Pitt Football: Fans Fret over Steve Pederson's Continuing Involvement in Search

Update (2) from Paul Zeise, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Greg Roman, assistant head coach for offense at Stanford, will interview for the Pitt head football coach's job on Sunday. That shoots down any chance of Pitt announcing its new coach at the BBVA Compass Bowl.

Monday, Jan. 10 appears to be the date the Pitt athletic office is shooting for to announce the new hire.

Update (1) from Radio 93.7:

Pittsburgh Sports radio states that it is down to Bradley and Austin. Bradley to interview with UCONN on friday.

http://player.radio.com/player/RadioPlayer.php?version=1.2.10477&station=2105

Pantherlair.com, pittblather.com and Paul Zeise of the post-gazette.com are reporting today no one candidate has locked up the head-coaching job just yet.

The most distressing news of the day, in addition to the alleged dispute between Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley and Pitt A.D. Steve Pederson over assistant coaches' pay, is the fact Steve Pederson is still involved with the search.

What's wrong with you, Mark Nordenberg?

Is destroying the university's national athletic reputation acceptable collateral damage as long as the integrity of your hierarchy is intact?

Is the Pitt chancellor a slow learner who needs instructional modifications, maybe even meds, to get this right?

Anger is once again framing many of the comments on the blog boards listed above. Fans just don't want Pederson involved at all.

Tom Bradley, to his credit, has already pointed the fanbase in the direction of coming together for the mutual cause of Pitt football.

Steve Pederson is known for his pettiness. He will allow his own ego to prevent Bradley from getting the job without second thought. In Pederson's mind, anything that can make him look good is permissible.

Steve Pederson is a lot like Rich Rodriguez...me, me, me and screw the rest.

What's making Pederson's role as the lead man on the search committee suspicious is his fascination with Todd Graham. Graham coaches at Tulsa—a Conference USA school. Pitt fans are not impressed with him or his credentials.

Graham's association with Tulsa reminds them of Steve Kragthorpe's role both there and at Louisville. Kragthorpe set the Louisville program back four years.

But Pederson is singing the Graham song. How in the world will Graham and Pederson come together on salary when they couldn't do it the first time?

And how will Graham and Pederson come together on assistant coaches' compensation? I'm pretty sure Graham would not want assistant coaches paid less than Bradley has proposed.

Pederson is supposedly meeting with two more candidates tomorrow.

Mario Cristobal from FIU has gone from new candidate of interest to an afterthought all in one day according to the reports coming out of Pittsburgh

Teryl Austin, former Florida defensive coordinator, has nudged out Sal Sunseri for the candidate-with-glitz position although the way things are going, Austin could be in fourth place tomorrow.

Several sources are reading meaning into Bradley's whereabouts tomorrow. He was to interview at UConn but hoped he wouldn't need to.

If Bradley goes to UConn tomorrow that's a pretty good sign the Pitt deal fell through, so some bloggers conjecture.

Take all of this with a grain of salt. Just enough information is leaking out in the Wannstedt Replacement Search II to ignite speculation. It still remains to be seen what's fact and what's fiction.

The one hard fact of the day causes plenty of consternation: The guy who screwed up the first Wannstedt replacement search, never did his job all season long and made the university look like asses in front of the whole nation by lying, is once again the lead man in the search.

Nordenburg has to lead the search and neuter Steve Pederson's influence.

This time, Pitt has to get it right.