What a great 24 hours it’s been for Pitt. Last night’s win at the Pete electrified the fan base, and the icing on the cake was the hire of what is considered to be a very solid Offensive Coordinator.
Here is the article I wrote last night regarding Whipple:
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Pitt has an Offensive Coordinator. In the space of ten days Pitt Head Coach Pat Narduzzi fired and replaced Shawn Watson. The new coach, Mark Whipple is widely regarded by the fanbase as a solid hire. Certainly not a splash, but certainly better than Shawn Watson. According to one survey, a full two-thirds of Pitt fans approve. Another one-quarter had no idea who he is.
Whipple, who was the head coach at the University of Massachusetts until recently is widely regarded as a quartback guru. He should be near and dear to most Pittsburghers’ hearts because he was the first NFL coach to tutor Ben Roethlisberger. He’s also coached for the Browns (boo) and the Eagles (personal favorite of mine), and did a stint at Miami as their OC back in 2009-2010.
While Whipple has received mixed reviews from the Miami fanbase the conventional wisdom was that his quarterback talent was marginal (Jacory Harris anyone?), and Whipple still managed to coax 5000 yards per season out of the team. It should be pointed out that Miami’s 2010 yardage was outstanding at 5493 but scoring was lackluster at 26.3 points per game. Still, both figures would be an improvement at Pitt. For comparison’s sake, Pitt put up just about 3600 yards last season and 25.6 PPG.
The bottom line is that wherever Whipple has gone in the NCAA, yards and for the most part points have followed. Apparently it’s because he understands how to scheme receivers open.
pittpov.com 