Pitt Chancellor Nordenberg Fires Haywood and Opens Head Coach Search

In what has to be greeted as the first good news in several weeks for Pitt football fans, Pitt chancellor Mark Nordenberg has taken steps today to seize the momentum and stop the bad press regarding the arrest of new ex-coach Michael Haywood and the felony charge he now faces.

First, Nordenberg cut Mike Haywood loose. Here's what he said:

“After careful consideration of recent events, the University of Pittsburgh has dismissed Michael Haywood as its head football coach, effective immediately. He was advised of that action this afternoon.

“To be clear, the University’s decision is not tied to any expectation with respect to the terms on which the legal proceeding now pending in Indiana might ultimately be concluded. Instead, it reflects a strong belief that moving forward with Mr. Haywood as our head coach is not possible under the existing circumstances" (pittblather.com, Jan. 1, 2011).

Then Nordenberg addressed the search for a new coach using the pronoun "we" which surely must include him.

“We will immediately re-open our search for a head football coach, expanding the process to include a larger pool of candidates. Our goal is to move swiftly, but prudently, to find the right person to successfully lead the Pitt football program for what we hope will be an extended period of time.”

A larger pool of candidates is exactly what the search for Wannstedt's successor required but didn't get a little less than a month ago under the direction of athletic director Steve Pederson.

It's telling that the statements above came directly from the chancellor and not from Pederson.

The best news for the future of Pitt football is to have Nordenberg, not Pederson, direct the search. Nordenberg is far more likely to keep an open mind and far more unlikely than Pederson to use petty jealousies and existing prejudices as rationale to eliminate potential candidates.

It took Nordenberg approximately 27 hours to act on Haywood's termination.

If he can move as quickly and as carefully to hire a new head football coach, and appoint a coach for the BBVA Compass Bowl, he will go a long way to reassure fans -- especially those with open check books and season tickets to football games -- to line up enthusiastically behind him to support a program that is in some dire need of good news.

Nordenberg's intervention is the first step to recovery.