Pitt Panther Prowl

Big Recruiting Must Convert to Big Wins

National Letter of Intent Day has passed, and our Pitt Panthers finished with the best recruiting class in the Big East for the third straight year. This class has been ranked anywhere between 19-29 depending on the myriad different recruiting outlets you listen to. I have seen reports that finagle the numbers to get Pitt all the way to number 13. (Pitt Blather has several posts and extensive coverage, as well as lengthy comment threads on this. See: Snap Football Rankings, The Official Word on the ‘08 Recruiting Class, and NLI ‘08: Open Thread for their coverage.)

Since numerous sites, such as Pitt Blather, have covered the logistics and the numbers of NLI ‘08, I would like to talk about what this does for expectations as well as what Dave Wannstedt must do in order to deliver on the hype he has helped generate.

This may be the obvious statement of the day, but a sound recruiting class is meaningless if it doesn’t convert into wins. Duh!!! you say. But lets face it, this is the third year straight that Pitt has had a top rated recruiting class, and in the past three season, we have precisely 1 marquee win. While that win, a 13-9 win over WVU for those living on the moon, has proven to be significant in that it brought much needed positive attention to our program; and while it has resulted in some top-notch recruits signing with Pitt; Panther Nation will not settle for this one win being the high point of our program. And there is more to a successful program than recruiting. I would contend that coaching is the number one factor needed to bring long-term success.

Take the Pitt basketball team as an example. Since Ben Howland took over at Pitt (Jamie Dixon being his primary recruiter), and on into Dixon’s tenure, name one McDonald’s All American who has signed with the basketball team. There is no doubt that there have been a few studs, such as Chris Taft and DeJuan Blair. But who are the top 10 recruits the basketball team has had? While I am sure that Dixon would love to have some McDonald’s All Americans on his team, he had no trouble taking his team of generally lesser recruits to Madison Square Garden to beat a Duke team with 9 McDonald’s All Americans. Coaching was the difference. Does Pitt beating Duke make Dixon a better coach than Coach K? No. But Dixon certainly took players that, as high school players, were believed to be inferior athletes, and he got them to play at an elite level. This is the trademark of Dixon’s teams. He takes players that have the skills to fit his system, and he squeezes every last ounce of talent out of most of them. His coaching has made up for the fact that he can’t get the same recruits that Duke, or even UConn can. And if he continues with the success he has had, the future will hold better and better recruits wanting to come play at Pitt.

Compare what Dixon has done to Pitt basketball in the early ’90s. Under Ralph Willard, Pitt had several top 10, and even top 5 classes. That never converted into wins. Often, Willard recruited highly rated players who had “problems” that made them less desirable to better programs, and it hurt Pitt over all. These players brought their problems and Willard proved unable to control them. Ultimately, he showed that simply getting skilled recruits doesn’t equal a winning record.

Wannstedt, so far, has done the opposite of Jamie Dixon. He has gotten recruits of the caliber that Dixon would love to get, and he has done very little with them. This isn’t a blanket statement, as Pitt had a few standout players this past year. LeSean McCoy and Scott McKillop have proven to be big time players. But even with McCoy setting a Big East Rookie rushing record, Pitt finished 5-7 this past season. I do cut Wannstedt slack for the injuries that his team sustained this past season. Most notably, Bill Stull who was supposed to start at quarterback, and stud wide receiver Derrick Kinder missed the entire season. I also give him credit for bringing in some good coaches to his staff this coming season. Phil Bennett is well respected and highly regarded as a defensive coordinator, so he should help sure up a defense that has been shaky during the Paul Rhoads tenure.

In the end, all of this has to add up to wins. We can cut Wannstedt slack for things outside of his control. We can congratulate and celebrate him bringing in good coaches and great recruits. But he has to show an ability to get a return on the talent. Even more so, he has to show an ability to put it all together with a coherent winning game plan, and then get those top recruits to execute that game plan in a competitive fashion. Twenty-five years from now, history won’t look on this program for the potential it had, but for the games it won. Dave Wannstedt’s success as a college coach will be determined by whether or not he can get this team to a BCS Bowl in the near future.

Many in Panther Nation wanted Wannstedt to be fired up until his win against WVU. Many still do. Others have supported him for a long time. No matter where you fall in that spectrum, NLI Day ‘08 gave us all reason to look forward to a bright future. It is now up to Wannstedt to deliver.