Paul Chryst is back in Pittsburgh today, and his Pitt Panthers are hosting a number of recruits on official visits this weekend.
Sam Werner @SWernerPG 19m19 minutes ago
Just spoke with #Pitt AD Steve Pederson, who said Paul Chryst has not told him he will take the Wisconsin job, if offered.
@SWernerPG 18m18 minutes ago
Pederson did say that Wisconsin reached out to him Wednesday to inform him they would contact Chryst about the job.
For a Wisconsin program that has won 10 games in four of the past six seasons, Chryst might just not be proven enough as a head coach to be at the helm of such a winning program and compel Wisconsin to its winning ways. He also lacks on the charisma meter and is not known as a great recruiter.
What might give AD Barry Alvarez further pause is Paul Chryst’s 19-19 record in his first three years at Pitt. Average at best, with some ugly losses.
He said that while he wants a candidate with head coaching experience, “ties to Wisconsin [are] not important.”
“I think it’s important that there’s a fit,” Alvarez said.
A fit is not just knowing that an incoming prospective coach will stay on the job "until [Alvarez] retire". A fit is about perpetuating a winning tradition.
Randy Shannon was a homer with the closest ties to the University of Miami. He had no intention to leave for a long time. But couldn't win enough games and also lost to lower ranked teams in lower division.
Chryst-coached Pitt Panthers team losing to the University of Akron does not reflect a winning "fit" insofar as one capable to lead and compel his team to win, particularly the games you're suppose to win on your third year of coaching.
Barry Alvarez knows well the story of Homer Shannon at his former boss Donna Shalala's University. He also knows that he lost the head coach job at UM, as Butch Davis bolted to the proving grounds of the NFL, because UM chose its original homer as its new head coach: The unproven Larry Coker.
Coker took that winning UM program, put it cruise control and won a championship. Thereafter, it was a slow but certain decline, then Coker eventually crashed it.
AD Alvarez, a solidly winning coach in his own right, knows that he would have had UM winning and contending for championships. Yet, his old boss Shalala did not pick the more qualified and winningly experienced coach [Alvarez] but went with that first homer.
Imagine Barry Alvarez retiring as coach, and taking the helm from Paul Dee as UM AD. He certainly would not have been hiring all these unproven or inexperienced homers as head coach of UM. Would he do so for Wisconsin?
In the meantime, Barry Alvarez intends to interview a couple more head coaches on his short list, Al Golden not excluded.
Sam Werner @SWernerPG 19m19 minutes ago
Just spoke with #Pitt AD Steve Pederson, who said Paul Chryst has not told him he will take the Wisconsin job, if offered.
@SWernerPG 18m18 minutes ago
Pederson did say that Wisconsin reached out to him Wednesday to inform him they would contact Chryst about the job.
For a Wisconsin program that has won 10 games in four of the past six seasons, Chryst might just not be proven enough as a head coach to be at the helm of such a winning program and compel Wisconsin to its winning ways. He also lacks on the charisma meter and is not known as a great recruiter.
What might give AD Barry Alvarez further pause is Paul Chryst’s 19-19 record in his first three years at Pitt. Average at best, with some ugly losses.
He said that while he wants a candidate with head coaching experience, “ties to Wisconsin [are] not important.”
“I think it’s important that there’s a fit,” Alvarez said.
A fit is not just knowing that an incoming prospective coach will stay on the job "until [Alvarez] retire". A fit is about perpetuating a winning tradition.
Randy Shannon was a homer with the closest ties to the University of Miami. He had no intention to leave for a long time. But couldn't win enough games and also lost to lower ranked teams in lower division.
Chryst-coached Pitt Panthers team losing to the University of Akron does not reflect a winning "fit" insofar as one capable to lead and compel his team to win, particularly the games you're suppose to win on your third year of coaching.
Barry Alvarez knows well the story of Homer Shannon at his former boss Donna Shalala's University. He also knows that he lost the head coach job at UM, as Butch Davis bolted to the proving grounds of the NFL, because UM chose its original homer as its new head coach: The unproven Larry Coker.
Coker took that winning UM program, put it cruise control and won a championship. Thereafter, it was a slow but certain decline, then Coker eventually crashed it.
AD Alvarez, a solidly winning coach in his own right, knows that he would have had UM winning and contending for championships. Yet, his old boss Shalala did not pick the more qualified and winningly experienced coach [Alvarez] but went with that first homer.
Imagine Barry Alvarez retiring as coach, and taking the helm from Paul Dee as UM AD. He certainly would not have been hiring all these unproven or inexperienced homers as head coach of UM. Would he do so for Wisconsin?
In the meantime, Barry Alvarez intends to interview a couple more head coaches on his short list, Al Golden not excluded.
