Six head football coaches in six years. Therein lies the legacy of former Pitt Panthers athletic director Steve Pederson. Pederson was fired last week by school chancellor Patrick Gallagher upon the announcement that head football coach Paul Chryst was departing the program after three years on the job to take over as the head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers. The firing of Pederson was met with universal acclaim as his act had long worn thin with fans and former Pitt players.
One Man Wrecking Crew
Pederson epitomizes the new and distasteful breed of college AD’s who take over programs and want to make their mark with a football hire of their own. Pederson never did figure out how to hire a football coach that was better than the one he was going to fire.
While at Nebraska, Pederson ran off a program institution and favorite son, Frank Solich, after he led the Huskers to a nine-win season, then stating that such a record at Nebraska was unacceptable. Pederson gambled that prospective big time coaches would beat down his door to take over the Big Red. He lost this bet in embarrassing fashion. After several weeks of bumbling around he settled on fired Oakland Raiders coach Bill Callahan. By 2007, Pederson and Callahan were both ran out of Lincoln after an unprecedented level of losses.
Pederson later returned to Pitt where he was well regarded from his first stint as AD. The late great Beano Cook in fact credits Pederson with saving Pitt athletics. Pederson led the construction of a state of the art basketball arena and arranging for the use of Heinz Field as well as pro level training facilities with the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers. But the failure of hiring the right football coach and building a program that could sustain success ended up bringing down Pederson.
Pederson had an itchy trigger finger and longed to fire Dave Wannstedt as head coach upon returning to Pitt. Wannstedt, like Solich was at Nebraska, was a Pitt alum and local institution that would never have wanted to leave. Wannstedt’s teams were inconsistent but his recruiting was among the best in the Big East and he had a huge haul of top shelf talent pegged to arrive in 2011 after a 7-5 season. He had posted 10 and nine win seasons in the two years before that letdown campaign of 2010.
The promise of a big recruiting haul was not enough for Pederson, who was dying to pull the trigger which he did at the end of the regular season. Pederson then hired little known Mike Hayward from Miami of Ohio as The Savior of Pitt Football. Hayward lasted a few days before having to leave due to domestic violence accusations and it was all downhill from there.
Pederson’s resume can now boast the destruction of two traditional power football programs.
The Search Times Two
Chryst leaves Pitt with a 19-19 record but inherited a mess of a program. He was able to get Pitt into a post season bowl in each of his three seasons on the job. But as a former Wisconsin QB, offensive coordinator, and native of Madison it was a no brainer that he would go home.
Now Pitt must search not only for a new football coach, but also a new athletic director.
A Winning Tradition
Pitt was a national power under Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill from 1976 through 1981 and has boasted such past stars as Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett and Dan Marino on its history. But the program has leveled off into mediocrity in recent years and the move off campus to Heinz Field may have been counterproductive as attendance has been weak. But the biggest obstacle that has prevented Pitt from sustaining success has been the revolving door of head coaches.
Potential for Success
“Pitt football can be as good as it wants to be,” said former All-American Bill Fralic. “It can be great and anyone who says Pitt can’t have a great football program is a jackass. If you have commitment to that and you have the right direction we can do that. I think the transition underway now is a great thing for Pitt football. It’s what was needed.”
The state of Pennsylvania is fertile recruiting ground and can be the foundation for long term success at Pitt with the right head coach.
A Pitt Man Needed for Full Commitment
Majors correctly calls Pitt a “destination job.” It simply needs to find the right fit with a man that is committed to the University and understands the culture and landscape. Wannstedt was that man and Pederson blew it up. Now it’s up to Pitt to fix a football program that is underachieving and capable of much more than what it has delivered.
