Tyler Boyd gestures toward the Panther Pitt student section after beating Syracuse, 30-7, Saturday. — PITT ATHLETICS
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
The Pitt football program isn’t nearly good enough, but it seems that’s just an inconvenient annoyance for far too great a percentage of its aging, fading fan base.
So hey, forget that the Panthers’ hollow 30-7 rout of a rancid Syracuse roster Saturday at Heinz Field meant next to nothing. Or that all that their finale next week at Miami represents is a chance to finish 6-6. Or that a .500 bowl bid is better of discarded than accepted. Or that, other than pride and more individual accolades for James Conner and Tyler Boyd and no one else, they’re pretty much just pulling the curtain closed on another lost season.
Right, gentlemen?
OK, well, good for them. Seriously. Even against this opponent, the student-athletes deserve high marks for overcoming a hip injury to Conner with Chris James‘ 122 rushing yards, Boyd’s 126 more in the air, and senior-on-Senior-Day Ray Vinopal leading the rebound for a devastated defense.
As Paul Chryst put it, “It’s been a little rough around here lately, but these guys battled.”
Sure did, but regardless, I’ll reiterate: Forget it all.
Because none of that could possibly be the hot topic at times like these compared to … uh, the facility?
It’s remarkable but true: Nothing at all boils the blood of far too many among the far too few who still feel passionately about Pitt football quite like building a new on-campus stadium and returning the Panthers to Oakland. Tune in to the radio or social media, and any mention of the program leads to this Pavlovian response that the superficial, symptomatic element that is game atmosphere sits right atop the program’s problems.
Never mind how silly it is to see that as a panacea. The logistics alone reduce any argument to rubble: If you haven’t visited Oakland in, oh, 30 or 40 years — and a good percentage of those who have come at me on this issue have not — you won’t realize that it isn’t your grandfather’s farm and pasture anymore. I researched the matter for a column last November, and the short version is that there aren’t 100 open inches in Oakland to build anything, much less 100 yards, much less the multiple city blocks required, much less the topography. Ask those who run Children’s Hospital why that institution was forced to uproot for Lawrenceville.
A campus stadium isn’t happening, based on the lack of logistics, university will and political will.
And it shouldn’t happen. Not one penny in Pennsylvania, not private and certainly not public, should be wasted looking into it, with a first-rate NFL stadium available just 2.8 miles away.
So get over it already.
Get over the other silliness, too, like the script logo. I’d welcome it back, too, and thus applauded the university’s decision to return it to the football helmets this fall, as well as the centerpiece to Heinz. But man alive, there are mature adults who pine for this logo as if its removal has been at fault for the program’s ills. And I only wish I were exaggerating.
The whole thing is nutty.
Someone please explain how more folks are angrier with Steve Pederson over the stadium and the script than they are, at least directly, about all these years of failure.
Explain how there’s more fuss about the silliness than the athletic department’s petty, pointless refusal to play West Virginia. The restoration of that rivalry alone would do wonders for the program and all its peripherals. And the Mountaineers would make it happen in a Morgantown minute.
How does Pederson skate off so easily on the most important charges of all?
How does Pederson not get linked nearly often enough to all this misery, given that it was his outrageously poor choices for head coach preceding Chryst — Mike Haywood and Todd Graham — that set back recruiting, what, half a decade?
What a lucky guy this AD is to have people fixating over a facility, huh?
This has been going on for a while, but it’s never been more flagrant than this year: Here again summoning from my own experience, I’ll hear some complaining about losing to Akron, blowing big leads against other opponents, not being bowl eligible and other real material.
But man, tweet out a picture of Saturday’s kickoff, and the response is akin to burning couches:
False. Attendance was worse at Pitt Stadium, and there are examples across the country of — gasp — bad crowds to watch bad on-campus football. It happens everywhere, even with our city’s professional sports teams.
More students would come!
Student attendance has never been the problem at Heinz. Again, see data linked above. And for that matter, I rarely hear students bemoan the commute from Oakland to the North Shore, one that takes about 17 minutes on school-provided transportation. It’s hardly the Bataan Death March.
Come on, Pitt fans, where’s all the support?
This one’s my favorite. Because it indiscreetly implies that Pitt fans are somehow at fault for the team’s fortunes by not showing up. Which is beyond unfair. It’s preposterous. Pitt fans are no different than any other fans in that they won’t show when the product stinks. There are always outliers, of course, but even those depend on at least a recent history of success.
If you haven’t noticed, Pitt hasn’t been successful for a while now.
Maybe people don’t notice.
Because if there were even a fraction of the anger aimed at the university’s administration and athletic department over Pitt football — and I emphasize football — maybe real, meaningful change could come. Maybe the program could hire better coordinators than a young Matt House, essentially learning on the job. Maybe the program could hire better coaches overall, not least of which is the head coach. Maybe the program could spend more to recruit the more fertile areas. It’s wonderful to keep top talent like Boyd and now Jordan Whitehead, but that actually achieves far too much in placating the old guard who harken back to a day when that was all that mattered.
Want to make Pitt a contender in the ACC again, or even more?
Start getting serious about what’s really wrong in Oakland.
It’s that Pederson made a huge mess. On the field.
It’s that Chryst’s recruiting, even with his hands tied, hasn’t been good enough. Neither has his coaching.
It’s that Conner and Boyd stand so far above their teammates partly because they’re really that good, partly because they lack a supporting cast. So much more is needed.
It’s that the schedule leaves so much to be desired that Akron wasn’t the worst opponent faced.
It’s that the football isn’t any good. All the rest is fallout.
Really good stuff and I think most agree that Pederson is a large part of the problem. Hopefully a new administration will bring all of this into focus and make the necessary changes.
Fabulous column. But DK, you need to get even more direct: Pederson has to go. Now. Pitt needs to decide if it wants to play with the big boys. if so, spend like it; if not drop to D1AA. I am okay with either choice.
Don't tell me what I need to think, Josh, and I promise not to do likewise. Deal? I'm ALWAYS direct about how I feel. If you don't share it, that's your prerogative.
Perhaps you misunderstood my intentions. You as a media personality have a large voice. I am glad to hear someone state the obvious about the state of the program. I hope others follow. Keep up the good work
Thank you Dejan for FINALLY saying what needed to be said. I've been a season ticket holder for over half my life, I'll never stop being one. All this needed to be said.
I don't see Pitt contending for an ACC Championship, let alone getting into the CFP in my lifetime. The desire in the administration simply isn't there. Otherwise, they would have already made a change. If it's making money for them, why upset the apple cart?
Thank you, thank you, thank you! The tired old tripe of an on campus facility being the missing component of a successful program is ridiculous. Anyone that has supported this program for any reasonable amount time can attest that attendance at Pitt Stadium - even in successful times- was average at best....Save for games against PSU, ND or WVU. Build a winning program and attendance takes care of itself.
And scheduling those rivalry games you mentioned would do wonders as well. Glad PSU game will be back soon and gets extended more than two years. Hopefully WVU after Pederson goes.
Don't just state the obvious, call for the AD's head. The true problem is that there is no one with money to force him out. And on the small things, walk into a store in the stadium. There is no identity. They cant even get the small idea of having one color or logo right.
I was always for the script logo and was happy when it came back. But it was because I liked the logo better. I don't know when where or how that opinion started to get lumped in with the on campus stadium talk. It was always aesthetics with me. Truth be told, there were plenty of bad seasons in that logo!
Agreed! Stadium location ain't the issue. As an alum, Class of '88, I LOVE the script, but that ain't the issue. Admin's lack of true support of the football program, THAT'S the issue! Quit tying coaches hands and give them what they need to win! If you build it, they will come!
I don't understand why Pitt has trouble attracting better assistant coaches. They should have the money to pay them with the ACC TV deal money. Is it the mediocrity of the program keeping them away?
"Pitt fans are no different than any other fans in that they won’t show when the product stinks." TRUTH! In a city with top notch NHL, NFL and MLB teams and a rich cultural district, there's a ton of competition for the entertainment dollar. Bad Pitt teams won't win that either.
Dejan, the problem is bigger than Steve Pederson right? Pitt's program was among the worst before him. The real problem is Pitt's Administration would like to be a top 10 program like I would like to be rich, by playing the lottery. Neither of us really want to work at it.
Spot on. The on-campus stadium nonsense is a classic case of overthinking a simple problem. Just be better on the field - stop being embarrassing and unwatchable- and many more people will attend. Those of us old enough to remember the reality of game days in Oakland aren't pining for their return.
If every Pitt student showed up, you'd still have a "Gold Out." Non-students aren't coming to watch a 4-6 team not in the hunt for anything. If Pitt was 10-0, ranked number 2 in the College Football Playoff Rankings, the attendance issue evaporates. See Pirates. 1-3 w scrip.
I'm guilty of wanting the script back and was happy to have it back. But why was it handled so poorly. Was it something pitt needed to clear with Nike. Seems like a marketing opportunity was missed.
Joining the ACC, which Pitt has less than zero history with, was a death knell. Who cares about playing Duke in football? Or getting slaughtered by Florida State? Maybe 3,000 people In the metropolitan area.
So . . . You would rather play UConn? Or Temple?
The Big East in football is dead.
Big 10 did not want Pitt.
ACC is good place to land. MUCH better than where WVU landed.
.
Or do you have a better conference to aim toward?
Oh Yeah! Shutter the program!
Brilliant!!
Said this before, but Pitt should shutter its football program. It doesn't make much money for the school, the Steelers could make up the difference for not tearing up the grass. They'll never be a top 25 (or 50) program again. Let the evil NCAA endgame play itself out.
How is Pederson still employed?
I know he got Pitt into the ACC, and more $$$$, but he is a trainwreck. His hires have been awful.
With a new Chancellor, I am hoping he goes.
Until Pederson goes, Pitt will never win.
.
Oh, and agreed about the silly stadium issue.
I don't know if fans, at least those that I speak with, seriously think a stadium or logo is holding the program back. To me, that stuff is a product of what fans are reduced to: an acceptance that the administration is the problem yet nothing will ever be done about it.
Great, and honest thoughts Dejan regarding trying to build in Oakland. I remember my Dad taking me to Forbes, no parking. I remember going with my friends to Pitt Stadium, no parking, I remember going to Fitzgerald, no parking, where the heck would you build all that now?
Attendance is more responsive to losing than in a college town without alternatives. Put together 4-5 years of 8+ wins in a major conference and the stadium attendance is fine. Another note though, I could care less about attendance, just winning. I don't go to games for fans.
I love the "shut the program down" and "move to D1AA" comments on here. Wee bit dramatic?
It's not rocket science. If Pitt proves it can Win and field decent, competitive teams, like in 2002-04 and 2008-10, people show up. But these last 3 years? Why pay to watch that?
I don't follow college football (my school ditched football my 2nd year) but this was interesting to read. It doesn't sound like it will be fixed any time soon.
This may be a typo…"better of discarded." I feel like I'm being the grammar police but I know you want to be told, so…
As someone that did not attend Pitt, because I live and work in the city, and love just about everything that represents Pittsburgh, I want Pitt to do well. I am kind of fair-weather when it comes to college football because I went to a real small school, but I do attend football games. If Pitt can win 8 games a year with maybe getting a 10 or 11 win team every once in a while, I would be inclined to come. Hell, Pitt would get my money with another Larry Fitzgerald-type player along with an 8-win team.
Winning = attendance and fan base more than location in my opinion.
The thing is, though, is would a better record attract more fans who are not somehow attached to the school? Pittsburgh already has a pretty full slate of sports teams. When I think of big university sports programs whose reach go far beyond the student and alumni fanbase, they are usually in regions where there aren't too many other professional options, like University of Tennessee football, University of Kentucky basketball, Ohio State football, even Penn State football. I used to live in Kentucky, and people I worked with who didn't even graduate from high school had their homes decked out in UK Wildcat Blue.
No doubt winning is the main thing, but in these down times especially, the whole product would be better with an on campus stadium. Like PNC Park made going to Pirates games better than Three Rivers.
Great article DK. Could not agree more that Heinz field is not the problem. There have been several games with Steeler Ravens like atmosphere. I seem to recall a Notre Dame game several years ago where the place literally shook. Winning will fill any stadium.....no better example then the ballpark about half mile down the road. I would love to delve a little deeper into the issue though. You seem to put much of the blame on Pederson and maybe richly so.
But doesn't Pederson only have the resources that he is given? If Pitt won't pay more money fo assistants and A head coach is that on Pederson or the administration? I truly don't know the answer to that question but I think it is crucial.
Your article is very much on point DK. The AD has to be taken to task for this mess. I am a season ticket holder, alumnus and long time fan. Winning, of course is the cure for most of the problems. If PC has the resources and does not upgrade the staff and recruiting then he will pay the price in the end.
This is what happens often when you hire a coach with no HC experience. Thanks again for the forum and best of luck with your business.
James Connor is the closest football player to jim Brown that I have ever seen. If the line continues to develop ,he will set some records. Tyler Boyd will be a pro and a good one. Your point about them standing out because the talent around them isn't very good is a good one.
that said, I like Paul Chryst and I think he needs a chance with the support a winning program needs to succeed.
With this years schedule being so poor I was afraid he would leave for a better situation because Pitt is far from a destination job. I didn't see this defense being so bad. Like Just about everything the success starts from the top. I hope the new president is a football booster..........we'll see
Watching both the duke and unc games these past few years, I am seeing rivalries starting to form. Both games were tight games with similar issues and teams. We are a good fit in the acc.
The University of Pittsburgh football program has been sliding for many years and I'm of the belief the existing AD, Mr. Pederson, is culpable for the greater percentage of the reasons. There is no question, the head coaching debacle from a few years ago created not just an embarrassing situation for the University but also created a lull in recruiting and disrespect for the program. Certainly, while other sports may have been successful under his leadership, the most public and potentially prosperous one of Football was/is laughable. Personally, with the new Chancellor's arrival, I'm a bit surprised a new AD was not sought as one of the first items at hand, not inclusive of actual educational matters.
The notion the stadium location doesn't have some impact on the attendance, in my view, would be inaccurate. With that said, I do not believe it is the impetus of the low attendance but it is a factor nonetheless. The subject of the script usage is nonsense and should not even be given credibility with any further dialogue.
While this comment is generalizing, the school pride seems to be lacking and I believe the University of Pittsburgh's long ago alumni are more interested and concerned with the imagery of the school and in supporting the same, more than recent graduates and existing students. The football programs of the past have generated the third most members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and will add a couple more in the coming years. However, until the University of Pittsburgh shows a reason for a recruit to select its football program as their future, compared to its "competitors", the issues at hand will become exacerbated.
It is the three "A's" scenario for the Chancellor. 1) You must be AWARE of the problem, 2) You must ACCEPT the problem exists, 3) You must take ACTION against the problem.
I was referring to the fact that Dixon grew Pitt hoops into an annual powerhouse and the ACC was as concerned about basketball as it was football. Not that Dixon pushed for the ACC or had anything to do with the decision directly. If Pitt was as bad in basketball add they are in football would the ACC have shunned Pitt for another school?
clever pseudonym I believe your reference to other regions which do not have professional sports options is plausible. Areas like, OSU, ALA, AUB, FSU, U of F, ND, PSU, etc. The state of Alabama for example, you're either a Bama fan, or an Auburn fan, regardless of your actual attendance to either school. There is merit to your opinion, without question.
DK, by the way, I loved the article. Glad to read journalist speak his mind in lieu of placating to the institutions, both professional and collegiate. It is one of the factors of endearment to your writing prowess. To me, you stand alone in the city of Pittsburgh.
While this is a good article; it is really just hammering home what all Pitt fans already know and aware of. Perhaps we call for a new stadium, the script etc, cause we think that is things that are within our control. Hiring a new AD is not. I am not a fan that is constantly calling for the AD to be fired; not sure he warrants it, but our football head searching debacle sort of speaks volumes to that thought on itself. One change that HCPC needs to do in the offseason is to admit that his defensive coordinator experiment is a failure and to start with a hiring a new coordinator. Matt House is the titanic and if HCPC doesn't get off he is going to lose his job. The thougths that Pitt doesn't have talented players is ridiculous. This is a young team, and unlike previous years when we all look forward to next season; i think pitt fans do have a lot to look forward to, there is a lot of talent on this team, it is young and raw. The offensive tide is turning for the better, and offensively Pitt is getting better each week. Right now, it is defense that is really killing this team. Watching pressors, it seems like the media covering Pitt never come out and ask the tough questions. Would love to see someone point blank ask the tought questions to HCPC especially about his defensive coordinator and if changes will be made in the offseason!
A few weeks ago, read an article on the Panther Prey Blog by Chris Dokish. It read like Martin Luther's NInety-five Theses that he nailed to the Catholic Church, only for what he thought was the changes to make PItt competitve again. He does address the stadium issue and script etc, but also makes some very interesting points. ONe of the best Pitt writings i have ever read. Have you seen or read it DK? Interested in your thoughts.
It's not the Stadium, its not the Coach, its not the AD....it's the lack of talent plain and simple. It wasn't that long ago PA was a top 5 state for D1 talent. In 2013 PA ranked 13th in the ratio of D1 players vs the number of players in the state. In 2013 a total of 63 PA players signed D1 scholarships. 63 that is it. The cubbard is bare....Pitt CAN'T recruit enough good players in its backyard anymore. The glory days are over.
Excellent column, as usual. But I take issue with a couple of points.
First, the notion that the coaching hires of Haywood and Graham set recruiting back "half a decade." Any article about Pitt's poor recruiting must start with Dave Wannstedt, who arrived with big promises and, the year he was finally fired, did not send a single player to the NFL. The cupboard, hardly stocked when Walt Harris gave way to Wannstedt, was bare when those two other fellows arrived.
And while I couldn't agree more about the "petty, pointless" refusal to play West Virginia, I trace the program's demise much farther back - to the early 80s and the malicious stubbornness of child butt-rape enabler Joe Paterno. It's been well documented that the old codger ended the Pitt-Penn State rivalry out of personal pique over Pitt's decision to join the Big East instead of his dream eastern football conference. Because of one man's ego, one of America's great football rivalries ended - and with it a treasured part of my youth.
College football programs need great rivalries to survive and thrive. They need historic enemies, teams they play each and every year, games you can look forward to even in down years (or decades). These games need to occur at the end of the year, to sustain fan interest. Auburn-Alabama, USC-UCLA, Ohio State-Michigan. Army-Navy. We had our own version and it's gone.
A Pitt football team that plays PSU and West Virginia every November might not put 65,000 seats in Heinz Field on a regular basis. But it sure would generate a lot more interest than the pathetic turnout for the Syracuse game.
DK-spot on column. The administration has made a clear decision to be a Division I doormat The new chancellor was hired in part because of his priorities-research funding, UPMC expansion, academic standing all in concert with Nordenberg's. Athletics takes a backseat intentionally, not withstanding Dixon's outlier basketball success and support. This is the Pitt Plan-not going to change!
DrTruth this team is talented. DOn't know how you can say they aren't. Offensively the team is putting up incredible numbers each week. Defensively, help is needed led by better coaching. HCPC has turned this program around. The problem is we have an overly pessimistic fan base!
Pitt is marginal and has been for along time. I'm in my 40's and they've rarely been a great team, let along consistently competitive. I honestly believe that CFB is corrupt and awash with way too much money leading to even more corruption and corresponding poor behavior. Consequently, I watch less college football every year.
Dejan_Kovacevic Yes and no, the stature of the basketball program was a big driver that caused the ACC to pursue Pitt. Then you couple that with getting the ACC into a new market and all the conference re-alignment it was a win-win for the ACC and Pitt, with Pederson just happening to the be in the right place at the right time. My guess is any other AD would have been able to pull it off as well.
clever pseudonym Agreed and you couple that with a lack Dejan_Kovacevic point of a lack of games with local natural rivalaries [PSU/WVU] it is a recipe for disaster.
TimMason DrTruth They are talented but PA is NOT the recruiting base it once was so they do need to reach outside PA for talent. For example, do you really think Pitt could compete with FSU on a regular basis with its current talent? I for one don't think so.
Does the collapse of the Big East have anything to do with this? Pitt stunk at football before the Big East dissolved but certainly moving to the ACC has not done anything to help the cause. Even with the reigning champs and the #1 team for most of the last two years being in the conference.
The ACC does nothing for Pitt from a Football standpoint and from a basketball perspective I think it will end up hurting the program as well.
Had to cut and paste this in from a text editor, not sure why livefyre didn't allow direct typing. Anyhow…
Another good read DK. Just love the "move PITT down to 1AA" comments. There is no way PITT is going to de-emphasize football, its the money sport. The ACC checks are a lot bigger than the Big East. Pederson needs judged on where this program is for sure, but look at the rest of the sports at PITT. They're not very good either.
The stadium issue (non-issue) I saw a Chris Adamski picture from the PSU - Illinois game yesterday, that's what an on campus stadium in Oakland would look like with the less than average teams they've been fielding. The ACC Coastal division is a winnable, but until they cut out the source of problem, we're stuck with 6-6.
Also watched the OSU - Michigan Rivalry piece on HBO . PITT, PSU & WVU should be ashamed for not keeping those games.
Pitt just isn't a football school anymore. Or has a loyal fan base. PSU stinks and they are still at 100k for every game. Tradition is a big factor in recruiting and sadly Pitt doesn't have that in this generation anymore.
people always say that the administration isn't listening or doesn't care about football, well maybe in the past, but we have a new chancellor now. so maybe things are about to change. doesn't anyone else think it is suspect that we get a new chancellor and midway through the season, we see the script get brought back?
absolutely right about the stadium - I was in school during the 76 season and there still weren't sell outs. Check out the attendance figures from games against Louisville, Miami and Army that year.
Somewhere late in the last century, Pitt made the decision to become a basketball school. They screamed it when they replaced Pitt Stadium with the Peterson Center. So the fact that Steve Pederson's mangling of the football program has been met with silence & contract extensions from the administration should come as no surprise. Pederson is an embarrassment. He made such a mess of things at Nebraska, his alma mater, Tom Osborne had to leave his cushy job in Congress to come back & clean up his mess.
He needs to go now. He simply can't be allowed to hire another coach.
November 22, 2014
Column: Cure Pitt’s sickness, not symptoms
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Pitt
Tyler Boyd gestures toward the Panther Pitt student section after beating Syracuse, 30-7, Saturday. — PITT ATHLETICS
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
The Pitt football program isn’t nearly good enough, but it seems that’s just an inconvenient annoyance for far too great a percentage of its aging, fading fan base.
So hey, forget that the Panthers’ hollow 30-7 rout of a rancid Syracuse roster Saturday at Heinz Field meant next to nothing. Or that all that their finale next week at Miami represents is a chance to finish 6-6. Or that a .500 bowl bid is better of discarded than accepted. Or that, other than pride and more individual accolades for James Conner and Tyler Boyd and no one else, they’re pretty much just pulling the curtain closed on another lost season.
Right, gentlemen?
OK, well, good for them. Seriously. Even against this opponent, the student-athletes deserve high marks for overcoming a hip injury to Conner with Chris James‘ 122 rushing yards, Boyd’s 126 more in the air, and senior-on-Senior-Day Ray Vinopal leading the rebound for a devastated defense.
As Paul Chryst put it, “It’s been a little rough around here lately, but these guys battled.”
Sure did, but regardless, I’ll reiterate: Forget it all.
Because none of that could possibly be the hot topic at times like these compared to … uh, the facility?
It’s remarkable but true: Nothing at all boils the blood of far too many among the far too few who still feel passionately about Pitt football quite like building a new on-campus stadium and returning the Panthers to Oakland. Tune in to the radio or social media, and any mention of the program leads to this Pavlovian response that the superficial, symptomatic element that is game atmosphere sits right atop the program’s problems.
Never mind how silly it is to see that as a panacea. The logistics alone reduce any argument to rubble: If you haven’t visited Oakland in, oh, 30 or 40 years — and a good percentage of those who have come at me on this issue have not — you won’t realize that it isn’t your grandfather’s farm and pasture anymore. I researched the matter for a column last November, and the short version is that there aren’t 100 open inches in Oakland to build anything, much less 100 yards, much less the multiple city blocks required, much less the topography. Ask those who run Children’s Hospital why that institution was forced to uproot for Lawrenceville.
A campus stadium isn’t happening, based on the lack of logistics, university will and political will.
And it shouldn’t happen. Not one penny in Pennsylvania, not private and certainly not public, should be wasted looking into it, with a first-rate NFL stadium available just 2.8 miles away.
So get over it already.
Get over the other silliness, too, like the script logo. I’d welcome it back, too, and thus applauded the university’s decision to return it to the football helmets this fall, as well as the centerpiece to Heinz. But man alive, there are mature adults who pine for this logo as if its removal has been at fault for the program’s ills. And I only wish I were exaggerating.
The whole thing is nutty.
Someone please explain how more folks are angrier with Steve Pederson over the stadium and the script than they are, at least directly, about all these years of failure.
Explain how there’s more fuss about the silliness than the athletic department’s petty, pointless refusal to play West Virginia. The restoration of that rivalry alone would do wonders for the program and all its peripherals. And the Mountaineers would make it happen in a Morgantown minute.
How does Pederson skate off so easily on the most important charges of all?
How does Pederson not get linked nearly often enough to all this misery, given that it was his outrageously poor choices for head coach preceding Chryst — Mike Haywood and Todd Graham — that set back recruiting, what, half a decade?
What a lucky guy this AD is to have people fixating over a facility, huh?
This has been going on for a while, but it’s never been more flagrant than this year: Here again summoning from my own experience, I’ll hear some complaining about losing to Akron, blowing big leads against other opponents, not being bowl eligible and other real material.
But man, tweet out a picture of Saturday’s kickoff, and the response is akin to burning couches:
Kickoff: Pitt-Syracuse, 3:32 p.m. Saturday, 45 degrees, cloudy. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC
That would never happen in Oakland!
False. Attendance was worse at Pitt Stadium, and there are examples across the country of — gasp — bad crowds to watch bad on-campus football. It happens everywhere, even with our city’s professional sports teams.
More students would come!
Student attendance has never been the problem at Heinz. Again, see data linked above. And for that matter, I rarely hear students bemoan the commute from Oakland to the North Shore, one that takes about 17 minutes on school-provided transportation. It’s hardly the Bataan Death March.
Come on, Pitt fans, where’s all the support?
This one’s my favorite. Because it indiscreetly implies that Pitt fans are somehow at fault for the team’s fortunes by not showing up. Which is beyond unfair. It’s preposterous. Pitt fans are no different than any other fans in that they won’t show when the product stinks. There are always outliers, of course, but even those depend on at least a recent history of success.
If you haven’t noticed, Pitt hasn’t been successful for a while now.
Maybe people don’t notice.
Because if there were even a fraction of the anger aimed at the university’s administration and athletic department over Pitt football — and I emphasize football — maybe real, meaningful change could come. Maybe the program could hire better coordinators than a young Matt House, essentially learning on the job. Maybe the program could hire better coaches overall, not least of which is the head coach. Maybe the program could spend more to recruit the more fertile areas. It’s wonderful to keep top talent like Boyd and now Jordan Whitehead, but that actually achieves far too much in placating the old guard who harken back to a day when that was all that mattered.
Want to make Pitt a contender in the ACC again, or even more?
Start getting serious about what’s really wrong in Oakland.
It’s that Pederson made a huge mess. On the field.
It’s that Chryst’s recruiting, even with his hands tied, hasn’t been good enough. Neither has his coaching.
It’s that Conner and Boyd stand so far above their teammates partly because they’re really that good, partly because they lack a supporting cast. So much more is needed.
It’s that the schedule leaves so much to be desired that Akron wasn’t the worst opponent faced.
It’s that the football isn’t any good. All the rest is fallout.