Pittsburgh Panthers: Tom Bradley Needs To Be the Next Head Coach

Rarely do I ever give Pitt football any spotlight time, but after returning to Pittsburgh yesterday and hearing the firestorm on talk radio about the coaching carousel, I feel that even the casual Pitt fan such as myself needs to throw in his two cents on the issue.

I'm sure everyone was in shock at the entire Michael Haywood incident. It was only the icing on the cake after everything that happened to the football program this past year. They had the DUI arrests, Jabaal Sheard throwing someone threw a glass door on the South Side and both of the nationally televised shellackings from Miami and West Virginia.

Now, Pitt has a chance to redeem themselves. This entire god-awful mess could be a blessing in disguise. Before Haywood was even hired, the first candidate for this institution in my mind was Penn State's defensive coordinator and assistant-coach Tom Bradley.

I think most people out there would agree that Bradley should have been the guy to replace Dave Wannstedt before Haywood was arrested for domestic violence on New Years Eve.

So, as I listened to more and more radio yesterday, it just made more and more sense that Bradley should be hired at Pitt.

He is a prominent name in college football. High school players know who he is, which helps when it comes to recruiting from the WPIAL. Because of his notoriety, he may even be able to save a good portion of Wannstedt's recruits that may be attempting to transfer.

He has also been known as a great recruiter. He brought guys such as Justin King and Lavar Arrington to Penn State.

He has been an assistant under Joe Paterno since 1966. That's a long time and a lot of experience. That should put him over Teryl Austin, who I feel should be Pitt's next defensive coordinator and coach-in-waiting.

Bradley was supposed to have an interview with the University of Connecticut this afternoon, but it was postponed early last evening. If I'm Pitt, I take the opportunity and ensure he doesn't even make it to Storrs.

Oh, and did I mention that the hiring could breathe new life into the Pitt/Penn State rivalry?

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