Just like I thought would happen, Pitt has named Scott Turner as our new WR's coach. This is a move that I really believe will hurt Pitt in the short term. The reason being is that this is Scott's first big time job as a positions coach. Prior to this he was a grad assistant at Pitt, and as most people know, he is the son of the Charger's Norv Turner.
The reason I feel this is not a good hire for right now is because we have a large amount of young talent at WR that could benefit from an experienced coach. He also does not have any history of being able to recruit and that is something that we always need to have on staff.
This move actually seems like Wanny decided to go with the complete opposite of Bossard. Instead of getting a guy with experience and recruiting ties (even though Bossard was awful at both) we went with the guy with 0 experience coaching at the D1 level, and 0 recruits to his name thus far.
The reason this could work out well in the long term is that Scott has a high football pedigree. He has the benefit of being around football of his life and from playing quarterback at UNLV. He is also young enough that he should be able to relate better to younger kids than some of the older assistants.
I hope that this move is based upon merit that Scott has earned throughout his time as a GA here at Pitt and not just Wanny looking out for one of his buddy's sons (i.e. Oderick Turner).
I would have rather found a guy, much like Cignetti, who has proven he can be successful as a coach, someone who already has a recruiting base established, and someone that can develop talent.
Now this becomes a waiting game with many questions.
Will we see Scott become like Jeff Hafley and open up a new, successful recruiting base somewhere that we haven't been before?
Will we see the receivers continue to struggle (not including Shanahan and Baldwin)?
Will we see Scott become an active part in the offensive coaching or will he be limited initially like most grad assistants?
Many questions exist, and hopefully the answers all benefit Pitt.
4 comments:
What do you mean "not including Shanahan and Turner"? Turner was a redshirt senior in 2009 and is gone.
Good catch, I meant Shanahan and Baldwin. Thanks for the heads up.
DPJ - at least you have the moxie to write that Baldwin Struggles. I discuss that on the message boards and immediately people accuse you of either hating the kid or not knowing football. PITT fans think he's a superstar but he really didn't even stack up to the best college receivers last season.
He has a lot of room to grow IMO and honestly, I can't see him being a first round draft choice as most think unless he really steps up his game. It's not enough to run straight down the field and hope a ball lands in your hands, or mis-time your jumps (or jump when you don't have to) on crossing patterns.
He's got the athleticism as we all know - now put the work in on better route running, aggressiveness and finishing plays and he'll shoot to the top of the charts.
The thing about Baldwin is just based on his size and athleticism he will be a 1st round pick.
He made some good highlight catches this year and was able to turn some of the right heads. Make no doubt about it, there were plenty of scouts in attendance watching what he could do.
One of guys I talked to made a good point. Chad Jackson was on the fringe of being a 1st round pick based solely on athleticism.
Baldwin has better potential compared to Jackson and with a good season next year he will have shown some consistency over a 2 year span.
You are correct though, he does have quite a bit of work to do. He still gets away with beating people with just speed and jumping, but that will get tougher in the NFL.
Maybe Scott Turner can help Baldwin improve and move his draft stock way up. One thing to keep in mind is that next years NFL draft will be very deep with WR's.
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