Pitt AD Steve Pederson: Do Your Job

Steve Pederson, Pitt AD, rarely has anything intelligent to say about Dave Wannstedt's football program.

When asked by the press the day after the Miami debacle if he had spoken to Wannstedt, Pederson's reply was this: "No one cares more about the football program and no one is working harder to make it better than Dave Wannstedt."

Was that a pre-recorded message?

His 360-degree change from running off Frank Solich, one of the most successful new coaches ever at Nebraska, and putting on blinders to avoid dealing with the problems of Pitt football is probably a result of being wacked by President Pearlman at Nebraska. 

Remember those angry fans decked in red ready storming the Lincoln campus to pounce on Pederson?

Wannstedt's Year Six would be laughable if it weren't endemic of the way the Pitt administrations have always handled the football program with few exceptions.

For Pederson to have resurrected himself at Pitt after nearly destroying Nebraska Husker football is all about Mark Nordenberg's casual way of running things.

"Nordy" needs to take time to examine the Pitt football program. He should look closely at the kind of leadership Pederson is providing to his head coach.

If necessary, Pederson should initiate that conversation.

Nordy and Pederson both like to create things—buildings, campus expansion, attendance at games.

Then why can't they work on the most fundamental clog of a championship football program—its head coach?

In his first tenure at Pitt, Pederson was much more involved. Back in 2001 when Pitt lost to Boston College to cap a five-game losing streak and 1-5 start of the season, Pederson called in coach Walt Harris and laid it on the line: Win or be gone.

Odds are high no such conversation between Pederson and Wannstedt took place Friday morning.

The fact that Nordy and Wannstedt are friends should have no bearing on an honest assessment of where Pitt football is and where it should be in year six of the Wannstedt regime.

They should compare what they've seen so far to Walt Harris' year six team in 2002. That squad raced off  to an 8-2 record and blasted Oregon State 38-13 in the Insight.com bowl. Eight players became NFL starters. It's telling that the only time Wannstedt played Oregon State ended in an embarrassing 0-3 Pitt loss.

With a high number of key injuries forcing untested players out of position, a similar streak this season is unlikely.

Having difficult conversations about improving Pitt football, in this case dealing with the cluster freak-out which the program has become, is part of the athletic director's job.

Pederson can't run and hide here. He needs to get Wannstedt's attention anyway he can.

Sometimes that task is arduous as Wannstedt manufactures his own PR. To hear him talk, he is the greatest coach, the most knowledgeable, and everything that's happening now has happened to him before. Almost always, someone else is at fault.

Pederson needs to turn off Wannstedt's noise and focus on the cold, hard facts.

When it comes to discussing downward spirals, Wannstedt is an expert. Once Wannstedt starts digging a hole, he just can't stop.

Chicago fans didn't invent the "Chicago Death Spiral." They simply came up with a descriptor for their deteriorating football team's fortunes under Coach Wannstedt.

Pederson's conversations with both Nordenberg and Wannstedt must not be just about wins and losses, either. The Pitt football program is out of control right now with, at last count, four arrests. It's Sunday, though, and another week of partying is about to begin for the Pitt football team.

If Nordenberg has been too busy doing whatever he does in his penthouse Cathedral of Learning suite, then Pederson needs to jolt the chancellor back to reality.

The University of Pittsburgh is being embarrassed by a football coach and his team.

Disbelievers need only read the comments of frustrated fans upset not only after Thursday night's performance against Miami but also because of the unfulfilled promise in year six.

The notion that Wannstedt shouldn't be blamed here makes a great conversation starter.

Wannstedt has done nothing in his past as a head coach—not at Chicago and not at Miami—to demonstrate he is capable of turning around a mess of his own making.

At Pitt in 2008 and most of 2009 Wannstedt didn't dig a hole.  Beginning Thanksgiving 2009 until now, Wannstedt keeps digging deeper and deeper.

Unlike some of the milquetoast fans who just want to enjoy the games, the fans who have seen the Panthers reach the zenith of college football can't tolerate the current fiasco any longer.