We have had discussions on here about this year’s NCAA APR for Pitt and whether that will allow us – at a discounted win rate I suppose – become eligible for a bowl game. Here is that info with a voice-over.
Here is that description of the Bowl – APR tie-in
What happens to bowl season if there aren’t enough college football teams with six wins or more? Since 2015, the NCAA’s allowed bowls to dip into teams with 5-7 records, with the leaders in APR getting first dibs.
What’s APR? That’s Academic Progress Rate, the NCAA’s attempt to measure how well a program has done at advancing its athletes toward graduation over a rolling period of four years at a time. New scores are now out for every sport.
It’s essentially a pass/fail grade, with schools at the lower end being penalized and others proceeding as normal. Plenty of people have critiqued elements of the system, including its tendency to more harshly punish schools with resource disadvantages. This year, Division I’s two football programs to incur penalties are Savannah State, which is dropping down to Division II, and Alabama State.
pittpov.com 
That was pretty cool Reed, thanks… sounds like PITT could go to a bowl game with only 5 wins if they don’t have enough teams with a 500 record.
Unlike many others, I’d take it in a heartbeat.
Reed: you should to do this type of article more often. Easier on you and I don’t have to put on my magnifying glasses to read it.
LikeLike
High APRs, but I thought Wannstedt just recruited thugs? Hmmm, that 2010-11 score is high despite the SI article forcing the administration to panic and fire Dave.
LikeLike
^^ LOL, Austin Tx. steve fed the SI with all that bullschitt. A hateful and jealous man steve was….
LikeLike
Is that true ike or a conspiracy theory? Haven’t heard that one before.
LikeLike
Ike, that is patently untrue.
The SI writers approached the Admin, the AD and also the media department for request for interviews and information and they were rebuffed by everybody. I got that first hand.
It’s not good to start throwing stuff like this around if you don’t know it’s true… that’s a real slur on someone’s character. It is obvious you hate Pederson but this is a bit much.
All the SI writers had to do was look at police reports and court documents to get background for that story. Pretty simple really.
BTW, I exchanged emails later on in the summer with the SI writer after that came out and he told me that when SI started the investigation in Nov of 2010, 6 months before publication, they had no idea which schools would be at the top.
But this is why I wrote many times on the Blather that the Administration and the Board of Trustees knew for five or six months before that article came out that it was going to happen and they knew back in November during the season that that investigation was going on and that Pitt was going to come up pretty close to the top of the list because all the arrests.
It had nothing to do with Pederson.
To quote:
Pitt chancellor Mark Nordenberg and athletic director Steve Pederson declined requests for comment, but the school issued another statement, which said, “We have publicly acknowledged the unacceptable number of off-the-field incidents involving members of our football program during the past season. We have addressed these with the appropriate sanctions and spoke out against such behavior.”
Which are the more intensive background checks and character investigations we have now I discussed in this voice over..
LikeLike
These APR scores prove Wannstedt didn’t recruit thugs and also proves that Chryst didn’t have a clean up job, rather he had a personnel issue with Graham’s players and found any way necessary to give kids the boot. Those of you who kept referring to Dave’s players as thugs, you got what you deserved with the woman beater, Snake Oil and Mumbles.
I’ve said many times on here how Wannstedt shouldn’t have been fired and Nordy screwed up since his Dace recruited a lot of great Pitt people despite an SI article pointing out what a kid did when he was 16-years old.
I have also said Chryst is not the jolly gee saint some think he is, and he never gave some kids a fair enough shake since his staff was looking for a different kind of player. A great student like Eric Williams was friends with a bad dude, but since he was thin for an OLB Chryst got rid of him but kept KK Mosley Smith. KK was also friends with the bad dude but he was bulky so he stayed. Nice try there Paul getting those defensive ends to flank Donald. Did it hurt having a treasure like Donald fall into your lap and doing squat with it?
Chryst sure did recruit enough stiffs to replace those guys who were shown the door. Where is Hez Trahan, being coached up on the D-III level?
LikeLike
I’m going to disagree on almost every point you make here but the subject has been argued enough.
LikeLike
Here’s a thought: why don’t conferences dole out $ according to APR, instead of even splits? That’d make every school concentrate on athlete’s grades!
BTW, if i didnt miss anyone, I noticed that NC State was lowest ACC team, with Tarholes just ahead of them. NCAA must not have included the courses that weren’t courses. But kinda embarrassing for NCSU!
LikeLike
I’m surprised by those low APR’s since we know they are made up classes where a tutor takes the exams for these so called scholar athletes. Every NC school besides Wake and Duke are complete jokes when it comes to their mission…education.
LikeLike
So I got an email from Sam Bam Clancy for a Pitt fund raiser effort. Looks like the email went to Pitt Lettermen.
The goal is to purchase an “Alter G” machine — supposedly the latest and greatest for treatment of lower body injuries.
They’ve raised $35K so far —the cost is $85K.
I pitched in 50 bucks – (hey, I’m not exactly “Richman.”). An anonymous donor gave $25K…
Go Pitt.
LikeLike
I was able to give away my 4 free unc tickets today to a customer in Pittsburgh who is a Pitt alum and was excited to receive them. I also gave him my parking ticket as I booked my stay downtown, within walking distance.
By the way, there were not many seats available together by the time I ordered my four.
Could we see a full house on Thursday? Heather is on the job…
HTP!
LikeLike
So Rick, you’re saying no fire pit Thursday night?? lol
Heather doing a good job?? Nah……………… This can’t be….
LikeLike
BTW, didn’t even inquired about my 4 free tickets. I knew I couldn’t give them away but if anyone wants them let me know ASAP and I’ll transfer them to will call for you…
LikeLike
Ike who do we want to come to the tailgate? Annie
LikeLike
Gee, this attention is getting embarrassing… 🙂
Never heard this song before.
LikeLike
Giving tkts away and people showing up are two different things. After all didn’t Pitt say there was 38K+ last game…?
LikeLike
My 4 giveaways will show up.
You’ll get many different reports on Thursday night. The only ones that should count are from those actually in the stadium.
LikeLike
Now see there RKB,that’s cool as schitt…… The small faces… I got a million of their songs. Loved Stevie Marriott. This one for the Prosecutor
LikeLike
Reed, I respect the hell out of you.. think you’re the greatest… I believe you’re too close to the trees to see the forest.
In other words, you’re close but not completely in the door. My sources tell me otherwise… Although you are close to the program you don’t get the WHOLE truth. Most don’t.
steve’s hate and narcissistic behavior was out of control and he fed the beast.. SI
I stand behind my statement as I had a few insiders at that time.
LikeLike
anyone ever hear, you heard it but not from me? or off the record?…
LikeLike
Giving away tickets and Heather is a genius. Hell with that adage I would be a great CEO of Target if I let people take home everything for free. The name of the game is like every other school Heather to make the fans buy the tickets. Amazing she gets praise for giving away tickets. Free tickets or not there won’t be 25k bodies there.
LikeLike
No one that I’ve talked to nor read on this blog are praising the Heather for this giveaway. But giving the tickets to those who will attend is better than empty seats.
IMHO
If you watched the NFL yesterday, lots of empty seats. It’s not just Pitt. Numerous B1G Joke games had empty seats – except Iowa…
LikeLike
Here’s a great post by Austin Tx Panther Ididn’t want to see get lost
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
These APR scores prove Wannstedt didn’t recruit thugs and also proves that Chryst didn’t have a clean up job, rather he had a personnel issue with Graham’s players and found any way necessary to give kids the boot. Those of you who kept referring to Dave’s players as thugs, you got what you deserved with the woman beater, Snake Oil and Mumbles.
I’ve said many times on here how Wannstedt shouldn’t have been fired and Nordy screwed up since his Dace recruited a lot of great Pitt people despite an SI article pointing out what a kid did when he was 16-years old.
I have also said Chryst is not the jolly gee saint some think he is, and he never gave some kids a fair enough shake since his staff was looking for a different kind of player. A great student like Eric Williams was friends with a bad dude, but since he was thin for an OLB Chryst got rid of him but kept KK Mosley Smith. KK was also friends with the bad dude but he was bulky so he stayed. Nice try there Paul getting those defensive ends to flank Donald. Did it hurt having a treasure like Donald fall into your lap and doing squat with it?
Chryst sure did recruit enough stiffs to replace those guys who were shown the door. Where is Hez Trahan, being coached up on the D-III level?”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dave Wannstedt was thrown under the bus by a hateful AD and we all suffer for it now.
I hate the steve for good reasons. Don’t try and tell me different. I’m trying me best to let that crap go…
LikeLike
I can’t let it go either. Wannstedt staying for four more years for a nice round 10-year tenure and he builds the program to hand off to the next coach. Easy schedules in 2011 and 2012 ended with seven-loss seasons because of so much player turnover, coaching changes, etc.
The iron to strike was hot with the Sandusky scandal on the horizon, a plethora of defensive backs sprouting in western PA who wisely wouldn’t come near Mumbles’ defensive staff, and a good staff assembled by Wannstedt that was in on a lot of good players in 2012.
LikeLike
Upitt, try and not to be stupid. No one is praising Heather for giving away free tickets. No one. Maybe a little nod to trying something. Can you give the AD a half a chance?
Why do you hate all things PITT? All you do is complain. complain complain.
LikeLike
Not true at all. I access Pitt like any business. Sadly, Pitt fails consistently.
LikeLike
^^ Mark, your above statement says a lot… PITT fails consistently. Do really believe that to be true? Because that’s just a general statement of negativity and it’s hard to take you serious. Seriously.. your friend ike…
H2P!
LikeLike
Wanny Firing
Mike Haywood fired after 2 weeks
Todd Graham 1 year
Chryst 2 years
Narduzzi cheap hire
Fire Dixon for a door to door rock port salesman
Steve Peterson 1 and 2.0
Pumpkin Head Barnes from Utah with Mormon Grams 1 year
Heather Lyke hired from a joke program.
All Olympic sports suck except wrestling and volleyball.
Should I continue.
LikeLike
Actually you “ass”ess them rather than access them, to be more accurate.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/assess
Just playin’ with you Upitt
LikeLike
I agree with ike that SP was the cancer within the AD who pushed to rid the department of Wannstedt. Between years of bad coaches and bad ADs is it any wonder Pitt has languished in mediocrity for so many years? I really believe that Wannstedt would have won a conference title and had Pitt consistently ranked if he wasn’t forced out over a big lie about the supposed thugs on the team. The SI article should have been handled, but SP had his head up his a– and deserved to be fired. I can’t imagine Reed ever sticking up for that scumbag.
LikeLike
I am not ‘sticking up’ for anyone… I very much disliked Steve Pederson and his work at Pitt. I just feel that if you are going to write and talk about something on here you should get as close to the truth as possible. SP sure had a hand in DW’s firing but Pitt fans constantly overlook that DW had a much bigger one.
It wasn’t just one thing that led to that change but that SI article, along with DW’s reaction to mandates given to him in the summer of 2010, was the cherry on top of his problems.
Again, people choose to believe what fits into their emotions about DW and Pitt football so at this time it should be an old and closed book. He did some good things at Pitt, some such as I spoke about above and more, but let’s don’t forget we deal with humans, warts and all, in sports as in anything else.
LikeLike
…. but … but …but Mark. I’ll bet you hated Wanny, Dixon and everyone else in between… You just hate….
I do not disagree with some of your thoughts and even if I do it doesn’t mean I’m right or you are wrong. It’s our opinions.
I would bet lots of money you sleep real well at night. Be truthful I know a restful sleeper when I see them..
LikeLike
Fresh off the Trib presses of DiPaola. First article on Dane Jackson and Damar Hamlin. IMO Jackson has been most improved defender and possible defense MVP. Star Wars Night – Upitt as Darth Vader; Ike as Yoda; Reed as an Ewok,, If we could find a 6 foot 6 inch Ewok costume does anyone think Reed would have the balls to wear it.
http://triblive.com/sports/college/pitt/12918781-74/pitt-notebook-pair-of-sophomores-help-secondary-improve
Nof taking Big Bs boys lightly but,,,
http://triblive.com/sports/college/pitt/12918775-74/pitt-not-looking-past-1-win-north-carolina
Upitt your problem is that you hold Pitt to the standard of Alabama; well maybe that isnt a problem just a dream. Heather wants to be your cougar, oh right that marriage thing. Good to have your snarkiness back.
Upitt pushes Barkley for Heisman after 17 carries for 63 yards, overrated.
LikeLike
Why can’t we be similar to a Alabama. According to most on here they are inbreds from Bama. Seem smarter than us and our short sighted leadership.
Barkley is a stud. He has no oline. He will be a great pro.
LikeLike
Vpice of Reason , you had me until the “Wannstadt would have won a conference title by now” comment . He couldn’t win in the weak Big East, he certainly wouldn’t win in the ACC.
LikeLike
Voice…
LikeLike
Wanny was fired and thus Pitt went from 9/10 wins to years of 6-6 due to a magazine that no one reads and an AD that no one likes. Truly the worst day in the last 20 years of Pitt football.
LikeLike
And a lot of Pitt fans couldn’t comprehend Pitt was number one out of the Top 25, not the entire country. But I have read many times from Pitt fans “We led the country in criminals so Wannstedt had to go.”
So ill-informed sums up our fanbase. The same fans who want a coach fired in there is no national title delivered after year four or five. Fans don’t want a program, they want a national title that pretty much isn’t coming. I’ve read on here that Narduzzi might need to go after next season or 2019. Some of you make zero sense.
LikeLike
You are correct on All Points here. That’s SI article was a specific look at a rather narrow subject.
But we still cannot discount the fact that we had all those incidents happen but again it was a combination of a lot of different things… not one thing that led to DW’s firing as much as people want to believe that. There’s reasons you get rid of employees all the time and that’s what he was he was- an employee of the University. People tend to forget that and as such he was not immune to administrative decision-making.
One last point. SP did not fire DW. That power was held above the AD’s authority. That is maybe a minor point but I think one that fans overlook in the discussions on this issue. It was no secret there was bad blood between SP and DW and that had gone on for some time. But the ultimate decision making and the pink slip delivery was done by Nordenberg as Chancellor.
On to the Tarheel game…
LikeLike
I’m sorry but I get sick of people blasting what wannstedt did at pitt. I am 34 years old I have enjoyed one ten win season in my lifetime!!!! That season was under dave wannstedt.
We as fans complain about recruiting on here all the time. Wannstedt had the best recruiting classes out of any coach in my lifetime. He had the best three year record out of anyone in my lifetime.
Yeah he missed on some big games but he coached more games with meaning and gave me the most enjoyable set of seasons as a Pitt fan that I have enjoyed.
He had Pitt as far as it could go on a bottom feeder budget. Everything that Pitt wants he was doing for them and frankly they still have not made a commitment to spend the money necessary to ever surpass what wannstedt did on a budget.
I like coach Narduzzi but unless he gets more support my lifelong slogan of maybe next year will continue.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Agree with you… Believe it or not.
I think DW was a really complex and complicated guy in a lot of ways and had he not been a football alumni of the University I think that fans would feel differently about his tenure here.
But I’ve always written that as far as on the football field as games being played he did a very good job at Pitt and I also think he did a very good job on the academic side as I’ve written. But there’s things that you just can’t overlook also if you are an honest Pitt fan, meaning honest about what things actually transpired.
I think Wannsted could easily have kept his job if his ego wasn’t as big as it was but he truly believed he was bigger and more important than the Administration and found out rather dramaticlly that he was just another employee.
As far as how many more big winning seasons he would have had is debatable because that SI article would have really dragged down his recruiting as an active HC. Perception is everything in recruiting and having that on his back would have crippled it.
LikeLike
That SI article didn’t register at all with the public, not to mention how it would have been ignored by recruits. It was used as a pawn by Pederson to convince Nordy that Wannstedt should be fired. Dave was beloved and respected at the school, execpt by one man, Steve.
Nordy was weak to be talked into firing his head coach because of the article, and the school got what it deserved becoming a laughingstock with all the coaching changes. The Pitt professor who poisoned his wife soiled the school’s reputation more than a blip-on-the-radar article.
Pitt wins nine games in 2011 and maybe more in 2012 due to the weakest schedule in program history. Mumbles still went 6-6 while Dave would have filled an already good roster with some PSU transfers. The staff was in on a lot of good prospects in the 2012 class. Some kids lost in 2011 had solid college careers.
I know this subject has been beaten to death. I’ll try not to post about it again.
LikeLike
You know Reed. The firing of Dave still sticks in my craw. << Sorry but I had to use that classic saying… but the truth is, it does…. ike
H2P!
LikeLike
I’ll talk about it until we are all blue in the face and I’ll say Au_Tx… BINGO!! Someone understands what happened!
Biggest sabotage in PITT football history. I just had to walk outside and spit on the ground thinking of that horrible AD.
LikeLike