Backyard Brawl Could Have Big Consequences for Pitt AD Pederson

A common trait of dictators is paranoia. Pitt's A.D. Steve Pederson is already sniffing around, trying to gauge how close to him the discontent has moved.

Pederson is a classic dictator. Only someone with the cajones of a third-world tyrant could have stormed into Pitt, changed the school's logo and colors and torn down the on campus stadium without ever asking those who live the Pitt culture everyday for permission.

Pitt fans seem to be unaware of the way Nebraska deposed of Pederson when he single-handedly tried to ruin the Husker's proud football program.

After firing Frank Solich in 2003, following a 10-2 regular season and promising Husker fans he would hire a big name coach, Pederson had to settle for Bill Callahan.

"Who wouldn't want to coach football at Nebraska?" was the question fans had at first. "Who wants to work for a micro-managing tyrant?" became the question as the search continued and no big names responded. Pederson settled on former pro coach Callahan.

Callahan posted a 27-22 record in four seasons at Nebraska—a terrible record by Husker standards—and gave the Huskers some of the worst loses in their history.

Callahan's teams lost to Kansas twice, 40-15 and 76-39. They were also blown out  by Kansas State 45-21, Missouri 41-6 and Oklahoma State 45-14.  

Pederson never took the time to listen to Nebraska's fans. He never felt the need to justify his firing of Solich and hiring someone ill-equipped to run a major college program. Pederson alienated his own staff. 

When Chancellor Perlman fired Pederson there was literally dancing in the streets of Lincoln.

Arrogantly, Pederson's first move upon returning to Pitt was to extend Dave Wannstedt's contract before the 2007 13-9 win over West Virginia.

What has Wannstedt done in the three years since the extension? Won the Car Care Bowl after allowing Cincinnati to storm back to win in the season final to keep Pitt out of a BCS Bowl.

The Panthers became the nation's laughing stock by failing to score at all in the Sun Bowl, losing 3-0 to Oregon State.

How has the nation's preseason No. 15 team performed this season? Pitt is ranked 54-out of-120 FBS teams in the collegefootballnews.com rankings.  Dave Wannstedt's 2010 Panthers have been named by Fox Sports as one of the six most disappointing college football teams this season.

Thanks, Steve, that extension really helped.

Pederson is not engaging fans and is not answering emails. He is getting more emails now as fans in Pittsburgh begin to experience the same frustration Nebraska fans experienced. The burn is just a little slower in Pittsburgh.

His [e-mail] is going to be a very busy email address if Pitt loses on Friday.

Not winning a Big East championship in year six after promising to win a national championship by year six is the line drawn in the sand for Wannstedt and Pederson.  

The lunatic fringe is restless and the apologists are speechless. Pitt must win.

A Pitt loss Friday will turn two warm seats red hot.