PITT HIRES HAYWOOD

Earlier today, the University of Pittsburgh will announce Michael Haywood as the football programs 34th head coach. This comes 9 days after the forced resignation of Dave Wannestedt. Many supporters of the program were glad to see Wannestedt go, but then thoroughly disappointed in the hiring process of his replacement. So let’s take a look at what has gone on over the past week plus.

Many Pitt fans were excited about the program not settling for the underachieving that Wannestedt had done over the past three. Most fans also expected the university to make a sexy pick for their next hire to take Pitt to the proverbial “next level.” Michael Haywood is by no means is a sexy pick as the new head coach.

When Wannestedt was forced to resign, the rumors began of who could be the next head coach. We heard Chris Petersen from Boise State was the first person that Steve Pederson contacted. We heard names like Mike Leach tossed around. The way-to-optimistic Pitt fans saw Urban Meyer available as the next coach after he resigned at Florida. Well, none of these guys ended up being serious contenders. The guys that were considered serious candidates included Al Golden from Temple, who took the Miami head coaching position, and Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen, who chancellor Mark Nordenberg said no to. That left fans back at square one. However, that was not the case for Pederson and the staff at Pitt. Apparently, they had in fact offered Al Golden the position and he was the schools #1 choice, but he chose Miami instead. However, the school never did offer Holgorsen and reports are showing that the school never actually talked to him directly about the job. Nordenberg did not like his background and thought he was not a “Pitt guy” (whatever that is).

What we have found out is that Michael Haywood was interviewed multiple times during this process, so apparently he was one of the schools top targets from the beginning. And why wouldn’t he be? Haywood has a solid background. Haywood, in his first head-coaching job, went 1-11 in his first season. In season two, he in 9-4 and won the conference title. On that conference title team, 43 of the 65 men on the travel roster were freshmen or sophomores. The guy cleaned house, got the players he wanted and won, what’s not to like?

Haywood has a great coaching background too. Since 1995 he worked at three programs before getting the head-coaching job at Miami. In that time he won a national championship while at LSU working with Nick Saban. He also learned from Mack Brown at Texas and was the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame with Charlie Weis. Nobody liked Charlie Weis at Notre Dame and they didn’t win much, but one thing that never lost them games was the offense, and that was run by Haywood.

Do I love the hire, no. Do I hate it though, certainly not. I like the fact that Haywood has head coaching experience. I like the fact that he has great recruiting connections. I like the fact that it is tough to find another coach in the business that has worked with him that doesn’t rave about his abilities. I get that he was not a sexy pick, but I’m willing to at least give the guy a chance. The last time Pitt fans were this upset that the school didn’t make a “sexy” hire was when the university hired a guy named Jamie Dixon, how’s that working out?