There is talk that Pitt is considering Mark Schmidt. The board is in a total meltdown. You don't fire Stallings and eat 10 million to bring in Mark Schmidt. Grab your popcorn if this happens, cause it's gonna get real ugly.

93.7 the fan now reporting Schmidt is the main target at this time.

Eductae me: why would this be a bad hire for Pitt? He's turned a tiny university in the middle of nowhere with extremely limited resources into a pretty regular A10 contender. Is that not worth a lot?

Well, Duquesne got an “older guy”.  I don’t think it would be a bad hire at all plus it gets him out of those extremely cold winters.  I am guessing he might have family here.  Just my 2 cents.

I dont know why, but pitt folk seem they should be the Ohio St of college football and the Kentucky of college basketball.  They last won 10 games in a football season in the early 80s.  Their last bball title was in the 20s I think?  Where does their hubris come from?

townsonkid wrote:

I dont know why, but pitt folk seem they should be the Ohio St of college football and the Kentucky of college basketball.  They last won 10 games in a football season in the early 80s.  Their last bball title was in the 20s I think?  Where does their hubris come from?

Right on point Towson.  That, I believe has been there problem.  They are delusional when it comes to the expectations for their programs and their coaches.  That is exactly why they didn't like Paul Chryst (not flashy or good with the media), just a damn good football coach; and Jamie Dixon, who was pretty successful at Pitt; but was dealt a tougher hand when they moved to the ACC.  They tired of simply being a winning program, and felt that Jamie wasn't going to turn them into Kentucky, UCLA, North Carolina, or Duke.  So the big money donors ran him off, and couldn't wait to hire a big-name coach.  They got Stallings, and may not do much better this time. 
 

Well, more coaches are bowing out.  Kind of reminds me of the first DU opening when we got stuck with the guy from LIU.  At this point, a really seasoned coach is Not going to go to the ARMpit.  Too bad so sad.

Last edited by FAM (3/26/2018 6:41 pm)

81 although that’s true don’t forget that the Petersen cost them almost nothing. Those where predominantly public funds. Had they not gotten greedy with seat licenses and really bad scheduling that facility should have been a long term annuity.

Jeff Capel is reportedly the hire.

townsonkid wrote:

thats probably the best the could have done, from the start.  He can recruit a lot better than most, but that was at places like Duke, Okla and VCU.  Not sure you get the same kind of talent to Oakland.  I guess Coach K is sticking around Durham a bit longer, I thought Capel would be given that job.  

So once again the pittsburgh media blows another call, saying it was Scheyer that pitt went down there for.  Maybe they did.  I really dont care.  pittsburgh sports media is like TMZ....awful.

Those yinzers will think they just hired a young John Wooden.  Start predicting final fours and NBA first rd picks.

Capel is the one who built VCU. They were nothing when he went there. This is a pretty solid hire for them. In many ways, this reminds me of us last year. The media was having fun clowning us, and suddenly we came up with a hire that they could do nothing but praise. Pretty much the same thing here. Don't know if Capel will be a home run for them, but based on his record, I expect that at worst, he'll get them to middle of the pack. I have to give Heather Lyke credit, good job on her part. Could it be that Duquesne and Pitt actually have good athletic directors? What's next, peace in the Middle East?
Looked over on the Pitt board, the reaction seems to be one of relief more than anything. They were scared to death that they would hire someone awful like Stallings.

Looks like a really solid hire for Pitt. Great recruiter but needs to prove that he can coach at the ACC level. Suspect that Pitt's basketball fortunes will be on the upswing sooner than I originally suspected. It's OK. Let's have two nationally prominent teams here like Cincinnati and Xavier for example. That would be great for the city.

Not so sure that Capel built VCU, they had some quality coaches before and after him. Before him, they had Dana Kirk who went onto to Memphis and the championship game. JD Barnett had a successful stint at VCU as well. Sonny Smith of Auburn fame was there for ten years to meet moderate success. After Capel left they had Grant, Smart and Wade, and all the coaches mentioned above had a better winning percentage than Capel except for Smith. They are a school that more often than not happen to pick the right coach. There are other schools like Xavier that seem to get the right fit all the time. From Staak to Gillen, to Prosser to Matta to Miller To Mack. I just hope Harper has that same magic touch. As for Pitt I could care less what happens to them.

Wildwood13 wrote:

Not so sure that Capel built VCU, they had some quality coaches before and after him. Before him, they had Dana Kirk who went onto to Memphis and the championship game. JD Barnett had a successful stint at VCU as well. Sonny Smith of Auburn fame was there for ten years to meet moderate success. After Capel left they had Grant, Smart and Wade, and all the coaches mentioned above had a better winning percentage than Capel except for Smith. They are a school that more often than not happen to pick the right coach. There are other schools like Xavier that seem to get the right fit all the time. From Staak to Gillen, to Prosser to Matta to Miller To Mack. I just hope Harper has that same magic touch. As for Pitt I could care less what happens to them.

When Capel took them to the NCAAs in his second year, it was only the second time in 19 years that they'd gone. They been a consistent winner since then, so I think it's fair to say he started them off on their current roll.