PITT COACHING SEARCH

PITT COACHING SEARCH

Since the news came down on Tuesday that Dave Wannestedt would not return as the head football coach at Pitt, the question that everyone wanted answered was not, “why?” it was, "who can we get to replace him?" Well, I am hoping to shine some light on the subject today. Below I have listed the names of 20 potential candidates that have either been rumored or that I would like considered for the job. Some are long-shot chances and others are nightmare choices, but I will break them all down here.

(Listed alphabetically)
Teryl Austin - Austin, 45, is currently the defensive coordinator at Florida, which now also has a head-coaching opening. Austin played at Pitt from 84-87 and has some very strong ties to the area. He was a defensive coach at Michigan before working two stints in the NFL as a defensive backs coach before taking his current position at Florida. He has also been known as a very strong recruiter.

There is lots to like about Austin. He is a young coach. He has strong ties to the Pittsburgh area, being from Sharon, PA. He is a strong recruiter, and that always is important. He has coached at major programs and has many connections to the NFL. The negative is he is a defensive coach. College football has become a score first ask questions later league, and we just went through what a defensive minded coach brings. Another draw back, in my opinion, is that he is a Pitt guy. I love Pitt, and I loved coach Wannestedt’s love for Pitt, but the next coach’s main concern should be winning; not returning home to be the school’s football savior.
GRADE (1-10, 1 = I will start rooting for Penn State and WVU if this hire is made, 10 = Do you think this guy will be ready to go by the BBVA Compass Bowl game?): 6.5

Tom Bradley - Bradley has been the defensive coordinator at Penn State since 2000. He had widely been considered the next in line at Penn State after Joe Paterno retires, but that no longer seems to be the case. He is a relentless recruiter and has tons of connections throughout Western PA.

As much as his defenses have dominated at Penn State, it concerns me that he has dropped out of favor with the higher-ups at Penn State. If he isn’t good enough for Penn State, he isn’t good enough for Pitt.
GRADE: 5

Frank Cignetti - Cignetti, 45, is the current offensive coordinator for the Panthers. He helped develop Bill Stull from a very average QB, to the leader in the Big East in passing his senior season. He has lots of ties to the university and the Pittsburgh area, growing up in the area and starting his coaching career as a grad assistant at Pitt.

What worries me is the offense that we saw this year. Was that Wannestedt playing close to the vest, or was that Cignetti making those play calls? I would rather start over and not keep this coaching staff.
GRADE: 2.5

John Fox - Fox, 55, is currently the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, but looks to be done there after this season. Fox coached at Pitt in the late 80’s for 3 seasons under Mike Gottfried. Fox also coached for the Steelers in Chuck Noll’s final 3 seasons. His name was thrown around during the Pitt coaching search 6 years ago before the school hired Wannestedt.

We’ve been down this aisle already with Dave Wannestedt. John Fox was a good coordinator everywhere he coached. He was an above average head coach in the NFL, but nothing special. As I said, I don’t want an NFL guy to do a college job.
GRADE: 3

Greg Gattuso - Gattuso, 48, is the assistant head coach and defensive line coach at Pitt. He has done wonders for the defense at Pitt. He had been considered a great recruiter in the western PA area, but recently has burned some bridges. Gattuso played at Penn State and has head coaching experience at Duquesne.

I would love to see Gattuso stay on the staff at Pitt, but not running the staff. He has developed the defensive linemen at Pitt to dominate games and that position at Pitt has won Big East Defensive Player of the Year the past two seasons under Gattuso. I worry that he is a defensive mind and Pitt needs someone that thinks offense. Hopefully, that person sees the value of Gattuso and keeps him at Pitt.
GRADE: 6

Al Golden - Golden, 41, is the head coach at Temple. He has completely turned the Owls around and made them relevant in the college football world. Golden has played and coached at Penn State and he now seems to be the hot coach whose name gets thrown around when talking about replacing Joe Paterno.

I don’t want a guy that is going to leave Pitt for Penn State, and I have no doubt that Golden would do that. I think he has the potential to be a great coach, but that is not enough for me to feel comfortable with him as the long-term fit at Pitt.
GRADE: 2

Russ Grimm - Grimm, 51, is the offensive line coach and assistant head coach for the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL. Grimm played at Pitt during the glory days of the program, from 1977-1980. He is and has always been a great ambassador to the university. He was a candidate for the Steelers head-coaching job after Bill Cowher retired.

A big concern that I have about Russ Grimm is that he has never coached college football. I feel that he is a lot like Dave Wannestedt without the background. I would worry that this would be a Foge Fazio type hire, one that could really set the program back in the end.
GRADE: 2.5

Dana Holgorsen - Holgorsen, 39, is the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State. In his first year with the Cowboys, the offense led the nation in total offense. He is a disciple of Mike Leach and Hal Mumme. He is probably one of the hottest young assistant coaches in the nation right now.

Holgorsen has been rumored to have been contacted by Pitt yesterday regarding the opening, and I think this is a slam-dunk. Holgorsen would put points on the board and seats in the stadium. His offense is exciting, and Pitt certainly has the talent and skill players for him to be able to come in immediately and win. One downfall is that he is not widely known as a big-time recruiter, but when you run an offense like this, the system recruits for you.
GRADE: 9.5

Mike Leach - Leach, 49, is currently looking for work while sipping frosty beverages in his Key West home. Leach took a Texas Tech program from nothing to a national power, and that while competing against the likes of Texas, A&M and Oklahoma for the top talent in the area. In his 10 seasons at Tech, Leach never had a losing season. Leach never played football, but instead, studied the game. He went to BYU and studied the high-powered offensive that Lavell Edwards and Norm Chow ran there. He then went on to Pepperdine Law School where he earned a JD. He has graduated his players, while keeping them out of trouble as a coach.

People seem to be scared off by Mike Leach because he was accused of putting a player suffering from concussion-like syndromes into a storage shed. That may or may not have been the right thing to do, but maybe that is how they do it in Lubbock. Pitt has some of the best doctors in the country so the good news is they would be handling athletes with concussions, not the head coach. I don’t see much wrong with this hire, and I think it is just the type of hire Pitt needs to make.
GRADE: 9.5

Marvin Lewis - Lewis, 52, is the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, but is likely to be fired at the end of the season. Lewis was born in western PA and has ties to both the Steelers and Pitt, coaching both teams in the early 90’s. Since leaving the Steelers he went on to be the defensive coordinator in Baltimore and Washington before being named the head coach in Cincinnati in 2003.

Lewis has not been in the college game since 1991 when he was at Pitt. This is a lot like John Fox. Why would Pitt want to hire an NFL guy that has failed at his most recent job and has not been in the college game over the last 20 years? Wouldn’t make much sense to me.
GRADE: 2.5

Tim Lewis - Lewis, 48, is currently coaching the secondary for the Atlanta Falcons. Lewis is a former Pitt player, from 1979-1982. He was the 11th pick in the 1983 draft and played for the Packers for 4 seasons before suffering a career ending neck injury. Lewis coached at Pitt for 2 seasons under the “Back to the Future” debacle under Johnny Majors. Lewis then went on to coach the Steelers.

As the defensive coordinator for the Steelers, he is responsible for cutting James Harrison three times. Do we really want someone that cannot recognize talent like that? He also has never been a head coach and been fired as a defensive coordinator every time he held the position. Not someone that is really blowing the doors off saying, “HIRE ME!”
GRADE: 2

Gus Malzahn - Malzahn, 45, is the offensive coordinator at Auburn. He has also held that position at Tulsa and Arkansas. He is known as an offensive guru and someone that really develops quarterbacks. He loves hurry-up offenses and rarely huddles. He has had success with talented players, but his recruiting ability is unknown.

The one thing that scares me about Malzahn is that he was coaching high school football in Arkansas the last time Pitt went through a coaching search. Malzahn basically got his first college job because his high school team was loaded, so before signing day, Arkansas offered him the OC position to bring his players with him. Now he has Cam Newton. I’m not so sure how difficult it is to look like an offensive genius when you have that guy playing QB.
GRADE: 7

Josh McDaniels - McDaniels, 34, was just fired by the Denver Broncos after losing 17 of the last 22 games. He is a Bill Belichek disciple and was considered a sure-fire, big-time head coach in the NFL and started 6-2 in his first 8 games. McDaniels is from Ohio, but does not have any direct connections to Pitt or the Pittsburgh area.

Pederson has loved hiring NFL guys in the past, and McDaniels looks like someone that he might like. McDaniels has never recruited and has never coached the college level. He is also a cheater. He was behind the “SpyGate” scandal the Patriots had and has just recently gone through it again with the Broncos this season.
GRADE: 1.5

Bronco Mendenhall - Mendenhall, 44, is the head coach at BYU. Mendenhall is one of the young head coaches that seem to pop-up on every coaching list. He is a defensive minded coach and has coached in college the past 20 years. He has had four 10+ win seasons in his six years at BYU. He has never coached east of the Mississippi, so his contacts, which are very important in the college game, would all be very far away.

I like the idea of hiring someone younger and I definitely want someone that is not a “Pitt guy,” so in that regard, Mendenhall seems like a great hire. I do worry about his ability to being able to cope with being the second most popular MENDENHALL in the city.
GRADE: 8

Chris Petersen - Petersen, 46, is the head coach at Boise State. He is by far the most popular candidate for every job opening in America. He has led Boise State to a 60-5 record since taking over. He was the mastermind behind the famous Fiesta Bowl game against Oklahoma, which featured a Hook And Ladder play to tie the game and a Statue of Liberty play to win it in overtime. Petersen is a great recruiter and has now started getting big-time talent to Boise. That is impressive. He also has ties to Pitt. His first coaching job was at Pitt in 1992 when he was the QB coach. Alex Van Pelt was the QB at the time, and he still holds the record for career passing yards at the school.

I can’t find anything wrong with this hire. Rumor has it that Pitt does plans to contact Petersen to gauge his interest in the position. Pitt has already named two different athletic complexes after him in preparations for this day. He is the go-to guy and, now that Florida seems set on either Dan Mullen or Charlie Strong (two former Meyer assistants), it opens Pitt up as the top job available so far this offseason.
GRADE: 10

Paul Rhoads - Rhoads, 43, is the head coach at Iowa State. Rhoads formerly was a defensive coordinator at Pitt before leaving Pitt to take the same position at Auburn. Rhoads was a finalist for the head-coaching job at Pitt when Walt Harris left for Stanford. Rhoades and Cavanaugh, the other finalist, both took positions as coordinators under Dave Wannestedt, who beat them both out for the position.

Rhoads has a record of 12-13 at Iowa State in two seasons. He left Pitt after a disappointing year and was never comfortable calling the defense after Dave Wannestedt came in with his defensive philosophies. He does obviously have ties to the university, but he played at Iowa State, so I am not sure he would want to leave even if he was offered the job at Pitt.
GRADE: 4

Mark Stoops - Stoops, 43, is the defensive coordinator at Florida State. Stoops has a strong family background in coaching. His brothers are both head coaches, Bob at Oklahoma and Mike at Arizona. Having coached at Miami and now Florida State, Stoops has lots of ties to high schools and recruiting in Florida, which is always nice. Like his brothers, Mark is also a defensive coach. Stoops was born and raised in Youngstown, OH so he is familiar with the area.

Stoops in an interesting candidate for the job due to his name. The Stoops family has been very success in the college coaching world. I like the fact that he does not have any direct ties to the university, but I worry about him being a defense first coach. His defenses have been good everywhere he has gone, but both of his brothers struggled finding good offenses to compliment their defenses, and that worries me a bit.
GRADE: 7

Kevin Sumlin - Sumlin, 46, is currently the head coach at Houston. He has worked in the college game his entire career, including some very prominent programs and offenses. Before taking over the reins at Houston, Sumlin had one of the most successful offenses in the country at Oklahoma. Since taking over at Houston, his teams are 23-16, including a 10-win season last year.

Sumlin is rumored to be a finalist for the vacancy at Miami, which looks like it could be filled by the end of this weekend. So he may never actually be in the running for the Pitt job if things go his way in Coral Gables. Sumlin would be the 1st African American head coach at Pitt in any major sport. His offenses have always been high-powered passing games, which have put up lots of points, but also may not fit in the cold northeast.
GRADE: 6.5

Sal Sunseri - Sunseri, 51, is the linebackers coach at Alabama. He is a Panther grad, and his son is the current quarterback at Pitt. He has coached at high-level programs including LSU and Michigan State under Nick Saban before going to the NFL to join John Fox’s staff in Carolina. Sunseri was the interim coach at Pitt for 1 game to end the 1992 season and that team lost to Hawaii. Although he has coached all different levels at all different places, Sunseri has never even been a coordinator, let alone a head coach.

There is nothing good about this hire. Sunseri was not even a finalist 6 years ago when he wanted the position. Another downfall to this hire would be that his son, Tino, would pretty much be handed the starting QB job the next two seasons, when Mark Myers (a redshirt freshman) should be the starter for the next 4 years.
GRADE: 1

Brent Venables - Venables, 39, has been the defensive coordinator for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma since 2004 and worked as the linebackers coach there for the five years prior to the promotion. Venables is a relentless recruiter and a great game planner on the defensive side of the ball.

One of the problems I have with Venables is that he is the defensive coordinator for a defensive minded coach, which always makes you wonder how much pull he really has with that defense. Another worry is that despite having a nice resume, he rarely has been getting looks for other openings. I am not normally one who changes my opinion based on what others think, but it says something when a guy continues to get overlooked for jobs that he is qualified for. One interesting thought is that if Bob Stoops takes the Florida job, I would imagine Venables would be a top candidate to replace Stoops at Oklahoma.
GRADE: 7.5

Well, there you have it. It took a little longer than I expected, but here is the complete list. As you can tell, I am looking for a younger, offensive coach with a college mindset of running up a score when he can. I would like a coach that takes a 21 point halftime lead and comes out of halftime with the mindset that he wants to make it 42, not that he wants to hold on and win by 14 or 21. I also want nothing to do with a Pitt guy. I want the best guy for the job, regardless of if he went to Pitt, drove through Pittsburgh at some point, or has no idea in which state Pittsburgh is located. I want a winner!