.. never even mentioned USF. Can't really say that i blame them, there's no reason to think this won't be a rebuilding/readjustment year for us. But forgive me if i'm optimistic anyway.I donate money so i'm entitled, LOL.
FWIW, i think two BE coaches are on the warm-seat this year: Wannstedt and Edsall, and both because they had success last year. With all those returning stars and starters, it will be a big letdown at both schools if they have bad, or even mediocre years. Fans who are singing their praises now will wonder if each guy has plateaued and maybe decide it's time to move in another direction.
(08-23-2010 08:11 PM)quo vadis Wrote: [ -> ].. never even mentioned USF. Can't really say that i blame them, there's no reason to think this won't be a rebuilding/readjustment year for us. But forgive me if i'm optimistic anyway.I donate money so i'm entitled, LOL.
FWIW, i think two BE coaches are on the warm-seat this year: Wannstedt and Edsall, and both because they had success last year. With all those returning stars and starters, it will be a big letdown at both schools if they have bad, or even mediocre years. Fans who are singing their praises now will wonder if each guy has plateaued and maybe decide it's time to move in another direction.
Two coaches in the HOT SEAT from the BE should be Stewart and Schiano. Stewart appears to have let the program slip from where RR had it, and he has been trying to go away from the RR offense in favor of a more balanced attack - which in my opinion is a big reason why WVU has dropped a few pegs. Schiano has most definitely plateaued in my opinion. Rutgers has not made any progress since the 2006 when they upset UL on a Thursday night while NYC watched. The Rutgers faithful have to be concerned about not turning the corner since 2006 despite the extra time for Schiano to continue building the program and despite the fact that the OOC schedules have been set up very favorably for getting into bowl season.
Stew has won 19 games in his 2 seasons in Morgantown, and finished tied for 2nd in the conference both years. I seem to remember it took Wanny more than 2 years to get into the top half of The BEast...
Why didn't y'all hold Wanny to the same standards you hold Stew to? Sounds like hypocrisy to me...
(08-23-2010 08:45 PM)bitcruncher Wrote: [ -> ]Stew has won 19 games in his 2 seasons in Morgantown, and finished tied for 2nd in the conference both years. I seem to remember it took Wanny more than 2 years to get into the top half of The BEast...
Why didn't y'all hold Wanny to the same standards you hold Stew to? Sounds like hypocrisy to me...
Would it be fair to say that Wanny had less to work with compared to Stew? Didn't Stew have Pat White, Steve Slaton and other key offensive components coming back?
(08-23-2010 08:45 PM)bitcruncher Wrote: [ -> ]Stew has won 19 games in his 2 seasons in Morgantown, and finished tied for 2nd in the conference both years. I seem to remember it took Wanny more than 2 years to get into the top half of The BEast...
Why didn't y'all hold Wanny to the same standards you hold Stew to? Sounds like hypocrisy to me...
I was thinking along the lines of what Matt wrote in his post. Wanny did not inherit a good Pitt program in my opinion. Yes, Pitt had plenty of good players at the skill positions, DB and a few LBs, but the OL and DL were in awful shape. On top of that, Walt was alienating a lot of high schools in Pitt's traditional recruiting grounds, which meant that Walt Harris was going to flame out within the next 3 to 5 years after the Fiesta bowl anyways. Dave had to rebuild the trenches at Pitt.
Stew, on the other hand, took over a program that was on top. Sure he lost Slaton for his first full season as coach, but he still had Pat White, Noel Devine and much of RRs nucleus of players. He should have been able to parlay that success into good recruits to continue the system. I think in Stew's case, he wanted to run a different offense and he struggled as a result. I'm not saying Stew is a bad coach, but it is pretty clear that MANY WVU fans are not happy with how the program has progressed since RR left. That is the truth from discussions I had with a variety of WVU fans.
Steve Slaton, Owen Schmitt, and the ENTIRE offensive line from RR's last team were gone when Stew took over. Those were big cogs in that offense, and nobody seems to remember any of that, including you, matt. Hence your comment about Slaton still being around. WVU was also on their 3rd offensive line coach in 3 years in Stew's first year...
But Wanny has gotten the top rated recruiting class in The BEast every year since he's been at Pitt. He should have won The BEast by now, and taken Pitt to a BCS bowl. But Wanny always loses out in the end. He's done it again and again too. That's HIS history...
Everyone holds Stew to a higher standard, simply because he followed RR. Some people get all the breaks, and it's often breaks they don't deserve. Some people can't get a single break. Wanny is an example of the former, and Stew is an example of the latter. No biggie...
If only Stew stuck to high standards where the NCAA rules come into play.
No sh!t. But he was simply following the system setup by RR, right under Eddie Pastilong's nose. I thought our AD was doing a better job than that. But now we all know why he didn't get the extra 2 years he wanted before retiring...
(08-23-2010 08:35 PM)miko33 Wrote: [ -> ] (08-23-2010 08:11 PM)quo vadis Wrote: [ -> ].. never even mentioned USF. Can't really say that i blame them, there's no reason to think this won't be a rebuilding/readjustment year for us. But forgive me if i'm optimistic anyway.I donate money so i'm entitled, LOL.
FWIW, i think two BE coaches are on the warm-seat this year: Wannstedt and Edsall, and both because they had success last year. With all those returning stars and starters, it will be a big letdown at both schools if they have bad, or even mediocre years. Fans who are singing their praises now will wonder if each guy has plateaued and maybe decide it's time to move in another direction.
Two coaches in the HOT SEAT from the BE should be Stewart and Schiano. Stewart appears to have let the program slip from where RR had it, and he has been trying to go away from the RR offense in favor of a more balanced attack - which in my opinion is a big reason why WVU has dropped a few pegs. Schiano has most definitely plateaued in my opinion. Rutgers has not made any progress since the 2006
Yeah, Rutgers has stalled out and Schiano is probably feeling some heat.
I won't speak for WVU fans but i bet the thinking there is that RR lucked into a couple fluke-great players in Slaton and White and thus the results posted between 05-07 were unusually excellent. I suspect that RR isn't given credit for developing those guys because WVU fans are bitter about him and thus would rather chalk his success up to luck than to his coaching skills. That works to Stewart's advantage.
Nevertheless, to go from winning 2 BCS bowls in 3 years to failing to make the final top 25 the past two seasons can't be sitting well, and i bet patience with Stewart won't last too much longer ...
You can't say that DW has outrecruited the rest of the BE while he has been at Pitt because it's not true. According to Rivals, WVU outrecruited Pitt in 2009 (#27 vs. #47) and 2010 (#27 vs. #33) when Bill Stewart was HC.
Anyway, do I think Stewart has done a good job as HC? The on the field results suggest that he has. However, the reason *I* think that Stewart is in the 'hot seat' is that he has a new AD in combination with the alleged NCAA infractions. Who knows what will happen but I certainly expect WVu to have a very good season considering they have 19/22 starters back, IIRC. In fact, I would consider them the favorites going in.
We'll find out soon enough....
Here's all you need to know about Bill Stewart: No other school in college football would have hired him to be their head coach except WVU.
I think stewart overall gets a bad rap.
The ncaa stuff is complicating everything though.
(08-24-2010 06:59 AM)TIGER-PAUL Wrote: [ -> ]I think stewart overall gets a bad rap.
The ncaa stuff is complicating everything though.
I agree with you. However, I think the WVU faithful have very high expectations now due to what they experienced when RR was t the helm. That is why I think Stewart is on the hot seat. If he was coaching any of the other BE schools he would be treated better. However, if he was coaching at Pitt, the fans may be less patient with him too.
There has been a large segment of WVU fans that felt hiring Stew was a mistake, and they've been vocal in their opposition ever since. The NCAA investigation is merely fuel to their fire. If Stew doesn't win The BEast this year, he's probably gone. Ollie Luck will have no choice, if he wants to keep the donations rolling in. Some of Stew's detractors are big boosters, who were persuaded to accept him short term, in the hope that he'll lead WVU to the promised land. They aren't going to wait any longer, now that the NCAA has come calling. If they don't see that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the axe falls...
I guess the old adage is true. Nice guys really do finish last, which is a very sad statement on our society...
This "nice guy" Stewart lost his last head coaching job due to using a racial slur.
(08-24-2010 08:10 AM)bitcruncher Wrote: [ -> ]I guess the old adage is true. Nice guys really do finish last, which is a very sad statement on our society...
It is indeed.
Stew absolutely deserved the chance when he was hired, and he's done a fairly good job.
But WVU fans got a taste of the "big time" under Dick Rod, and going back to a lower-key, more Nehlan-type coach - - when you compare him to Dick Rod's persona, some folks are not going to be satisfied unless it's a BCS bowl every year.
I think Stew will coach a couple more years and retire.
(08-23-2010 08:11 PM)quo vadis Wrote: [ -> ].. never even mentioned USF. Can't really say that i blame them, there's no reason to think this won't be a rebuilding/readjustment year for us. But forgive me if i'm optimistic anyway.I donate money so i'm entitled, LOL.
FWIW, i think two BE coaches are on the warm-seat this year: Wannstedt and Edsall, and both because they had success last year. With all those returning stars and starters, it will be a big letdown at both schools if they have bad, or even mediocre years. Fans who are singing their praises now will wonder if each guy has plateaued and maybe decide it's time to move in another direction.
I don't really see Edsall on the hot seat - he's done an unbelievable job at UCONN. As long as they get to a solid bowl game this year, I think he's fine. Same with Wannstedt - he's returned Pitt to relevance, and they are in position to make some national noise this season. I think it would take a complete fiasco for his seat to get warm.
I think folks who believe Schiano's seat is warm are nuts. How soon we forget the DECADES of futility at Rutgers. He's still getting them to bowl games, and having successful seasons. They will compete year in, year out in the BE.
(08-24-2010 11:08 AM)wvucrazed Wrote: [ -> ]Stew absolutely deserved the chance when he was hired, and he's done a fairly good job.
One thing i don't get is WVU's pay scale. They pay Stewart about $900,000 a year, which is woeful for a BCS head coach. By comparison, we're paying Holtz $1.7 million this year as a BCS rookie HC.
But, WVU is spending $2.8 million on assistant coaches, which is elite-level. By comparison, USF gave Holtz a $1.5 million pool for assistant coaches, and even Florida spends less than WVU - Urban Meyer gets $2.6 million for assistants at Florida.
So WVU is high-balling the assistants but low-balling their head coach. I don't get the logic of that ....
(08-24-2010 11:17 AM)quo vadis Wrote: [ -> ] (08-24-2010 11:08 AM)wvucrazed Wrote: [ -> ]Stew absolutely deserved the chance when he was hired, and he's done a fairly good job.
One thing i don't get is WVU's pay scale. They pay Stewart about $900,000 a year, which is woeful for a BCS head coach. By comparison, we're paying Holtz $1.7 million this year as a BCS rookie HC.
But, WVU is spending $2.8 million on assistant coaches, which is elite-level. By comparison, USF gave Holtz a $1.5 million pool for assistant coaches, and even Florida spends less than WVU - Urban Meyer gets $2.6 million for assistants at Florida.
So WVU is high-balling the assistants but low-balling their head coach. I don't get the logic of that ....
I think it can be looked at like this: Stew had the $$$ to get assistants that would be paid well because they would have more autonomy over their side of the ball or the position that they coach. Believe Stew is in charge of special teams.
On the other side, Holtz is to be in charge and be as hands on as possible with respect to staffing, gameplan on both sides, and final decision making.
Note that Stew is likely in the same boat as a Bobby Bowden was and Joe Pa is, but Stew doesn't have the cache that either of those two. Those two, over time, became coaches that delegated.
Stew's salary is actually $800,000. He has incentives built into his contract that can elevate that a bit if he reaches certain goals he hasn't quite reached yet. I forget what the ceiling is. Maybe Jackson, or someone else remembers...
But $800,000 isn't a bad salary in West Virginia. You can live high on the hog. It wouldn't be a good salary in a major metropolitan area. But in West Virginia, if you're a simple guy like Stew, $800,000 is a pretty good paycheck, and it's more money than he's ever made before...