From the moment he was hired, all we hear about was how lucky we were to have a true Pitt guy. People were worried our next hire would end up like Ben Howland and leave for greener pastures. Add in to the mix the statements that he is a great guy, a great ambassador to the University, and a players coach. All of the items that people claimed the previous coach was not.
Now in year 6 we find ourselves in the same spot we have been in for the past 25 years. We are stuck in the middle, not able to get over the hump. The worst part of this is all is in each of the last 3 years we have had an easy path to the Big East Championship but have blown it each time. Every year the path becomes easier, but we find a new way to serve what Pat Forde calls "A Wannstedt Special" by blowing it. In 2008 we needed to beat Cincy at Cincy but failed. In 2009 we needed to beat Cincy at home, but blew a 21 point lead and lost at home. This year with a 2 game lead and 3-0 start to Big East play, we blew it again and now are looking at a third consecutive 3rd place finish.
With TCU coming into the league in 2012 the path to the BCS becomes even harder. Upon their arrival and with the improvements around the league, Dave Wannstedt will never be able to win an outright Big East title.
So now, if all of the statements of Wannstedt being a "Pitt guy" are true. If he really is a great ambassador to the University and wants what is best for our school he will resign. He will not force Pitt to wait another year due to a buy out. He will not continue to create strain among the relationship between Steve Pederson and Chancellor Nordenberg as they both have different ideas of what should be done.
Dave Wannstedt has the easiest choice to make in all of this. He can resign effective immediately after the bowl game and retire. If he isn't ready to let go yet, then he can offer to take a huge pay cut and serve as an assistant to the program much like Johnny Majors did. If he refuses to step down, if he refuses to negotiate a buy out, and if he makes Pitt take the tough road, then he is not truly a Pitt guy.
Johnny Majors left the program for Tennessee, but when he returned and failed he did the right thing by taking a different job and freeing Pitt to move forward (which they did). Foge Fazio was a Pitt guy but realized he would never be anything more than a successful coordinator. It is time for Dave Wannstedt to realize he is just like Foge. He is a Pitt guy who is best suited for the coordinator role, but is ruining his team.
People in Chicago hate Dave. People in Miami hate Dave. It is time to take the high road here and leave before everyone in Pittsburgh, your city, your Alma mater, end up hating you as well.
Dave Wannstedt, it is time to resign.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
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6 comments:
What would you do if your boss asked you to forego $5.6M and resign?
That is what resigning would cost him... ain't gonna happen folks.
If Wanny loved Pitt as much as he says he does then he would step down.
I was told by someone high up in the athletics department a year or so ago that: "If Dave realizes he isn't the man for the job, he would step down for the University's sake". That was a person right below SP making that statement.
I hope that Dave Wannstedt realizes that he isn't the man for the job and does the right thing for Pitt (even if it does mean negotiating a small buy out).
DPJ - all well and good. The question remains and it was directed at the writer of the article rather that the guy in the PITT sports department...
Again, are you asking someone to do something that you yourself wouldn't do?
If you would truly do that, sacrifice over $5M for the good of the football program then, you are one in a million.
But if you aren't... if you are like literally every other adult male in America, then you should point the finger of responsibility to where it should be - directly to the PITT Administration.
Why ask Wannstedt to do something extraordinary when all he's done is fulfill the terms of his contact to the best of his ability? because after all that is exactly what he's done. You can be sure that contract didn't say "win X amount of games per year..." or any such language.
That's a tough one to answer. I have no idea how I would truthfully answer it as I haven't made the money Dave Wannstedt has and we are at different stages of our careers.
To put it this way, if I were leading Pitt and money was of no concern, I would step down if I had the results Dave Wannstedt has had.
If I were to be in a situation like I am right now with my every day life, you can sure bet I'd stick it out for the 5 million, but that would also be a huge pay increase for me.
Dave had made plenty of money in his career, has stated that he sees Pitt as his final stop, and I don't see any reason why he wouldn't be able to retire more comfortably than 99% of the population with how much he has earned thus far.
Turning down 5 million would be tough, but negotiating a 50% buy out wouldn't be all that hard to swallow either.
DPJ - well as fans all we can really do is speculate, especially about other people's finances... but one thing I've learned over 55 years is that most people are not as wealthy as they appear to be - myself included.
But something to keep in mind is that DW lost a major bundle in this last recession when a S. Florida bank he was heavily invested in (to the tune of 700K shares) went tits up and paid out nothing to its investors.
So I'd think that his financials are probably not what they would appear to be if you looked only at what his salaries have been. Again - I don't know his specifics, but only the broad strokes that are public.
Regardless, as an adult with grown children myself I do know that once you and your wife reach a certain comfort level financially you turn your view to ensuring that future generations will be protected to weather things like illness and recessions, and to be able to get good educations without going into debt themselves if possible... and that takes money that can generate enough interest to keep the principal intact - which means a pile. Then, if they are thinking and caring people, they realize how good they have had it in their life and want to use what residual wealth they generate for the betterment of others... which takes a pile also. This is what most 'well off' people do and 99% of the time no one outside the family knows.
So, that is what people who can generate salaries like he's gotten work for to be able to do in thier latter years - not just to be able to sit in a house on a beach. Otherwise he probably would have retired years ago.
That said, I also believe he has an ego that demands he stays at it until he can show his way works - that is rather obvious in Wannstedt's case.
IMO he'll be there at least until a buyout is in effect and will have his hand forced by the PITT administration.
Hey - disregard everything I said above.
Just kidding...
I understand PITT is on the hook and ponied up the full contract amount.
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