Thursday, October 18, 2007

Bob Smizik: like Gene Collier, only wrong

'Both sides have it wrong on Wannstedt'
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07291/826349-233.stm?cmpid=pitt.xml

Is there logic here?

He is 13-16 in the middle of his third season. He has lost nine of his past 10 games against Division I-A opponents. By the most important barometer, wins, his teams are getting worse instead of better.

but


Pitt has a long and unsuccessful history of changing coaches. A change is not always for the better. There's no guarantee the next man will improve the situation.

WHAT?

The guarantee that the next man will improve the situation, Bob, is that mathematically the only way he can make it worse is to lose ten out of his first ten games against Division I-A opponents. Repeating for the slow: if the next guy wins two out of his first ten games against Division I-A opponents, that's marked improvement for Pitt football.

Time to Dispatch the 'Stache. Fire Dave Wannstedt.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I understand your frustration with Wannstedt. As a long suffering Spartan fan, I know the pain you are going through. However I think you are being a little short sighted on the current state of the Pitt program.

First they have a slew of injuries. Secondly HIS recruits are only juniors and below at this point. Third, with the exception of Navy, the losses you have so far were to arguably better teams. With the exception of Syracuse, you have a brutal schedule on the way out of the season.

I would think that for sure you might expect a program like Pitt to take 5 years to overhaul it and mold it into what the coach is looking for. You have an absolutely amazing running back and from all accounts a defense that very good when healthy. Give that one more year and the defense should be rock solid.

Getting the 5 star recruits doesn't always mean much. Look at Michigan...they are loaded with talent but have at least 3 losses 6 out of the last 7 seasons I believe. Maybe 5 out of 6.

You need to trust that he is finding the recruits that can make a difference and hope it is the recruits that will still come even if this season is or will end up in shambles.

Give the guy 5 years and if he can't get it done in that time frame then you need someone else. But who do you go for and who can you get?

Rocky said...

Dave Wannstadt has done nothing but take Pitt's program backwards.

We were in a BCS game in 2004 under Walt Harris. Granted, we got blown out of it, but we were there. Since then, we've compiled a losing record and one bowl game - the Continental Tire Bowl.

As a Pitt alumni, I would much rather see a coaching change that would give us some hope of making something out of these alleged 5-star recruits. I'm tired of watching losing teams. Maybe we give him one more year at most. But something has to change.

Tony77019 said...

How do we support your efforts? how do we get the CHEAP Pitt administration to do what it has to do to move this program to elite status?

Unknown said...

You got what you wanted. Now you've got to live with it. With this mentality Tom Landry and Mike Krzyzewski would never have been allowed to succeed. Always rememeber that the coach never laces up the shoes or snaps on the helmet. There are a lot of teams that are not going to any bowl game this year. And, if you happen to win next year it is because of Coach W. not in spite of him.