Wannstedt out
By Chris Dokish
In a bit of surprise, Dave Wannstedt has been fired as the University of Pittsburgh football coach. The surprise was not that it was done but that it was done this season. As I wrote in my last article, the Pitt administration needed to be aggressive, and fire Wannstedt, and they have answered the call. Next is to be just as aggressive in who the replacement is. No word yet on who the possible replacement will be, but my (realistic) pick last week was Dana Holgorsen, and I still stand by that as an option.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpT4esAgfZI
Names that will be mentioned that I wouldn't want or Pitt will never hire:
Al Golden- Will always be looking at Penn State, runs conservative schemes on both offense and defense, performance at Temple a little overrated because Temple moved down to a lower level of competition.
Marvin Lewis- He couldn't even keep professionals out of trouble, how the hell can he keep college kids out of trouble?
Rich Rodriguez and Skip Leach: They may as well be Satan as far as Pitt is concerned.
Russ Grimm: Nice guy, Pitt guy, local guy, NFL experience, boring. Sound familiar?
Chris Pederson: I have a better chance of coaching Pitt next season. He has a better job and makes more money than Pitt will offer.
Gus Malzahn: Auburn OC will get a better job, probably in the SEC, and already makes more money than Wannstedt made this season.
Tom Bradley: The most overrated head coaching candidate in Pitt history. If he was so great he would be coaching somewhere by now.
Brady Hoke: Pitt can do better. And how do you sell a guy with a 38-46 career record?
posted by Chris Dokish @ 4:17 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
While I agree that Malzahn will likely eventually end up in the SEC, will there be any openings this year that would prevent him from taking the Pitt position? It seems like most of the weaker programs in that conference recently hired new coaches and I'm not sure Vanderbilt would be a destination for him. Also, my understanding is he made only about $500k as Auburn OC vs. about $1MM for DW? I'd think Pitt would be willing to offer even more to land him.
You're right about Malzahn's salary but 500k is a huge amount for a college coordinator. Because he already has a high salary and because he is so hot right now he can really wait for a great job. I'd be surprised if he would decide on Pitt, but you never know. It would be a helluva coup.
Chris...enjoyed your "What's next" post last week very much. I'll be very surprised if this search is longer than two weeks. AD said all of the things you expected him to say but to fire Wanny and not have somebody in my back pocket would be troubling. Then again, he didn't do Nebraska any favors!
Thanks for the response Chris. I agree that Malzahn is a bit of a reach, but we can dream can't we? Realistically I love your Holgorsen suggestion. Any insight on whether they likely already have someone in hand or is the search just starting now?
I'm sure Pederson has one or two guys specifically in mind, as well as a list of fallback options, but I doubt that he has already talked to them.
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