COMMENTARY
Wannstedt’s tenure has been the pits
Updated: 09/03/08 6:28 AM
When Dave Wannstedt was a young assistant on the staff of Pitt head coach Johnny Majors he vowed to one day return to run the program himself. Did he mean for the better or the worse?
Wannstedt’s four years into his dream job and it’s been anything but dreamy. The Panthers have lost 13 of their last 18. Last Saturday they blew a 14-point lead in a loss to Bowling Green. This week’s game against the University at Buffalo amounts to a must win if Wannstedt’s to have any realistic shot at staying on the job despite signing a contract extension prior to this season.
The natives are restless. The Panthers are 13-point favorites. And if UB seems like the ideal foe for the moment consider that Bowling Green, its Mid-American Conference East brother, also went in as a 13-point underdog. Clearly Pitt’s in no position to take anything for granted.
Pitt’s Wannstedt era has rung discordant from the get-go. The Miami Dolphins were 1-8 when he “resigned” as head coach in November 2004. The Panthers quickly came calling but Wannstedt turned them away, unsure that he was ready to get right back onto the sidelines, even for his alma mater. He reconsidered soon thereafter and by Christmas was named the new coach. (One of the other finalists, by the way, was Bo Pelini, who beat out UB coach Turner Gill for the Nebraska job after last season. And Wannstedt once interviewed Gill for a vacancy on his Dolphins staff. Small world, coaching.)
It’s perplexing that Wannstedt has yet to have a winning season. There was some concern from the outset that recruiting would prove a challenge since he had spent 15 years away from the college game while serving as defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys, then as head coach of the Chicago Bears and the Dolphins. Wannstedt, an area native and former Pitt tackle who blocked for Tony Dorsett, insisted that he could sell the campus as well as anyone. And he was right. Pitt’s last three recruiting classes have ranked among the nation’s best, cultivating a perception the program could be a sleeping giant.
As a result, the payback was enormous when Pitt salvaged last year’s dismal season by knocking off top-ranked West Virginia in its finale. Voters on the Associated Press poll dismissed West Virginia’s key injuries that game, ignored Pitt’s cumulative 5-7 record and installed the Panthers at the 25th spot on this year’s season-opening poll. It would take all of one week before Bowling Green set the record straight.
True to his coordinator roots, Wannstedt has fit Pitt with a formidable defense. It’s the offense that’s killing the Panthers, and the head coach is contributing to the ebb in confidence. Pitt ran 25 seconds off the clock to kick a first half-ending field goal last week with the ball on the Bowling Green 19. Twice it punted from the Falcons’ 35 in the first quarter. Tailback LeSean McCoy, the top freshman runner in the nation last year, was held to 71 yards on 23 carries as Bowling Green dared Pitt to beat it with the pass and the Panthers obliged by trying.
“You’d like to think we’d make a few big plays running it with the backs that we have,” Wannstedt said on his Monday conference call. “We’ve got to generate some big plays. I think the longest play from scrimmage we had was 17 yards. You’re not going to score a lot of points doing that. Our offensive line is relatively a new group, we know that, so we’re taking that into account. Our quarterback played his first full game in his career.”
Wannstedt makes it sound like Pitt’s in transition, or retooling after a successful run. Neither shoe fits. He’s been at it more than three years. He has the athletes. Now what he needs are wins.
