Miami-Pitt:The Stache Won't Strike Back; Hurricanes Will Beat Wanstedt/Panthers

O' Wanny Wanny Wanny, after all this time South Florida still blames you for ruining Jimmy Johnson's blue print. Granted JJ had made his own share of mistakes while in Miami, but you sir, along with your Magunm P.I. facial hair, truly managed to stink up the joint.

After taking over for the 2000 season Dave Wanstedt set about ruining an up and coming franchise. He wasted countless draft picks and was the person responsible for Dan Marino being shown the door two seasons too soon.

For all these reasons Wanstedt and his 1970s porn mustache have been vilified and ridiculed in Miami. Sports fans down here cringe at the very mention of either his or Rick Spielman's name.

During his tenure as Dolphins Head Coach and General Manager there was one blunder after another.

In 2001 he drafted Jamar Fletcher over players such as Reggie Wayne, Drew Brees, Todd Heap and Kris Jenkins. That has to sting in retrospect.

In 2002 he took Seth Mckinney over Brian Westbrook. How great would a Ricky Williams and Brian Westbrook tandem have been?

Wanny saved his masterpiece for his final draft as Dolphins GM, that being in 2003, when he selected Eddie "I Got Knocked The Bleep Out At A Night Club" Moore, because the guy would be a good special teams player.

You don't use your top pick on a special teams contributor. At least not when you could have had Anquan Boldin, Osi Umenyiora, Lance Briggs or Jason Witten. To make matters worse he then selected Taylor Whitley over Asante Samuel.

Wanstedt's tenure as a Dolphin head coach was frustrating to say the least. Miami had one of the leagues very best defenses, which was full of young stars, yet on offense they let Jay Fiedler and his noodle arm lead the way.

Wanny's idea of winning football was centered around "Run Ricky Right, Run Ricky Middle and Run Ricky Left." He was content with running all three downs and punting the ball away, because he figured the defense could win games on their own.

This narrow minded approach led Ricky to leave the Dolphins and the NFL. Had he stayed Wanstedt would have run him into the ground.

Finally in 2004, Wanstedt resigned before he could be fired.

So here we are six years later and not much has changed in South Florida. The Dolphins are still trying to catch up after half a decade of wasted draft picks and bad personnel moves.

Wanstedt meanwhile hasn't changed much either, he still seems mediocre as a coach.

Some might point to the gradual improvement at Pitt as a sign of progress. Still in reality his results have been sub-par at best.

Last year Pitt was poised to play in a BCS bowl game before losing their last two games and having to settle for a Meineke Bowl bid.

Overall Wanstedt has a 36-27 mark as the head coach at Pitt. He has however managed to improve on the quality of recruits that have signed on.

This year Pitt kicked off their campaign by dropping an overtime heart breaker in Utah (27-24). They then beat up on New Hampshire (38-16) in the Panthers home opener.

Now Wanstedt and Pitt are set to take on an angry Miami Hurricanes team, tomorrow night on national television.

This is a huge game for both Wanstedt and Pitt. A loss and they fall to 1-2 on the season. On the other hand a win, which would be broadcast nationwide, would do wonders to vault Pitt back into the rankings.

Pitt has talent and the home field advantage should help propel them versus the Hurricanes, wait what am I saying, Wanstedt is coaching them. Easy win for the Hurricanes (31-17).

Sorry Wanny but perhaps you can take some comfort in knowing that all of South Florida will be behind you. This time they'll be cheering for your ability to fail. So go on Stache-Master lose another  one for the Gipper.