The Holley Watch Is On

While it is not known when exactly Jarred Holley will be committing, today is the earliest day that he would announce. It's been known for a long time that Holley really was favoring the Panthers and after a phone call with Dave Wannstedt recently he confirmed that as of right now, Pitt is where he will end up. He was quiet at the Offense-Defense all-star game in Miami Friday night but part of that reason was knowing that Hale was committing on saturday and wanted to let some time pass so that he could get the recognition he deserves when making his announcement.

While I would love for him to announce sometime today, I think that he will hold out for just a little while longer, but from everything we're hearing here, he wants to announce soon. This also doesn't look good for Al Groh and the Virginia Cavaliers as they they lose last of their top 3 wish list to Pitt (the other two being Saddler and Hale).

Once Holley commits we will be two scholarships over the limit. Add this in with us still heavily recruiting 3 or 4 more players, this gives us some choices to make when it comes to scholarships. Zach Stoudt is still looking at some other schools so don't be surprised if he chooses to go else where which will help out our situation. Also, as I'm sure you know as Panther fans is that the staff is usually pretty open when it comes to most things in house, however one thing that the staff remains tight lipped on is who will be asked to leave. This is something that the staff should be commended for. Instead of airing this laundry publically, Dave and staff keep this in house to respect the players and to allow them the best choice for their future.

~ DPJ ~

Dunn fired, one more to come

Well, I was told earlier in the week that Paul Dunn was going to be relieved of his duties, but asked to keep it quiet until it was official. This morning, the Post Gazette has been informed that Dave Wannstedt has fired Paul Dunn. Dunn has had 3 disappointing seasons at Pitt. We all heard about how great he has been with working with the Oline, however the results were not seen on the field. Despite success at other schools, he never really seemed to help Pitt. There are specific names being mentioned for his replacement right now. Despite what you think or may read don't expect a coach to be named very soon. I believe that Dave Wannstedt will do what it takes to find a very successful OLine coach as this is the entire basis of his offense. Do not be surprised if he also looks closely at people with ties to either Pitt recruits (Lucas Nix) or at people with ties to other recruits (Josh Jenkins). Dave Wannstedt will ultimately hire the best man for the position, but if he can hire someone who he trusts and also has the respect of the players immediately he will move in that direction.

Expect one other assistant to be let go. The time table of these coaching changes is not known. Both Paul Dunn and the other coach (I'm sure we all know who it is) were not significant players in recruiting this year so this will not have any impact on recruiting.

This is a step in the right direction as the offensive line (outside of Jeff Otah) has been a huge problem for Pitt. With the right coaching we can heavily improve our offensive line play this season.

~ DPJ ~

Mike Cruz commits.......again

In case you missed what happened, back in August Mike Cruz committed to Pitt. A few days after the announcement Mike and his mom said that Pitt was not good enough for Mike and that he wanted to go to a bigger school with more tradition and more pride. The end result? Mike comes back to Pitt. There was never any confirmed reason why Cruz committed and then backed out immediately but some of the coaches felt that it was because a certain coach (not wanny) told him that he would be moved to defensive line. Cruz wants to stay at TE and given the fact that we only have Nate and Pelusi plus Dorin switching over, we really needed a tight end in this class. Everyone feels (except me) that Jonathan Baldwin should stay at WR so that really meant Pitt needed a tight end for this class. Luckily for us Dave Wannstedt is a forgiving guy. If I had been the coach and Cruz made the comments while I was in charge, I would have pulled the scholarship offer and never returned it. That is part of the game though folks, recruiting is a nasty business and you need to get your hands dirty if you want to win.

For tomorrow, no surprise as Shayne Hale will be committing to Pitt. Jarred Holley should also be making an announcement that he will be coming to Pitt as well.

~ DPJ ~

Maybe this hoopie will stick around.

The hoopies down in Morganhole announced today that assistant coach and interim head coach Bill Stewart will become the next head coach of the University of Michigan at Morgantown Mountaineers.

To me this is pretty surprising as I thought for sure Terry Bowden would make enough noise in the news and on his website to get the job, but WVU went in a different direction. We all had to realize that Nick Saban was NEVER going to consider the WVU job and anyone who thought that he actually would is delusional. Jimbo Fisher has a nice job lined up once Bowden retires which also hurt the hoopies. So in the end it is Bill Stewart. I guess WVU fans will never have to worry about him leaving WVU since he was born in West Virginia.

Time will tell how Bill Stewart does as a coach, but do you Pitt fans out there remember when Mr. Hackett had the interim title removed and what he accomplished for us? Well, if the hoopies go down that road, I can live with that.

Stewart used to be the coach at VMI for 3 seasons where he led the Keydets to a solid 8-25 record. If you want more information on Mr. Stewart feel free to check out his Wikipedia page which is full of.......well, actually it's pretty empty at the moment but I'm sure we'll see some additions very soon.

~ DPJ ~

The U.S. Army All American Bowl is almost here

There are several reasons why this game should be on the "to watch" list of Pitt fans. First off, as a Pitt fan you probably enjoy watching football, so why not watch the future stars of collegiate football before they make the jump to the next level. Secondly Jonathan Baldwin and Lucas Nix will be playing and are also featured on the main roster page. The page also features every person's dream quarterback Terrelle Pryor and former WVU commit Josh Jenkins. Pryor's chances of coming to Pitt are very slim and Jenkins appears to be headed towards tOSU or FSU. Like we've always said before though, do not count out Dave Wannstedt's ability to recruit. Jenkins has schedule a few more visits and Pitt will be his last visit. This could help or hurt the Panthers. If he likes what he sees elsewhere then that will take away the chance we could have had to "WOW" him if he had visited early. If he visits late (like Shayne Hale) and hasn't been too impressed, we would be very lucky. The last reason to watch the AA game is to see what choice Shayne Hale makes. It is basically down to Pitt and tOSU. In case you haven't heard his tOSU visit was awful. They took him to a restaurant and he sat around all weekend watching tv with the players.

To those who laugh at my inside information, this comes directly from a coach "Shayne Hale never had any interest in Pitt, then with the win in West Virginia and Cam Saddler choosing Pitt, Hale couldn't wait to take his visit". Also his visit to tOSU was bad enough that he called Dave Wannstedt during his official visit to see if he could move his official Pitt visit up to that same day. Lucky for us Wannstedt told him to stay in Ohio and not to rush anything so that he could get the full experience of both schools before making up his mind. When Shayne Hale announces where he will be playing in the future, do not be surprised if Lucas and Jonathan stand with him as he puts on a Pitt hat. If Shayne does not pick Pitt, I will be highly surprised.

There has also been high interest recently regarding Central defensive lineman Dan Vaughn. Vaughn also looks like a Pitt lean and has Tino pulling for him to be a Panther. This is when things start to get interesting as only a few spots remain for each team and you never ever know what will happen on signing day.

Happy 2008 everyone!

~ DPJ ~