A Tale as Old as Time.

Welcome to the mind of a battered Pitt fanatic. Despite my heralded expertise in CFB, there will be no filtration of bias regardless of where my words lie on the positivity spectrum.  I have been long delinquent in my contributions but I cannot bite my figurative tongue any longer as a daunting terror is lurking towards us. Heed my words for you have been warned.

Optimism can turn the sharpest mind dull. Akin to COVID-19, optimism is the most infectious disease to plague the once proud fan base of our Golden Panthers. It is the precursor to expectation and the root of our annual despondence. It is the reason that I will unavoidably author a contradictory article in just 8 month’s time that I will then attempt to delete two weeks thereafter.

We are currently three weeks removed from an “interesting” bout in Atlanta. The game should have been an absolute drubbing but in typical Pitt fashion, we allowed an inferior team to stay in relative striking distance. Let’s be honest, if you weren’t expecting calamity in the fourth quarter then you haven’t watched Pitt football the past two decades. This game will be nothing but a blip in Duzz’s résumé moving forward but it should be noted for, is precisely what is coming this off-season. The game was 12-days after a slaughter in Death Valley. That must have been the magic number to erase embarrassment from the temporal lobe. So, Pitt wins a very unimpressive game against a bad team. Why am I harping on this meaningless game? Why? Because, what they did, was win in a different method. A method that has become antiquated in Whipple’s pass happy offense. They won by running the ball for 317(!) yards. That accounted for 24% of the team’s rushing yards for the season, in just one game. That’s great, right? Wrong. With no game to follow, declining a bowl bid, this should-have-been penultimate game has undoubtedly planted a seed of optimism that this outlier performance could become the standard.

And that’s where the trouble really begins.

I am a firm believer that consistency in the coaching ranks is vital for teams who don’t have competitive resources to be competitive on the field. To avoid a long tangent on my affinity of Dave Wannstedt, I’ll simply say that the force majeure between he and then A.D. Steve Peterson was entirely responsible for the decade long coaching carousel and grasp for mediocrity… All while fielding generational talents… But that’s a lesson for another time. I reference this because while I believe this lesson has been learned by Pitt’s Athletics’ operation manifested in Narduzzi’s rather cold-seat, I have concern that the old ball coach might force the hand by his own stubborn loyalty.

Lets rewind – June 2020, Pitt returns it’s best defense in decades paired with a second year OC and 4^th year starting QB, poised to make a run at 5x consecutive ACC champion Clemson and thus, monumental strides in the hierarchy of college football. Look, I have a flair for the dramatics, bear with me. Pitt was supposed to build on what was a promising 2019. All the pieces were seemingly aligning. “If not now, then when”, was the theme of the fan base. But reality ensued. Pitt’s one-dimensional offense consistently flashed its rear end and with it, took all expectation and national perception on a nosedive.

So here we are, less than a month into the post 2020 off season following a 6-5 campaign. You’d typically be expecting unrest and frustration in most fan bases. I mean this performance of a 5^th year Head Coach at a P5 school usually is the kiss of death. But rather than the typical dystopian outlook by our fan base at this time of the year, I am seeing a palpable amount of optimism floating about. Shortly after the win at the Georgia Polytechnic Institute, Kenny Pickett announced that he will grace Heinz field for what will make him a starting quarterback in, count ‘em, FIVE different seasons of College Football. Regardless of what you think of Kenny, his return as a veteran player is warmly welcomed as there was strong uncertainty as to who would be his heir. What should have been celebration in my mind was quickly clouded by the understanding that a fifth-year quarterback with real NFL ambition does not return to learn a new playbook from a new Offensive Coordinator. Weeks of rumors about Whipple’s impending termination had quickly become expectation (note – Motif). Trusted sources had staked their reputation on this lead all for it to dashed at Pat Narduzzi’s signing day press conference when he confirmed that Kenny will be trotting to his sidelined OC for one more year. There is an alarming amount of retention this year. Save LB coach Rob Harley’s departure to lead Ark St.’s defense, every assistant coach is still manning their post. As I said, consistency is valuable to Pitt’s coaching ranks, but retention should be earned – especially in the case of Mark Whipple. And this is where the root of my concern lies. The offense has certifiably ruined two years of statistically elite defense and not an iota of change is ensuing. Have no doubt about it, HCPN is binding the fate of his tenure to his loyalty In Mark Whipple.  You can chalk it up to COVID related finance issues if you chose (OC Watson was fired for far less) but I believe this decision to put all his chips in with the success of Pickett/Whipple to be wildly misguided and will result in the 2021 season acting as his Swan Song. No, this is not my attempt at a pessimist’s allegory, it’s my cathartic interpretation of what almost certainly will follow.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” – some smart guy.

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As is my reputation to Hedge – I will say that I am not ruling out the possibility departure of OL coach Dave Borbely and RB/Special Teams Coordinator Andre Powell. The reality is that the Borbs/Whipple marriage was misaligned from the start. Borbs is nuanced in a power rushing attack while Whipple’s bread and butter has been in the zone running attack out of the Gun. A switch in the OL scheme could prove beneficial to Whipple’s offensive philosophy.

Furthermore, the staff really has done a stand-up job in recruiting the past two years continuing it in the late signing period (Phil O’Brien Jr. – Auburn flip). Other key returners that were presumed departing (Strong-Side LB Phil Campbell most recently) and the late addition of a quality transfers Marcus Minor – OL starter from UMaryland and former local standout and 4-star Marlon (MJ) Devonshire Jr. from Kentucky, certainly provide some reason for optimism. Kudos to you, WR coach/recruiting guru Chris Beatty.

If you’re still reading in agreeance, then you are in fact the object that Einstein was referring to.

-Flay.