1) AD Lyke hasn’t been at PITT long enough to make knee jerk moves that she’s really just getting to know the ins and outs of the athletic dept. << Thinking otherwise is very unprofessional.
2) For a university like PITT with little commitment to athletics, she should realize that continuity and 3* recruits are her only options for now.
As far as the fans go, we have a couple of options as well
1) bitch like hell as I’m known to do and let it all out!
2) be patient and wear your PITT pride on your sleeve that I know we all do on the POV! Emphasis on patience… . .ike
H2P!
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Adonis Jennings, former Panther,on the tube playing for Temple
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Temple’s Adonis Jennings just caught a TD pass vs Navy. Jennings was a former Pitt 4 star commit. Transferred to Temple from Apitt after FR year.
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Next year will be the year that we can clearly judge whether Narduzzi and staff are effective in developing players. They will have had a significant number of their players on the roster for multiple seasons.
Hopefully something better than .500, but we can always fall back on strength of schedule (or number of ranked teams) if it doesn’t seem like it’s going to work out that way. I suspect the OL will be a plausible out as well.
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The key to next season, is whether any of these QB’s become solid D1 QB’s !
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Thats it in a nutshell. I agree 100%.
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BTW, Matt Campbell is having a pretty good second year at perennial Big12 doormat Iowa State. Imagine those recruiting challenges! He’s got 9 starters that are RS-So or less. He’s got 12 on the second team.
Iowa State with an interesting road game at Morgantown this weekend. Then a home game with Ok State.
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Unless Narduzzi can bring in some ace recruiters I dont see where the next 2016 class is coming from. 5 four star recruits per class is about the most Pitt can expect in a class anymore. Agree that this class is very underwhelming by Narduzzi’s recent history.
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Boy, I hope this copy and paste works. It’s supposed to to be the top 13 recruits in the WPIAL this year. Fingers crossed the whole list doesn’t pop up.
1.Phil Jurkovec – QB – Pine Richland – 2018
2.Kwantel Raines – S – Aliquippa – 2018
3.Jake Kradel – OT – Butler – 2018
4.Devin Danielson – DT – Thomas Jefferson – 2018
5.Marcus Hooker – DB – New Castle – 2018
6.Blake Zubovic – OG – Belle Vernon – 2018
7.TJ Banks – TE – East Allegheny – 2018
8.Kenny White – RB – Pine Richland – 2018
9.Raymond Falcone – WR – Pine Richland – 2018
10.Julian Major – WR – Penn Hills – 2018
11.Layton Jordan – OLB – McKeesport – 2018
12.David Green – DT – Central Catholic – 2018
13.Noah Palmer – DE – Thomas Jefferon – 2018
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Out of this list PITT didn’t get Raines and Hooker who they offered late as did OSU his brothers school. He went to OSU. Where’s the failure and shame in that list?
PITT received commitments from
Kradel
Danielson
Zubovic
Green
Palmer
off that list.
It is indeed fake news…. ike
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Brother ike….you know what’s funny. Had those 5 committed to Creepy Valley, you just know at least 2-3 of them would have had their Star rating increased to 4. Perhaps all five. For that is how things work.
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But Jurkovec is a possible program changer and Raines may be as well.
Great to get the other guys, always good to stockpile linemen.
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Just glad the pedos didn’t get either one of them.
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Also picked up on Adonis Jennings excellent play going on now at Temple .It really hurts to see these very good players that Pitt had or almost had playing somewhere else.Jennings was I believe in same class as Henderson .Imagine the two of them on the field at the same time. That Temple team looks sharp. Their adm. had to make a hard decision to get serious about D1 ball several years ago to turn that program around. Incidently any of you guys watching notice the tarped over seats in the end zone. Their audience on a Thurs. night looks like Pitts’ in that mosterous Lincoln Life stadium. LOTS of MT seats..H2P
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Before tonite’s game, Jennings had 26 receptions for 373 yards and 3 tD’s. So he’s doing better than last year when he had a year total of 27 receptions.
On the Field issue, Temple gets more cooperation with Lincoln Financial in making the Field look good than Pitt does with Ketchup Bottle. Check out the nicely painted Endzones and large midfield logo.
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Last night the Eagles logos were in the endzones for their nationally televised game.
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If I am right, Temple building OCS.
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Adonis is having a good game indeed.
I checked out Pitt’s SoS for 2014. According the the NCAA Pitt’s SoS was 74th. According to TeamRankings it was 56th.
Pitt’s SoS for 2015 was 52 according to the NCAA and 34th according to TeamRankings.
That’s a difference of 22 positions regardless of who you believe.
Given a certain someone’s near histrionics over the 2014 SoS I would have expected an enormous disparity. It seems that there is a lot invested in Chryst hatred and Narduzzi love there.
Pitt did play 4 teams in 2015 that finished ranked, losing all of those games. However one was the blowout to Navy in a meaningless bowl game.
My take is that Pitt’s defense was very difficult/frustrating to watch in 2014 and benefited greatly from a good offense that impressively controlled the ball. Sadly that offense blew Pitt’s chance against the best team they played that season by losing 6 fumbles against GT including their first 5 possessions. Those 6 represented half of Pitt’s total fumbles lost for the season. Crazy.
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Barvo – I’m not reading any Chryst hating. I think the points I’m reading are countering that Chryst is a better coach than Duzz.
Let’s say Pitt loses out in 2017 – Duzz would be 21-20 at Pitt. Moose was 19-19.
The debate then becomes, who had the tougher schedule. You proved the point for two years with your comparison that Duzz had the tougher schedule and went 8-5 while Moose went 6-6.
I personally like Chryst, but he chose to leave Pitt. Duzz chose to come to Pitt to help turn things around and hopefully get Pitt back in the rankings and win championships.
That’s the HC I’m getting behind, not the one who chose to leave Pitt.
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I hate the fat rat because he sat on his lazy can here in hiring & recruiting and got on-the-job training before leaving. And mainly because he left the team high & dry going into the bowl game.
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This is Mr Histrionics himself and after those links you posted the other say, I am suspect of all your sources. Anyway, here are some facts not derived from some mathematical formula
2014 Pitt Opponents: 1 team finished ranked (GT) OOC: Delaware, at FIU, Akron, Iowa (7-6)
2015: 4 teams finished ranked (Iowa, ND, UNC, Navy) OOC: YSU, at Akron, at Iowa (12-2), ND (10-3)
2016: 5 teams finished ranked: Ok St, PSU, VT, Clemson, Miami OOC: Nova, PSU, at OSU, Marshall
2017: 5 teams currently ranked (PSU, Miami, OSU, VT, NCS) OOC: YSU, at PSU, OSU, Rice
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Concerning recruiting rankings of individual players —here’s what always strikes me.
You have thousands of high school players and somebody is supposed to rank them all. Not much of a challenge there, huh. For the skill positions you have stats to go by. For defense you have tackles and sacks.
It’s an impossible job!!!
In HS, if a kid is fast, he’s going to have a lot of long runs. They outrun the defense, so they never learn to become elusive – they don’t need to be elusive in HS.
Try to imagine distinguishing between a 5.6, a 5.7, and a 5.8. And imagine trying to do this for linemen, when the college bound kids outweigh the kid across from them by 40, 50 pounds…
So you have the obvious elite athletes — which is a small group, then you have hundreds of kids who, athletically, you can’t distinguish one from another.
Go back and look at Wanny’s 4 stars — Shady was exceptional and won games practically by himself. Few others had 4 star careers – maybe 3 others. Sheard and Romeus were not 4 Stars …
GO PITT
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And yet they charge for the ‘service’…. lol
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PITT did lose out on Raines not Phil Jurkovic. If you want to say we lost him then so does every other team in the country has to say it as well. The kid bleeds Irish green. << Not PITT’s colors…. yet….
The rest of the players that didn’t come to PITT weren’t offered or were cooled on. no joke
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Right you are M&M and it brings up stats again. Wow! Shell gaining a zillion yards in class A is not the same as a kid gaining only 1,00 yards against quality opponents in a much higher class
It’s impossible for a high school player to be graded unless he’s the freak that come along everyone once in awhile. .
To bemoan a two year head coaches recruiting is downright hating. I don’t care what anyone says. Narduzzi takes a beating but I hope he keeps on coaching and winning at PITT! . . . ike
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Ike(and others) I think you’ll enjoy the Trib Review article this morning on Pitt’s defensive line assessment by Charlie Partridge going forward.
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Pulled this from HCPN’s Twitter account –
https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/926201138222960640
Fitting – just in time to play the school known for fake classes for athletes and students. TarHole Nation should be proud!
HTP!
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JoeL, just emailed you. Included my cell #.
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Great day to be alive! 71 degrees and sunny in Central PA today. Golf is on this day’s agenda. Dan72 and Jay91, or anyone else in the area, I have a spot that just opened up. Tee time is 1:30pm. No nitters, only Pittsburghers. The round is already paid fir.
I’ll check the blog 2 or 3 times between work meetings leading up to 11:30am. After that I’ll be on to a business lunch and then to the links in southern Lancaster.
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OK, EE … rub it in. Very jealous … not only of you retirement but the fact you still golf whereas my golf game has deteriorated so badly, I switched to pickleball … only to have an MCL tear.
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I’m actually not retired. I work hard running a business and I play on the weekends. Unless like today a client wants to play, then I call it (g)ork. LOL
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Thanks Erie. Have a 1100 tee time at my club. Last good day to play.
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Erie, I am from the North Hills of PGH and my wife just moved me to Lebanon which sounds like it is near you. Good to know another Panther is in the area, I’m taking a lot of PSU abuse.
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ajs32 – my business is in Palmyra – right next door to Lebanon.
Let’s have breakfast or lunch soon.
The nitters are nauseating in Central PA…
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PIV team dentist predicted this…
http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/12904443-74/pitt-defensive-line-coach-unit-could-be-one-of-programs-best
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POV team dentist predicted this
http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/12904443-74/pitt-defensive-line-coach-unit-could-be-one-of-programs-best
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There are two things in this article to take note.
(1) Pitt lost Partridge (a FL native) to Wisconsin in 08 … yet, Dokish wants to tell us Pitt is equal to Wisc. That was also the year SP cut the FB recruiting budget.
(2) Narduzzi went out and hired Partridge when he came available (only hope we can keep him). Yet, Narduzzi’s predecessor for some reason would not hire Todd Orlando when he became available (and he had an opening).
BTW, just heard the other day on XM84 College Sports that the aside from its opener, the Texas defense has held all of its opponents to its lowest output of the season (Ok St scored 13). Todd Orlando is the Texas DC.
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Unfortunately the XM84 stat is not accurate if it’s purely about points with no qualifications. K State scored 34 against UT in a loss. K State has scored fewer in 4 other games and are 2-2 in those games.
I’m lost of what the point is about Partridge. Is it that Narduzzi astutely hired Partridge after he was terminated at FAU? There have been more than a few on this board (I wasn’t one) who specifically questioned Partridge’s value as a recruiter and line coach. Is it possible that Partridge and Narduzzi are buddies?
What’s the veiled jab at Chryst? Orlando’s final team at FIU (2012) was ranked #74 in total defense. They were #31 in his first year in 2011. Orlando’s final defense at UConn was #57 in 2010. That would have been Chryst’s frame of reference. FWIW, Texas is currently #47 in total defense in 2017. Can somebody bump your needle on Chryst?
Wasn’t Pitt’s recruiting budget increased under PN?
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The PSU announcer is on The Fan 93.7 right now … and the opening question was about Narduzzi’s ‘H2P’ tweet as PSU lost. And he replied that this was the first he heard about it.
Thus, once again, it is all the local Pgh media that is making much ado about nothing. Brian Backo (a Pitt alum) originally wrote an article about it and Starkey followed up. Just one more roadblock and another reason why the Pitt job is just not an attractive one.
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I don’t think Narduzzi does those tweets – I bet most are junior staff/admin members.
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As a true sophomore Aaron Donald had 47 tackles, 16 TFL and 11 sacks.
As RS Freshmen Weaver, Camp, Watts and Wheeler have combined for 50 tackles, 8 TFL and 3 sacks.
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You are comparing apples to oranges. What did Donald do his freshman year? This is Weaver’s first year playing.
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And who did Donald play alongside?
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To be fair & accurate BigB, I was more anticipating a jump in performance of the back 7 as guys like Pine, Reynolds, Brightwell, Ziese, Jackson, Coleman, Miller, Campbell & Hamlin got continuous meaningful reps in real games this year.
These last three games will be a litmus test on where these DB & LB corps are in their development by season’s end. Still waiting for the head scratcher win over a team that we have no business beating this season, although we still haven’t seen the WTF loss to a team we should not lose to either! Hopefully Thursday night’s contest against UNC WON’T be that game.
I’ve liked what I’ve seen over the last two games though, a lesser group of Panthers could have easily mailed in the rest of the season after our 2-5 antics early on.
Let’s finally beat these tarhole MFers.
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It is good to see the D-line making plays, stops on 3rd and especially 4th downs and goal line stands.
Something unheard of around here, except for Clemson last year.
A victory vs UNC is a must, they are 1-12 with a victory vs Old Dominion, although they did play tough vs Miami last week.
A loss would be a total set back and crush any momentum for an improving Pitt Team.
Hope we get some decent weather and fans show up.
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it’s a weeknight nationally telecasted game … what do we have to worry about? Our record is so good in these (beginning with the slide game vs UConn)
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Yeah…..we win like one of these every 20 years…
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Ike, She’ll played in AAA, and in the very best section in AAA. In fact, many would rightly argue that that was better than almost all the AAAA sections. That’s a fact, Mack.
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u mean Shell … and I agree.
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You’re right Joe and I do remember it being tough conference. So why after how many yards gained why was Shell not very good? His stats told us all he was the very best… Just a thought Jock
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Shell was pretty good as a frosh at Pitt, playing behind Graham … at least I thought he was. Had a great game vs VT as I recall.
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She’ll was a physical freak in HS. He was just a man among boys, even at that level. Probably the most overrated kid of the past 20 yrs was Sterling Jenkins. Started as a 5*, think ended as a 4*, but if you ever watched HS football he was a total dob. Don’t think the kid ever made all conference, which is a better point on how star ratings can be BS. No one who ever watched that kid would say he was a 5*, except for his size. Kid just couldn’t play.
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just checked Jenkins’ PSU bio. He is a Jr and 6’8 336, and has not yet played. And PSU has had plenty of blow-out games these past 2 years.
almost reminds me of Shane Hayle who was a 4/5 star LB and rarely saw the field until he was switched to DE as a Sr or Jr.
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I don’t get the Jurkovic love fest. He is putting up about the same numbers as DiNucci did at PR. He is a success by system player.
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ND offered him as a sophomore. DiNucci’s best offer was Temple until Pitt came into the picture. That must mean something
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https://www.hudl.com/profile/3785137/philip-jurkovec
This might be why
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Jurkovic is tall & fast….Nooch is, well….
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NRS, if you watched them play there is a major difference. Phil would be successful in almost any system. He is the best HS qb I have ever personally seen. I really wish we could have gotten him. He is that once in a generation qb that we desperately need.
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So was Bostick, Voytik and Browne at some point in their careers.
I wish the kid well but you never know how their talents translate. He is going to have some tough competition at ND.
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Kind of like Foster at bama.
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Here’s the difference with big * recruits considering PITT and psu, especially the local kids, When PITT can land this supposedly stud player it is two fold for them. One being getting the “great” player and two, the perception it brings to PITTs’ recruiting image. psu already has that. Shell and Jenkins’ are two great examples of players that would help PITT even when they don’t live up to the hype.
Jenkins’ also may have already played a bunch at PITT as well?
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BTW I know the Shell story very well. He came, he left, he failed. Kind of…..
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Shell’s issue appeared to be attitude and not lack of talent. I guess when you gain a 1000 yards as a 9th grader, you can become quite coddled. Wasn’t it Joe D who, back in The Blather, that warned of Shell’s off-the-field activiites
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from Shell’s wiki page:
Shell finished his career as the leading rusher in Pennsylvania state and WPIAL history. He also set a new national record by running for 100 yards or more in 39 consecutive games and ran for 200 yards or more 25 times in his high school career.
In 2008, Shell was MaxPrep’s national freshman of the year after rushing for 1,516 yards. He also became the first freshman to ever make the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s “Fabulous 22”.
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Hopefully, Shell is a good father to his kids..that’s way more important than any football glory. Wish him the best.
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Rashad Weaver… a future NFL Pick… maybe a VERY HIGH One!
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The HUDL video of Jurkovic is not impressive, except the runs. I could hit those wide open receivers…okay, maybe 30 years ago.
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He is hitting them all in stride
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Arm strength, release, size, accuracy, good legs, high school junior, right not impressive
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NRS..you could hit those receivers NOW !
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Can’t believe you are comparing PJ to the unholy trinity. Browne couldn’t move, Bostick had a noodle arm, and Chad couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. Even in HS. No hating on Phil here. Wish we could have gotten him. Guess we will have to watch and see how it plays out.
As for Shell in HS, he wasn’t real fast ,but physically he was a beast. No real moves. Usually up the middle carrying guys. Led some to say he wouldn’t translate to college where guys were bigger.
The point is, you hear about guys all over the country, and after seeing some of these kids in person, you wonder what they see in them. All coaches love their kids. Never heard one say,”Wow, our recruits this year really suck, that’s why we signed them”. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or rather in the eye of the signer, lol.
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The unholy trinity was funny.
Agree, PJ is more physically gifted than all those guys but I would hold off on praising his accuracy until he can do it when his WRs are actually covered just a little.
How did the recruiting experts rate the trinity so high? Probably because the recruiting services are crap.
Wasn’t Baker Mayfield a walk-on?
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A question that puzzles me. If Pitt is committed to mediocrity, what happened from the mid seventies to the mid eighties? And can’t that happen again? I keep hoping. – Hobie
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actually, that was the one time the admin decided to open the pocketbook., evidenced by hrig Johnny Majors from Iowa State and recruiting 80 players (not making this up) in 1973. The other thing about the 70s …. while we got plenty of good players from out of state, back then Western PA / Eastern OH was considered THE area for HS recruits … like FL nowadays.
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wwb – Why did they open up the purse then? If it opened than, can’t they open up the purse again? I wonder what the reasoning was and if that same reasoning can’t return again. – Hobie
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Now that we are playing respectable football (better late than never) here’s what I’m thinking for our last 3 games. Even though the Tard Heels have clearly had our number, we will get a W Thursday night. Next are 2 good teams: Miami and VT. Miami has OUR number, we rarely beat them, and I don’t see a W happening with the Hurricanes. However, WE have VTechs number so I think at this point if we are going to upset anyone it will be VT – but still a real longshot IMHO. And Ike, remember, I have your #! :>)
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^^ Literally AND Figuratively Pittman…… and I agree with you on UNC and VT. Imagine if PITT can pull off those two wins (which is highly unlikely) I would then think the chances of beating Miami would be much higher.
Remember some know it all ( I forget the site) has PITT with a better chance of beating Miami than VT right at this moment. Let’s win next week and get back to 500. . . ike
H2P!
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FWIW I am not counting on beating Miami or VT. VT is in Blacksburg and if Miami beats VT, they will have the incentive of winning the Coastal and advancing to title game. Both teams are more talented and experienced than Pitt, even though they, like Pitt have a 1st year QB .
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We need a bloop (NC) and a blast (VT or Miami). – Hobie
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PITTSBURGH—Pitt junior offensive lineman Brian O’Neill is a semifinalist selection for the Wuerffel Trophy, which is annually presented to the Football Bowl Subdivision player who best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.
Regarded as college football’s premier award for community service, the trophy is named after Danny Wuerffel, the former University of Florida quarterback and 1996 Heisman Trophy winner.
Known throughout college football as the touchdown-scoring offensive lineman, the defending winner of SB Nation’s Piesman Trophy and an All-ACC caliber tackle, O’Neill (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum School) has also spent much of his time as a Pitt student-athlete giving back through numerous volunteering ventures.
O’Neill bypassed the opportunity to vacation during his 2016 semester break and instead made a mission trip to the impoverished nation of Haiti, where he served in orphanages. In addition to bonding with the children, Brian enthusiastically worked as a laborer who contributed maintenance, construction and upkeep of the orphanage buildings and shelters.
The Delaware native then spent the subsequent year fundraising for a return trip to Haiti this spring. Unfortunately, a health issue prevented him from traveling. However, he still worked diligently in Pittsburgh on behalf of the Coalition for Christian Outreach (CCO) so that this year’s mission trip would be successful.
While finishing his undergraduate studies as a finance major, O’Neill has also visited the Southwestern Pennsylvania Veterans Center, making room-to-room visits with the patients, who range in age from the Vietnam era to as early as World War II. There, he spent personal time with the veterans, hearing their stories of service to our country while also sharing his own experiences as a college football player.
O’Neill’s other past community service activities include a visit to the Mel Blount Youth Home, which serves young boys who are victims of child abuse and neglect; three years of gathering and wrapping gifts for local families who could not afford their own presents with the Christmas at Pitt program; volunteering with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh organization, interacting with young people seeking role models; and making an annual visit to the Boys & Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania.
O’Neill is one of 11 semifinalists for this year’s Wuerffel Trophy and one of three candidates from the Atlantic Coast Conference still in contention for the prestigious award.
Three finalists for the 2017 Wuerffel Trophy will be announced on November 22. The winner will be named December 6 in New York City.
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Bravo! (nor Barvo) Outstanding stuff even though it won’t flip Jurkovec or Raines.
Note that the Wuerfel trophy is named as such because it was formed and funded by UF boosters … just like Biletnikoff trophy for best WR was funded by FSU boosters, and Joe Moore award for best OL was funded by ND boosters (yes, ND.)
What are the chances that Pitt boosters raise funds for the James Conner award?
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The PittPOV James Conner Award given annually to a Rivals 2-star who plays like an All-American
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Brian is one fine young man – the kind you hope your daughter marries!
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Brian is one fine young man, who’s going to make millions of dollars very soon– the kind you hope your daughter marries! 🙂
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+1
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Get behind the coach you have. He is here and he is trying.I only wonder if he is getting the financial support he needs ( assts.recruiting, travel, filled stadium etc.) from Pitt . The U sure as he__ is not going broke on salaries . Check Pitts out. We suck!’ A Temple aside, they are building an OC stadium.
I like Pitts’ increasing their recruiting in Fla. . It’s a honeypot. If Narduzzie does not make it here or if he does and the U lets him slip away we better just go D2 because that is all the powers that be really want to pay for.Since UPMC operates under the non profit umbrella of the Universty let some of their money feed back to Oakland for a stadium. It seems they can spend it to build big $$$ oupatient care centers out in the boondocks to try to glean a few more patients from their rival HC system with no problem! Gong fwd.. We better beat NC and I hope we upset Miami at home in the Pa. cold and with a repectable crowd because it aint gonna happen in Blacksburg this year.
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The WPIAL has not been great recently, anyways. Phil Jurkovek is the big miss and he’s a lifelong ND fan. Losing Raines sucks, make not mistake about it, but Pitt wanted him at LB and he wanted to play DB. If he had his heart set on DB, it’s understandable. It’s just not a perceived fit.
Keep building relationships with the coaches and players will follow. Pitt really needs to do a better job up I79 in Erie. PSU owns Cathedral Prep, which produces 5-10 D1 talented players per season.
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I like the Florida strategy … that state has served us well this entire millennium (since A Bryant.) We seem to do well in NJ also especially the last couple of years… and although Delaware is not known for its FB, getting QH and O’Neill is outstanding.
However, the current commitment list has nobody from Ohio on it, which is kind of puzzling.
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For me, I still strongly believe The Duzz was the right choice to be our coach. He is motivated, has fire in his belly, is from the tri state area, and he is growing into the job. Let’s face it, Pitt is no picnic for a football HC! I think we need to keep Duzz encouraged thru this hopeful transition from mediocrity to perennial winners.
Hail 2 Pitt
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OCS money?
http://triblive.com/news/healthnow/12901363-74/upmc-unveils-sweeping-2-billion-plan-to-build-3-hospitals-in-pittsburgh
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Pitt has a huge endowment but it’s all earmarked towards academia/medical. Money isn’t the problem. How the money is donated/allocated is the problem (if you want to call it that).
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I got a link to this site from one of the other boards. Big mistake.
I get it. Pitt sucks and you all collectively refuse to attend games and donate money.
Here’s a suggestion… STFU and go do something constructive w/ your lives!!
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B**w me.
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Sorry Reed… don’t know how to delete my previous post or I would. I’m off to do something constructive w/ my life. 😀
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Many of us have been attending Pitt games and donating money for over 30 years. I’m not saying this constitutes doing something constructive with my life but its been a blast none-the-less. Sticking with your school’s team through years of ups and downs has its own rewards. Any spineless organism can be a fan of a winning team. Just check the fortitude and metal of most Steelers and Penguins “fans”. Watch them run for the hills once the “glory days” are over. I’ll take 30,000 true Pitt fans over 75,000 Facebook stars any day.
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Hey Black I know you from the message boards and you always did have trouble with comprehension. You won’t go on a PITT talk site with more astute PITT fans. Why would you come here and draw an opinion in seconds?
Most of the POVer’s have season tickets and donate in some way or another…………. do you?
Don’t tell me you are steve isreal or jells?
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I didn’t know there was a binding subscription to the POV? Reed, I demand you give Blackman his refund……… obviously a disappointed subscriber.
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Maybe it is a good idea to identify our race when we post??
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^^ Let’s not go there now…..
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and Heather has just axed the women’s soccer coach after a 0-9-1 ACC season. A national search will now begin.
I remember going to the Park Burlesque in downtown Youngstown when i was 18, 19 or so … and the announcer would say ….. “we have gone all over the world to bring you the best in entertainment. And now from Warren, OH, please welcome Freda Slaves”
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Troll
Its not often we get one on here
Just dont feed him
He probably isnt black or a man but is someone who lives in his parents basement and has constructive internet conversations with Kevin Spacey and mails letters to Sandusky.
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I feel sorry for black FNU LNU. I mean his life is so meaningless that he found us by mistake, read 140 plus posts, made his brain hurt by thinking about our contents, took the time to make up a screen name and after all that all he could say was that OUR lives are meaningless. Poor fellow is below meaningless. We know who you are Jerry S. :).
HAIL TO PITT
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Well put RKB, let him wallow is his sorrowfulness. Glad he stopped by to let us all know that we aren’t the crazy ones.
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If I am in a bar fight I want UPitt as my wingman…. getting a little rowdy in here…
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You don’t come to our house and disrespect B..
I would hope the recent poster would reconsider and give us his points of views…. Maybe with less judgement… ike
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I’m married to a Black Man but it aint him. Sugar, dont be impersonating my man.
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Jack again… UPMC is a totally separate business organization…we don’t have access to UPMC money.. it’s confusing… maybe Jeffrey Romoff CEOcould be a big donor… Makes about 9 mil a year…UC want to be in the public eye … and market to beat all other local competition into the ground…..
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So Pitt can find room for all these new hospitals in Oakland but cant seem to find the room for an OCS?
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Allegheny Health Network announced plans on 10/18 for 700 mil construction.
Today UPMC announces 2 Billion plan.
We are getting some new health care facilities.
Going to be great for the local economy.
Now we just need Amazon to come. Amazon Stadium anyone?
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The hospital is being built on the site of the Old Children’s Hospital, also one at Shadyside and Mercy.
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I was in Oakland today, what a traffic nightmare.
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White-lady you tell dat Black- man…
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Way to go White-Lady, we got your back
So UPMC is building new hospitals in Oakland, ShadySide and uptown. This is great, so you can fit a square peg into a round hole if you just think you can??
Get on the beam PITT!
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Here Mr Starkey … read this. And you get out of sorts because of an H2P tweet
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/sports/columnists/graham-couch/2017/11/03/penn-state-fans-michigan-state-lou-anna-simon-larry-nassar-jerry-sandusky-couch-column/824170001/
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Top guys know about football problems. I talked to them.
From my take, surprisingly, I was not the first.
I would not write them off.
They may do nothing, but the school is related to a 9 billion dollar a year tiger.
It is a lot better than alone in the woods.
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I responded to a Upitt a month or two ago and said I would look into it.
I did.
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As Big B said there is no relationship between UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh. UPMC bought out Pitts on campus medical center years ago and built it into its own empire. Pitt sold them the name, end of relationship. UPMC has no ties to Pitt, not legal, emotional, or financial.. They are two separate corporate entities. People who think that it is a source of funding or loyalty are wrong. It would be like saying Pittsburgh National Bank and Pittsburgh Plate Glass have something in common as corporations because they have the word Pittsburgh in their name. There is no money at UPMC that will ever come to Pitt. They are not related, period. I wish they were but they are not.
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Was Presbyterian Hospital part of Pitt years ago? I always thought that it was. Stayed in there for 11 days (CCU mainly) around 1980 and they were fantastic.
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