umchicago

December 7th, 2010 at 4:16 PM ^

finished at or near the top of the big east the past few years.  granted i'm not a big wanny supporter, but he recruits pretty well there.  i see them plummeting back to the abyss again, even in the big east.

Joined: 02/05/2009

MGoPoints: 33625

Don

December 7th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^

Heinz capacity is listed as over 65K, but for the Backyard Brawl, Pitt only drew 60K. For the Miami game, they drew only 58K. Not as bad as Stanford numbers, but not good either.

The trouble is that Heinz isn't a campus stadium, and that's far from ideal for a college program.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148237

profitgoblue

December 7th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^

I was at the Backyard Brawl this year and was surprised at the number of empty seats.  I told my nephew that same thing you mention - that it hurt attendance when Pitt decided to go with Heinz Field and tear down old Pitt stadium in exchange for the new center they build in its place.  They bus the students in from campus on yellow school buses.

(P.S.  I was at the last game at Pitt Stadium and still have a piece of the turf.  They had mounted police guarding the goal posts and I couldn't figure out why since the stadium was being torn down.)

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 19559

Harvest Wain

December 7th, 2010 at 4:53 PM ^

It's sad when you can't even sell out the Backyard Brawl.  My family has season tickets, so before I came here, I was a big fan.  Two years ago it seemed to be 1/3 WVU fans, at least it was full.  I thought they were making progress with the "Sweet Caroline" before the 4th quarter, but I guess it's doomed to be a cold, heartless NFL stadium.

Joined: 08/29/2010

MGoPoints: 981

profitgoblue

December 7th, 2010 at 5:03 PM ^

Interpreting your use of the word "cold" differently . . . it was cold as ice at the game this year.  I about froze my balls off and seriously considered leaving early.  But staying to the end so that I could chant "Casteel to Michigan" was priceless.  There were so many WVU fans that I was lucky to get out of there unscathed!

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 19559

BlueVoix

December 7th, 2010 at 4:42 PM ^

That's not Wanny, that's Pitt.  The campus is so far removed from Heinz Field and PNC Park that most people in this town probably forget that Pitt plays there.  The fact that Pitt students don't really care about football (except as an excuse to get wasted bro!) and are much, much more into basketball doesn't help.  Roll that up with most people in Pittsburgh being more up for watching Steelers highlights from 1965 than a college football game and you've got yourself an empty stadium.

Joined: 06/25/2009

MGoPoints: 5576

blueheron

December 7th, 2010 at 4:29 PM ^

Has anyone gotten better mileage out of image and association than Wannstedt?

What I mean, specifically:

* Image: He's from Pitt.  He played ball at Pitt (and blocked for Tony DorSETT, woo).  Gosh darn, he even _looks_ like a Pennsylvania football player and coach.  I think Dantonio has benefitted from thinking along these lines.

* Association: He served under winning coaches and on winning teams.  That seems to have been worth at least two head coaching opportunities.

Joined: 03/26/2009

MGoPoints: 30647

umchicago

December 7th, 2010 at 4:57 PM ^

i guess it depends on your point of view.  i think they still tied for the conf title this year.  they did lose their final 2 games which obviously spelled his doom. but, imo, they have the best program in the big east now.  though it is the big east.

Joined: 02/05/2009

MGoPoints: 33625

MH20

December 7th, 2010 at 6:51 PM ^

Going into the 2009 season, I bet most Pitt fans wouldn't have said they would most miss Bill Stull from that senior class.  However, he put together a very good 2009 season and is probably the most missed element from the 2010 campaign.

Tino Sunseri's final numbers look pretty decent enough, but he really struggled in their losses (especially early in the season), and that, coupled with Dion Lewis' peculiar early season woes, hurt Pitt's offense.  Add the loss of big-time DE Greg Romeus for basically the entire season, and I'm not totally shocked that they struggled, at least early on.

Joined: 10/30/2008

MGoPoints: 40453

jamiemac

December 7th, 2010 at 5:03 PM ^

I would hardly call that post a narrative, let alone a MGoBlog narrative.

Harbaugh's Year 3 improvement was mentioned as often as Wanny's

And, really, that thread was nothing more than a typical tom hagen and KOB (whats his name now, I forgot) meltdown. I think you're being a little disengenious by saying 'look at wanny's progression as a blueprint for us' was any sort of consistent narrative formally or unformally here at Mgoblog.

This was a single thread and, if you read it, goes way off ski's. Still, its always a good to read past freak outs.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 8446

HairyPalms

December 7th, 2010 at 6:14 PM ^

That thread had everything. Where have those people gone? Are they among us? After reading the Hello Shawn Conway thread I found it funny to read MichMike's posts on that one. Where are they now that we're in a bowl game?

Joined: 12/04/2010

MGoPoints: 961

jamiemac

December 7th, 2010 at 4:53 PM ^

I'm just glad the Steelers never hired him

How about this

Pitt hires Richard J Rodriguez while we hire Jim Hopefully I Am Better Than My Bro Harbaugh

The loud part of our fanbase can shut up--unitl the first loss--while the rest of us can do what we do, cheer for the team.....meanwhile, we get Rich vs WVA on an annual basis.

This should really happen. It would be RAD.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 8446

Don

December 7th, 2010 at 5:34 PM ^

Heh... if that ever transpired, I think Morgantown would go up in a mushroom cloud even without an ounce of fissile material. The youtubes would be awesome.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148237

PurpleStuff

December 7th, 2010 at 5:50 PM ^

How do you get axed in a year where you tie for the conference championship?  How does 5-2 in your conference three years in a row fail to live up to expectations at a program whose last coach bailed to take the Stanford job?

Not a huge Wannstedt fan, but I don't see what he's done to get forced out or who they think will come in and do a better job with that program.

EDIT: Nevermind.  Just read that their AD is the same guy who fired Frank Solich so he could bring in Bill Callahan.  No explanation is required.

Joined: 04/21/2009

MGoPoints: 15969

JeffB

December 7th, 2010 at 6:18 PM ^

The expectations are that they win the Big East (which they tied for this year) and go to the BCS.  As someone above said, they seem to get talent that does (or will) play in the NFL, but can't do anything with it.  They don't win when they should, and they come out flat and get blown out in too many big games.

This wasn't a "resignation"  - this was him being fired then the school making it all nicey-nicey by allowing him to "resign" then get bumped up into the Athletic Department as an ambassador for the program (which he is good at) and the school.

Listening to local talk radio, the concensus is that this is a good move (of course depending on who they get as a replacement), because Wanny wasn't getting it done.

The difference between here and Nebraska with the AD is that most of the fans wanted Wanny gone, and I don't think they did with Solich.  Local rumors are that a number of donors and influential alumni were so unhappy they weren't going to games and were not going to give the big bucks to get the good seats at Heinz Field (plus, the empty seats don't help, either).

JeffB

Joined: 09/22/2009

MGoPoints: 197

labattsblue

December 7th, 2010 at 5:48 PM ^

who transfered after Wannstedt placated the locals and choose to start Tyler Palco over Flacco.  Granted, Palco is in the NFL, but how many arms can compare to Falco?  Not many.  The high school Palco graduated from West Allegheny has a pipeline to PIT.

Joined: 02/08/2010

MGoPoints: 100