The New Pitt Football – An Optimist’s Delight

Pitt fans, it may be time soon to start humming bars of “Hail to Pitt” and “Sweet Caroline,” even during the Pirate games.

We could refer to the new coaches as the “RR-crew,” which would refer to their “Relentless Recruiting.”  Coaches Rob Harley, Tim Salem, Andre Powell, and Tom Sims have been tweeting about the many recruitment stops they are making. Many more offers have been made recently to recruits. It seems as if a new offer is made almost daily.

How might this affect the future of Pitt football? The more offers, the better the chances of landing a recruit.

And they are not just haphazardly making these offers, but giving them to very talented and strong character individuals.

Recall that Coach Paul Chryst gained most of his commitments at summer camps, when he and the recruits met person-to-person.  With the RR-crew going full tilt this spring, there is a possibility that summer camps may again be a source of commits, perhaps more so.

To this point, included in with the high school recruits, there are junior college players being recruited, that could fill spots that are currently considered weak links, for instance, the defensive line,  and also a complement to Tyler Boyd’s speed and unbelievable catches at wide receiver, to prevent a defense from double-teaming him.

Coach Pat Narduzzi continues to be upbeat about the program and communication between Pitt football coach and fans is likely at an all-time high. At this point, Pitt blog commenters rarely express any negativity, which is a sign that they believe in the manner in which Coach Narduzzi is running the program and are anticipating a positive outcome.

H2P!!

Pitt Football Recruiting-Perseverance; Pitt Special Teams-Upgrade

The Pitt football coaching staff has been relentlessly recruiting.

Tweets from linebackers coach Rob Harley, tight ends coach Tim Salem, and running backs/special teams coach Andre Powell have been non-stop from California to the Atlantic coastline.

While the numbers on commitments are not there yet, comparatively, most of Coach Paul Chryst’s commitments came in the summer when players came to camps and experienced the school and coaching staff firsthand, and when the coaching staffs were able to evaluate the players firsthand in football situations.

It has also been pointed out that this coaching staff is going after more high level targets, and so these recruits are seeing more high level offers to evaluate and taking longer to do so.

Pitt fans were looking for overt recruiting effort, and this group of coaches is giving exactly that.

Two observations:

1.The open line of communication from the current coaching staff with fans has brought about a much more favorable perception of the recruiting process.

2. The sacrifices these coaches are making, considering they and their families are probably still in the moving process with families settling into finding homes/new schools/new jobs for family members and so on, are probably considerable, and yet the coaches are out on the road incessantly. They are first class role models to the players  for team effort.

As mentioned previously, I came across an exceptional book called “Beyond the Final Score” by former Nebraska head coach Tom Osborne, and would highly recommend its insights.

Here are some comparisons I discovered from the book:

Coach Osborne mentioned three approaches to leadership.

Of the three types, while Coach Chryst and Coach Narduzzi appear to have some traits of each type, IMHO, Coach Narduzzi fits more traits of Coach Osborne’s transformational (servant) leader.

Coach Osborne mentions being a role model, displaying empathy, and sacrificing self-interest as some of the transformational leader traits. Both Coaches Chryst and Narduzzi fit this mold. There are other traits mentioned where the two seem to coincide.

IMHO, where Coach Narduzzi excels and stands out as a transformational leader from Coach Osborne’s definitions is in his communication abilities, foresight based on ability to dig out and pick up on problems and deal with them quickly and assertively,  and his ability to convince others to follow a path to Oz together.

One other brief note, and starting today, a coaching comparison.

Upgrade in special teams coaching.

Three years ago, Pitt had no special teams coach for the entire season, only a special teams coach by committee. Whether this was due to coaching philosophy or a budgetary consideration by the coach/athletic department is a moot point, but, needless to say, some games were decided negatively by special teams play.

The last two years. Coach Chryst had appointed Chris Haering, for years previous to college coaching the Mount Lebanon High School head coach, as special teams coach. To the best of my knowledge, he had no previous experience as a special teams head coach, and, in fact, I believe that almost no one,or perhaps no one, on the entire staff had ever head coached special teams.

Now, thanks to Coach Narduzzi, we are blessed with a special teams coach with experience, Coach Andre Powell from Maryland, who should take special team play to a new level. As we have seen the past couple of seasons, special teams can make a major difference in ACC play. Even the yard you start first down from can make a major difference. Coach Powell has major ACC experience and, in this regard, should provide a quantum leap in special teams play.