Have consciously decided to downgrade their program? Their fall from the upper echelons is quite dramatic for those of us who remember the days of Dorsett, Cavanaugh, Hugh Green et al. I like Pittsburgh and am lead to believe Pitt has excellent professional and graduate schools. Not that it is important in sports, but they seem to be remolding themselves into a regional school rather than a national power.
A question about Pitt
- Thread starter kijanacat
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I remember the one natty, but not the other eight. Maybe they felt nine in football is enough and moving on to other type championships. What ever that is remains to be seen. 
Maybe they should try. Since they suck at everything, maybe if they tried to suck at football they would suck at sucking and be awesome.
Their football program has been a mess since 1982 or so. I don’t think there was any conscious effort to downgrade their programs- just a lot of incompetence on the part of prior Chancellors and ADs (IMO).
They dropped off the radar once their golden panther ‘benefits’ stopped and just sat in limbo with average to bad teams. The fairly constant coaching turnover took away any stability.
Then some genius there decided to throw all their weight behind basketball. Once they tore down their on campus stadium and replaced it with a basketball arena, that was the final straw.
They dropped off the radar once their golden panther ‘benefits’ stopped and just sat in limbo with average to bad teams. The fairly constant coaching turnover took away any stability.
Then some genius there decided to throw all their weight behind basketball. Once they tore down their on campus stadium and replaced it with a basketball arena, that was the final straw.
I think their plan is to eventually drop to FCS and join the NEC. Then they'll have great local rivalries with Duquesne, Robert Morris and Saint Francis.
You might be on to something. Realistically, within a decade or so there will be a superconference of maybe 16 teams that are playing expensive big-boy football, who will get all of the best players, and will likely sell their academic souls in the process. It will be a very expensive venture with probably a shitload of money coming back. Some schools just aren't going to have the financial wherewithal or the adminstrative backing to do this. Some won't want to become semi-pro teams with sham students. Those schools will back off and go back to playing old-fashioned college football. I expect Pitt to be in the latter group. I'm also not so sure that taking that direction will be such a bad thing for any school.
The academics at Pitt decided that by downgrading the athletic programs at Pitt the result would create Pitt's legacy for future generations by becoming a part of everyday lexicon forever, and so the term Pitting was created.
Tearing down the stadium was the first step to a long downhill fall for the program. It's important to have an on campus stadium so the students can easily get to the stadium. As you know, students are typically the last to show up to Beaver Stadium (and it's just an easy walk across the street from the campus). When you have to bus yourself across town, many students don't bother. The students who go to games today will be the alumni who go the games down the road. No students now means no alumni down the road and it just becomes a downward spiral.
Pitt has only had five (5) double-digit win seasons in the past 47 years. Over this same period, 19% of their seasons (9) had less than 5 wins. They're just not good at college football, period.
They better step up their recruiting if they want to compete at the FCS level.
well, lets be realistic. They beat us the year before last. So there's that.
But I would suggest Pitt continues to swirl the drain a little year in and year out. I mean, who wants to play in that environment? I stated years ago, that the fans saved Penn State and Penn State football. we continued to show up in the middle of nowhere 100,000 strong when were were called pedos and people were calling for the elimination of the football program. At Pitt, with almost no headwind, they made some of the worst decisions. Today, their infrastructure is totally flawed. They need to build a new stadium, on campus. And that will take years if not a decade. Then, once in place, they can build the program...that will take another decade.
The Nebraska hired their AD.
Crazy.
But I would suggest Pitt continues to swirl the drain a little year in and year out. I mean, who wants to play in that environment? I stated years ago, that the fans saved Penn State and Penn State football. we continued to show up in the middle of nowhere 100,000 strong when were were called pedos and people were calling for the elimination of the football program. At Pitt, with almost no headwind, they made some of the worst decisions. Today, their infrastructure is totally flawed. They need to build a new stadium, on campus. And that will take years if not a decade. Then, once in place, they can build the program...that will take another decade.
The Nebraska hired their AD.
Crazy.
Actually, the downgrading started in the 50's and continued into the early 70's. There was an intentional de-emphasis of football, particularly in the 60's. Pitt's real glory years were in the 20's and 30's. Beginning in the early to mid 70's they decided to go all out again and hired Majors. They dropped out of the unwritten agreement with PSU, Syracuse, and WVU to limit scholarships and brought in close to 100 players in Johnny's first year. The upswing was short-lived and the so-called winning tradition really lasted only about seven years. They really never recovered from the infamous 48-14 game in 1981 and it's been lackluster ever since. Many reasons for that, some which have been mentioned in earlier posts.
And I guess this is what I am thinking but didn't quite express it. It looks like things are headed that way. I once attended a Nittany Lion Club session where Jim Tarman was the speaker. He stated then (about 1980) that OSU, ND, Mich, SCal, Alabama and a few other schools were going one way and the rest going another way and Penn State wanted to be with the elites. It just strikes me that this is now a reality. As you said, it will simply be expensive to compete for most schools.
The problem with the academics is simple to resolve, just don't pretend they are real students. Most of the elite football and basketball schools have dismissed that notion anyway. We do things our way but for how long when all that money becomes available to the players.
A
anon_is9z1n0h3zblb
Guest
Pitt was only ever a national power for about a decade when the Golden Panthers were playing top dollar for players. Once the Golden Panthers got shut down they went back to their place in the natural order of things. They sucked before 1975 and sucked after 1983. I can never understand where the false meme that Pitt ever had sustained success comes from. They use to be able to field a decent team about once a decade due to the talent that came out of the WPIAL but that train left the station along with good paying steel jobs.
I don't know what they're doing but I hope they never get rid of Narduzzi. Watching his press conferences brightens up my day. I can't imagine wanting him to be the face of your organization. Terrible speaker, so disorganized, acts like a 16 year old with ADD......simply priceless. Good thing he can coach right?
Narduzzi is totally out of his element as a head coach/CEO of college program. Maybe a good Defense coordinator but he has reached his level of incompetence.
The same GP that tried to buy of Jerry S. from PSU, paying for his Brownson house in Wash PA to be updated.... They enabled him.
