Pitt Football: Were the Panthers Unfair In Parting Ways With Dave Wannstedt?

A day has passed since the decision on Dave Wannstedt's future was made (if you want to call it a resignation, it wasn't a voluntary one).  Many people have tried to change my mind on how I feel about the situation.  I've heard numerous times how badly Wannstedt was treated and how he deserved more time.

It's funny that many more people seem to have Wannstedt's back now that he's lost his job.  Where were all of those people when Pitt was losing winnable games the past few seasons?

I admit I've been very hard on the now former Panthers head coach. I've been criticized for it, but I've always stuck to my guns when it came down to analyzing the Pitt program.

So, was Wannstedt thrown under the bus?  Was he treated unfairly? Did he deserve another couple of seasons as the Pitt head coach? Did the preseason expectations set him up to fail?

Let me answer all of those questions. No, No, No and No.

This was a move that absolutely had to be made.

I will be the first to admit that Wannstedt is a great human being. I've had the chance to talk to him on both the radio and for newspaper work and he is as classy as they come.

The man graduated his players, never did anything to embarrass the program and did manage to make it relevant again.

If there was a face of the current Pitt program, it should have been Wannstedt's.

What does being nice get you though?  It gets you 7-5 and a trip to the BBVA Compass Bowl.

Pitt fans have to make up your mind. Do you want to attempt to compete for National Championships or are you happy playing in a meaningless game on January 8.

If you are happy with meaningless football in January, then I understand your hatred for Wannstedt not roaming the Pitt sidelines anymore.  If becoming meaningful on a national level is the goal, then you would agree that this move had to be made.

Wannstedt laid the ground work for this program to improve, but it simply just wasn't going to do that with him on the sidelines.

In the end, there were just too many unforgettable losses.  There wasn't one signature win that benefited the Pitt program (the West Virginia upset didn't benefit the program).

He had no answers for the media and there were way too many negative headlines. There was always an excuse.

The biggest thing though was that despite the admirable job he did in recruiting, there were no Big East Championships in his six seasons and subsequently no BCS Bowl appearances.  He had the talent the past four seasons to at least win one.

There was a ceiling to how good the Panthers could be under Wannstedt.  The next coach needs to be the exact opposite.  It shouldn't be a priority to be nice.  Winning is the only thing that counts.

In the end, college football is like everything else. Its a business.  The business end of things dictated a change was necessary.

Now the pressure is on Steve Pederson.  He has to hire a guy that can make an impact.  He can't mess this up.  The only problem is that Pederson has never hired a successful head coach.

He replaced Frank Solich with Bill Callahan at Nebraska.  He hired Walt Harris, although things were at a real low point then.  Jamie Dixon practically fell in his lap as well, as Pederson's guy was Skip Prosser.

The only real good hire he ever made was Ben Howland.

Now the pressure is totally on Pederson. I'll throw two possible names out.  One is a stretch, but Josh McDaniels is the anti-Wannstedt and could be perfect for the Panthers.  For one, he can coach quarterbacks. Secondly, would it be such a bad thing for a good young coach to come in and want to use this job as a stepping stone back to the NFL?  If he wins then no.

Another name I wouldn't mind taking a look at is Randy Shannon, who was recently let go by Miami.  Forget Jon Gruden by the way.  If he's not taking the Hurricanes job, he's not coming to Pitt.

Pederson has to get this one right.

As for Wannstedt, it's a shame to see bad things happen to nice people, but in the end, all he had to do was win and he didn't get the job done.