Oh Boy; UPitt's Coaching Search More than a Disaster

I'll start this off by saying that I was on the side of getting rid of Dave Wannstedt. I know that the kids loved him and he was one hell of a recruiter. But in terms of wins and losses he wasn't getting the job done. When you have a 2 game lead-in the conference- and does not go to a BCS Bowl, a change needs to be done.

Now onto the frustrating stuff. When you fire man like Dave Wannstedt, you need to bring in a coach that you believe will do a better job than Wannstedt. And most of the time that requires you to open up the check book. If Pitt really wants to go to a championship level, Big East and National, you have to act like a Florida, Alabama, and Ohio St.

I've been reading some of these candidates resume's and some are wow candidates, and for the wrong reasons. I read Greg Roman's resume and the first thought that popped into my head is he could make a decent Offensive Coordinator someday. No joke. How is this guy even worthy of an interview?

I understand the lovefest for Tom Bradley. He's been a DC at Penn State for years and practically ran that program for the past 5-6 years. He's a proven recruiter within the state of PA. I get all of that. But when I watch PSU games, I notice his bend but don't break defense, his defense gave up 37 points to a Florida team that hasn't been as good as in past years. Fact of the matter is, we'd be getting the same style of team-on the defensive side of the ball- as we had with Wannstedt.

But here is where the fun starts. Pitt apparently offered him 1.6m dollars a year but wasn't willing to agree with him on Bradley's Assistant Coaches. Again, if he want to reach the next level we need to open up the pocketbooks.

I have no idea how much Tulsa's Todd Graham would require or Mario Christobal would require. But when it comes time to offering contracts to them or their assistants, pay them.

There is no reason why Pitt's HC shouldn't be the highest paid coach in the Big East. Should have at least looked at a Mark Richt, Gus Malhzaln, or even a HC within the Big East or ACC. Offer big time money and move on.

But instead of big time candidates, we're talking about Stanfords Greg Roman. Stop being cheap Pitt.

If we want to go this route, lets leave the Big East and become the MAC's 14th team. We're thinking like a MAC school right now, when we should be thinking like a Big 10 or SEC school. Pitt has the money, now use that money.

Whats Next for Pitt

Everything that could have gone wrong for Pitt since the resignation(firing) of Dave Wannstedt has gone wrong. From the vetting process to that fateful day for Mike Haywood.

John Seibel of 93.7 The Fan sums it up perfect on his facebook fan page;

"how is it that from the days prior to his hiring up to this very second, i have known more about michael haywood than the "search committee" that was supposedly vetting him? i'm not surprised by this story, yet those who hired him are."

This has to go back to the AD Peterson. How didn't a search committee or Peterson himself not know about Haywoods past and the fact that he had a kid with a women in her 20's.

Then I read a blog out of the NY Times and it looks even worse for Peterson. Learning that coach's are unwilling to work for him is very discouraging.

He(Peterson) was pushed out of Nebraska for almost the same reason. He attempted to ruin their traditions. And he went though a coaching search debacle almost as bad as here at Pitt. Its time for Peterson to go.

The worst part of this is now he isn't even "trusted enough" to make the next coaching hire. What a mess that has been created.

Mike Haywood just might have been a great hire for Pitt. We'll never know this. What we do know is he ruined his career whether or not the charges are true. And to be frank it doesn't look good for Haywood. It has been reported that the Police had to pull him off of the victim. He is facing Class D Felony charges for Domestic Violence, which carries a 6 month to 3 year sentence if found guilty.

I have no idea what's next for Haywood. The damage has been done for his career. I guess the NFL, CFL, or AFL are likely coaching destinations. I can't foresee too many college coach's willing to give him an assistant job. Hiring him at the college level would be devastating for recruiting. What parent is going to let their kid be coached by an alleged women beater.

Now the recruiting class that has looked to be the best during Wanny's tenure has been gutted. There are 7 recruits left and only a month away from signing day. The new coach has a lot of work to salvage what is left and work on bringing kids here. He may have to bring in JUCO kids.

The next coach is certainly going to have his hands full recruiting the 2012 class as well. Juniors in the Pittsburgh area and across the nation are seeing whats currently happening at Pitt as well. I'm not sure if they want a part of this program. And I can't blame them.

Steve Peterson created a mess by his actions and lack of researching candidates. Something has to be done about this. And to be honest, as much as Dr. Mark Nordenberg has done for the University, his job shouldn't be secure as well.

What a mess.

Who's Ready for the 6 Class Debate to Heat Up Again?

I know I am as an avid supporter of the 6 Class system. But there will always be those contrary to this issue especially on this side of the state.

I do hate the idea of playing our District Title games at Heinz Field. So I use Heinz Field as a terrible, terrible reason to hold back progress in this state.

There are some other issues that come along with the 6 Class debate, like when to start the season. I prefer the last Friday in August and not the Friday before Labor Day.

Fact of the matter is the only thing everyone can agree on is that the season is too long. Ending the week before Christmas is utterly absurd.

I have an idea that could cut the season by at least 2 weeks. 1 Cut the playoff field in half statewide, 2 (as I stated above) start the season the last Friday in August, like Ohio and other states.

But this is a little deeper than just when the season starts and ends. Lets talk about competition for a minute. On the Eastern side of the state you have most of your larger schools so the smaller 4A schools complain. But on the Western side of the state you have most of the smaller schools in the state.

Class 2A in the WPIAL is extremely large and could easily be fixed if we had more Class's. In 1A in the WPIAL, the level of competition is grossly unfair. Schools like Clairton, Rochester, Canevin, Springdale, Beth Center, and Monessen shouldn't take the field against the smaller uncompetitive teams like Avella, Mapletown, and West Greene. But it happens.

There are ways that the WPIAL can set up the playoffs and still have 4 WPIAL games at Heinz and still send 6 representatives to the PIAA playoffs.

The next Board of Directors meeting is on December 16th. I fully expect this issue to be brought up again and be highly debated this winter into spring and possibly summer.

I just hope the Board of Directors especially the WPIAL does what is the most sensible and goes to a 6 Class format.

Heinz Field- A Flawed Tradition

Last night watching the Steelers game reminded me of how much I hate the WPIAL finals being played at Heinz Field. The playing surface is downright horrendous and for other reasons I'm going to get into right about now.

I understand the average WPIAL's claim to tradition. But what is so bad about "in with the new and out with the old".

The WPIAL requires the Quarterfinals and Semifinals to be played at a neutral field with an artificial surface. What in the world makes the most important game(s) in our area to be different?

Is it really because the Pro's play there or what? Is it because of the FSN money because they refuse to go to more than one site?

Come on folks, this field not only has a terrible playing surface but the game day atmosphere is pathetic. Each game carries 5k to 10k fans in a 65k stadium. Are you kidding me?

Why not play the games at Cal U, or Robert Morris where the stadiums are much smaller, plus you have an artificial surface?

At the end of the day the kids aren't really going to care where the game is played. They're fighting for the right to be named the best team in the WPIAL, in their respective class's.

I think the people that care the most are the fans. Our -insert team- is going to the Ketchup Bowl, or our -insert team- is going to Heinz.

Lets talk about safety for a minute. Do any of you want any of your boys to get hurt in similar fashion that the one Miami Hurricane did in the Champs Bowl last season. He tore his ACL due to the playing surface being up to par.

The tradition is flawed plan and simple. The sooner Western Pa realizes this, the better off we all are.

Clairton vs Chartiers-Houston and Fort Cherry... Bitter Fued???

Back in the spring of 2008 when the realignment came out and Clairton was placed in the Blackhills Conference I was extremely excited for many reasons. One reason was I got to see the High School I graduated from, Clairton, take on schools that are very close to where I live.

I live in Houston, and in fact when i'm when I go to Chartiers-Houston games I find myself rooting for the Buccaneers. Its only natural, because I live here and have some friends in the area. I'm not going to go to the away bleachers and root for the away team in spite. I have family that graduated from Chartiers-Houston; including my cousin who played for the 2000 edition that beat Clairton in the first round of the playoffs.

My girlfriend at the time was a graduate of Fort Cherry and I attended some of their games as well. So I also rooted for the Rangers. Again it was natural and made sense.

But something has changed between now and then and it has become a bit hideous to say the least. Not saying Clairton is entirely innocent in all of this, but the rivalries between these 3 schools have turned a bit ugly. It all goes back to the 2008 game between Clairton and Char-Houston where Clairton did some push ups after the game. Then in the 2009 game against Fort Cherry there was a minor pregame innocent and a plethora of personal fouls during the game. And that game also ended with Clairton doing push ups on Fort Cherry's sideline. The 2009 game between Clairton and Chartiers-Houston featured a bench clearing brawl.

When it came for post season awards for the Blackhills Conference, Fort Cherry and Chartiers-Houston made sure that no Clairton player would receive an All Conference Award. Remember the Clairton Bears won the State Title and featured 2 Pitt recruits in WR/DB Kevin Weatherspoon and QB/DE Desimon Green. LB Eddie Ball was the AP Class A Defensive Player of the Year and RB Deonte Howard was the AP Class A Player of the Year. Personal grudges shouldn't have gotten in the way when it came to honoring the best players in the conference but it did and its wrong.

Fast forward to last Friday evening. Clairton beat Chartiers-Houston 48-0 in Clairton. Clairton used its backup QB and threw a touchdown pass late in the 4th Q. Clairton then lines up like its going to go for 2 and takes a knee. I call that perfect sportsmanship, but HC Terry Fetsko obviously disagrees with me in his post game intereview.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailynewsmckeesport/sports/s_701317.html

I completely understand his frustrations to a point. His teams has been completely overwhelmed by Clairton the past 3 seasons and had some extracurricular involved in the prior 2 meetings. But to claim that the team that just beat his isn't that good and will get beaten by Rochester is a little over the top. Maybe he's right and Clairton isn't as good as past years, only time will tell. But a comment like that seems to be more or less sour grapes than him being honest with himself and the rest of Western PA.

I'll find it really hard to root for Chartiers-Houston and Fort Cherry in the future, when they're not playing Clairton of course. Has these games reached a boiling point, I might have to say yes. I mean there isn't any respect involved here. You got coach's that isn't humbled when they lose, not voting for players of a Clairton due to grudges, post game push ups, etc. At least when Clairton and Duquesne had their rivalry there was some form of mutual respect, even though those games was much more heated than the current series.

This isn't even fun anymore. I was anticipating these games with all of the enthusiasm in the world. Now I just wished these series would end.

Florida Schools Blowing out the WPIAL Shouldn't Be a Surprise

Any one else tired of seeing Pennsylvania getting destroyed by Florida schools and the rest of the nation respectively? I'm really tired of seeing scores like Cocoa beating Thomas Jefferson 43-7 and Manatee beating Gateway 39-16. And to top it off the WPIAL's record vs Florida is 117-23.

Is this the best the WPIAL and PA has to offer? Could schools like North Penn, Bishop McDevitt, and other top schools out east do any better? That question hasn't been answered yet. But I suspect that they may not fair much better.

But the WPIAL and the rest of the State needs to do something to even this playing field. Just look what they do in states like Florida, Texas, and many states down south. They have spring football for one(which includes a spring game/scrimmage vs a neighboring school in some states), and they start the season a week earlier than we do.

I say either we change our ways ie; having spring football and starting our season a week earlier. And if we don't change then we need to stop playing these games. I'm sick and tired of the WPIAL's Tradition excuse everytime issues like 6 Class's makes it to the floor. Events like Rally in the Wolverena, Rally in the Valley, Kirt Herbstreet Challenge are the furthest thing from traditional.

Anyone that follows football(on any level) will tell you the biggest improvements on any football team is between Week 1 and Week 2. This will also be benificial for the entire state just because we'd be ending the season a week earlier, and if the PIAA and WPIAL could get together and reach an agreement we could end the season 2 weeks earlier but thats another story.

It's all about the money isn't it WPIAL. Its time to at least allow our schools to be more competive. Stop being political when its really your cashflow is stacking higher and higher. Swallow your pride and change, or STOP PLAYING THESE GAMES!

Clairton "Stamps" in its First Win of the Season

Leading into the game there was alot of trash talking, but Clairton did its talking on the field.

The Little Prexies simply had no answer for the Bears swarming defense. Their offense was so anemic their offense gained -24 total yards and gained 0 first downs.

I have to question Mike Bosnic's playcalling in this game. Never did he try to go into a shotgun or do something different to put the Bears defense off balance. Every drive for Washington looked the same; 3 run plays up the middle.

In a game where Clairton wins 41-0, its hard for some to find mistakes in their game. But 3 3rd Quarter turnovers and 2 muffed punts, a few avoidable presnap penalties, its easy to say that the Bears was far from perfect.

Desimon Green had to be the player of the game. He amased 3 sacks, was on nearly every tackle in the first half, 5-5 passing for 105 yards. Josh Page had 5 catch's for 96 yards and 2 TD's; including a spectacular run after catch for a 54 yards.

Clairton used a plethora of RB's with Tyler Boyd leading the way with 6 carries for 100 yards.

Clairton opened the scoring late in the 2nd Quarter on a 13 yard run by Brandon Small and never looked back.

If this is how Clairton treats average 2A schools in the WPIAL, one has to ask does any Blackhills school stand a chance?