Pitt Football: Secret Meetings, Clandestine Take-Offs and Landings

Update: Take Al Golden off the Pitt list. The Miami Hurricanes have offered Golden their head coaching position and ESPN is reporting he has accepted. The Pitt list of candidates will change in order of preference after Dana Holgorsen who is still the leading candidate. 

Pittsburgh media sources confirm Steve Pederson, Pitt A.D., has interviewed Holgorsen and the university is doing its vetting of the candidate right now. If all goes well, and that's a big if, Pitt should have a head coach within 48 hours.

Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson picked a great time to play hide-and-seek from the press and public this weekend. Yesterday's Big East/SEC Invitational kept the city preoccupied with events at the Consol Center. Today the Steelers play at Heinz Field, West Virginia plays at the Consol Center, and the city is about to experience another freakish snow storm.

According to Paul Zeise, beat reporter for Pitt football at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the clues point to a secret hotel redezvous between Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen, identified by reliable news sources as the leading candidate for the Pitt head coaching job, and Peterson.

Holgorsen was in Dallas at Ford Field watching several committed Cowboy recruits playing in the Texas 5A semifinals. Instead of engaging in the usual glad-handing and parent compliments after the game, Holgorsen said a few words to the prospects and took off.

Zeise sets up the scene:

"He told several people he is staying in Dallas overnight but here is where things get interesting—he may have actually left Dallas for a few hours to come here (Pittsburgh) on a private jet and then returned to Dallas...airport hotel interviews are SOP...a private jet took off from Dallas Love Field Airport and came to Pittsburgh...left at about 3 p.m. Central time arrived here just before 6 p.m." (Zeise, Red Shirt Diaries, post-gazette.com, Dec. 11, 2010).

Zeise's sources indicate Holgorsen took a return flight to Dallas around 10 p.m.

Pederson apparently turned his attention to Al Golden, Temple's head coach, after the Holgorsen interview. Yesterday's report solidifies Golden as the No. 2 candidate on the list, despite many Pitt fans' less than enthusiastic endorsement of him.

Holgorsen brings fireworks to the table; Golden brings the traditional. After six years of Wanny ball fans are looking for a Holgorsen-type leader to reinvigorate the football program.

The pressure is on Pederson to move quickly. The Texas Longhorns' heir apparent Will Muschamp turned the college football world temporarily upside down by bolting for Florida to replace Urban Meyer.

What a great way for Pederson and Pitt to capture the nation's attention with a coaching announcement tomorrow or Tuesday.