Who Should Be the Next Coach at Pitt Now That Mike Haywood's Been Fired?

Mark Nordenberg, Pitt chancellor, took charge of the football program today. His first action was to fire Mike Haywood, recently released from jail for a felony charge. He is to be arraigned on Monday.

Haywood lasted exactly 16 days at Pitt. He was praised for being a man of high character but it didn't work out that way.

Nordenberg promises an open search to include more candidates than the five Pederson interviewed the last time.

Hopefully, Nordenberg will keep Pederson completely out of the process. After screwing up the Callahan hire at Nebraska and now the Haywood hire at Pitt, Nordenberg doesn't need to keep Pederson around to see if the third time's a charm.

Who are the coaches Pitt should look at?

Career Penn State Assistant Tom Bradley Would Solve Several Pitt Problems

Everyone knows Tom Bradley, Penn State's career assistant coach. Bradley has a solid reputation among Pennsylvania's high school coaches.

He knows the state better than just about anyone else...except recently deposed coach Dave Wannstedt.

Bradley expressed interest in the job two times: in 1996 when Johnny Majors left and this December.

Bradley is single but wouldn't bring any of the baggage Haywood brought to the job.

Bradley can recoup much of the recruiting class and land a superb one for 2012.

The question is: Will Nordenberg over-rule Pederson and take the time to meet with Bradley? He is sure to be impressed if he does.

Counting The Hours Until Rich Rod Is Released By Michigan

Rich Rodriguez, the scorn of West Virginia and Michigan, is probably going to be fired any minute now by the Wolverines.

Nothing would cool the heels of the Mountaineers faster than to have Rich Rod directing the attack of the Pitt Panthers.

Dana Holgorsen's fast-paced offenses may find the going much tougher than expected when lining up against Rodriguez's spread.

Sure, Rodriguez's defenses were pretty bad at Michigan, but he wouldn't need to same caliber of defense in the Big East.

His offense might be all Pitt needs to grab the outright Big East title and BCS bid they so desperately want.

Rodriguez has some character issues and there are Pitt fans who would simply rebel if he were to be hired.

Rodriguez would make the Backyard Brawls a hell of a lot more interesting coaching from the Pitt sidelines.

What's Taking Maryland So Long to Sign Mike Leach?

Mike remains a popular choice to replace Dave Wannstedt among Pitt bloggers. When Holgorsen was in the mix, many Pitt fans were salivating at the chance to have the offensive mastermind coaching the Panthers.

Leach is Holgorsen's teacher, the master of the 500-point seasons.

Sure, Leach has some personality quirks and an on-going lawsuit against Texas Tech, but if Nordenberg would take the chance to talk to Leach, he would be impressed.

In fact, many Texas Tech fans are rooting for Leach, not Texas Tech, to win the lawsuit.

Read blog postings on the AvalancheJournal.com and you will see that Leach has achieved sainthood.

To hire Leach would take big bucks, the kind of big bucks that would come back to the university triple-fold in television appearances and home sell-outs.

Does Pitt have the nerve to hire Leach?

Todd Graham Might Be Interested, But The Price Tag Would Be High

Tulsa's Todd Graham has had a banner year, beating Notre Dame in South Bend, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium on Christmas Eve, and finishing the 2010 season with seven straight wins.

Graham has demonstrated he is not opposed to changing jobs, having gone back to Tulsa after spending the 2006 season at Rice.

Rice is a dark hole for football coaches, but Graham managed to lead the Owls to a 7-6 season and their first bowl appearance since the Truman presidency.

Graham would find the conditions waiting at Pitt to be nearly ideal.

He is happy at Tulsa, though, and would need to be recruited heavily to leave.

Even without the benefit of the 2011 recruiting class, Pitt would offer Graham enough returning talent to compete for the Big East title in 2011.

Frank Cignetti Would Be Popular Choice Among Players To Replace Wannstedt

Frank Cignetti was lured back to Western Pennsylvania to be Pitt's offensive coordinatorafter a stint out west, working for California head coach Jeff Tedford.

Dave Wannstedt was reportedly hesitant to hire Cignetti, preferring instead one of his NFL cronies for the position.

Succumbing to pressure, Wannstedt agreed to bring Cignetti on board.

Just as it was at Cal, Cignetti's success with the Pitt offense has been mixed.

He is credited for the development of Bill Stull into one of the Big East's top quarterbacks in 2009. Under former Offensive Coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, Stull was booed loudly and often by Pitt fans.

Cignetti can't take too much credit for developing Tino Sunseri, a work in progress at best. Tino has been an adequate game manager but he never really connected with Jon Baldwin and his stats for throwing long balls reflect it.

Cignetti is a popular coach among the players. He was rumored at one point to be Wannstedt's successor.

Although Cignetti might not be Pitt's first choice, he would not be a bad choice to replace Wannstedt.

He knows the Pitt system and he knows the work that needs to be done.