Time For Results
Pitt's Wannstedt Ready to Produce Wins
By Joe Giardina

You can sense it in the air in Oakland, the feeling of optimism for the future - much like the feeling shared by Pitt fans and players last season. This year, however, the optimism is limited to those working out at Pitt's South Side training facility, as the buzz generated by the fans one year ago has died down to a murmur.

Dave Wannstedt learned after going 5-6 in his first season on the job that expectations and optimism do not equal out to wins.

"Last year was last year," Wannstedt said as he appears to have put the disappointment of 2005 behind him. "Let's just focus in on today and moving forward."

As Wannstedt does move forward, into his second year as head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers, most of his success thus far has come in the area of recruiting. There is little doubt that recruiting is the key to building a winning program. And for a new coach, the first couple recruiting classes are what separate mediocre from successful.

"(Recruiting) is critical," said Wannstedt. "Hopefully this class that we brought in last year is a class that we look back on 10 years from now and we have some big time guys."

Former Pitt coach Jackie Sherrill knows the significance of recruiting elite talent. In his five seasons coaching the Panthers in the early 1980's he won 50 games and four of his teams were ranked in the top 10 in the country.

"Players win, coaches don't," said Sherrill. "You can go to the Kentucky derby but you're not going to win it unless you got that thoroughbred ready to run."

That's what makes this season virtually make and break for Wannstedt and the Panthers. Another losing season will leave a bad taste in the mouths of players, coaches, and-worst of all-potential recruits.

"You want to go to a program that wins," said Toney Clemons, a senior wide out from Valley High School and one of the top recruits in the country.

Clemons is being recruited hard by the Panthers, in addition to top programs like Michigan, Tennessee and West Virginia. He has been a first hand witness to coaches making promises about the future of their programs.

"I think talk is cheap; it comes down to playing the games. I wouldn't go on anyone's word because you don't really know, you can't foretell the future," said Clemons. "The games are played on the field, not on paper."

Some, however, see things somewhat differently.

"Whenever there's a new coach, there's kind of an understanding that he's trying to rebuild a new program," said senior linebacker H.B. Blades. "(Recruiting) is not about seeing W's; it's about seeing players and personnel. You need to be able to see the potential of a program going forward."

But how long does that window of opportunity stay open? At what point, as Clemons puts it, does "talk become cheap" and the team needs to start winning and producing on the field?

Much like Wannstedt, West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez also stumbled out of the gate in his first season coaching at his Alma Mater, leading the Mountaineers to a 3-8 record.

"The first season was different," Rodriquez said. "Everyone wanted to throw the panic button and there were some changes that had to be made but there was a lot of positive things that happened that didn't show up in the record."

He never lost his focus and now he laughs at the thought of the impatience of fans, media and players. He hasn't has a losing season since his first year, including an 11-1 record and Sugar Bowl victory last year.

Al Groh made a similar transition as Wannstedt, going from coaching in the NFL to coaching college when he left the New York Jets to become head coach of his alma mater, the University of Virginia, in 2001. Also similar to Wannstedt was his first season in which he went 5-7. Groh has enjoyed success since then, too, and he also credits it to patience.

"Wherever you are, whether its in the NFL or college football, when you go into your second year everybody is so much more in tune with your operation and how things are going to be done, whether its procedures, policies or systems," said Groh. He also saw recruiting as a key factor in those first few years on the job.

The big difference from last season to this season is that Wannstedt knows what he has and what his team is capable of.

"I think the biggest thing that has happened for me since last season is, number one, we all have a very clear picture of what we need to accomplish as a football team," said Wannstedt. "We all have a very clear picture of what we are capable of accomplishing. We have a clear picture, from a coach to player standpoint, knowing who can do what, who's capable of making certain plays and who has experience to do certain things."

Indeed, Wannstedt does have a clear picture of what he needs to do. Win.

He relates a story of Barry Alvarez, the former coach of the Wisconsin Badgers. In one of the last interviews he did at Wisconsin, he was asked, after 15 years as he looked back on his teams, what made the difference for their success. He never hesitated. It was his first recruiting class.

It will remain a challenge to compete not only on the field but in recruiting if the wins do not start to come. Three other local schools - Penn State, West Virginia and Ohio State - had great success last season, and Panthers may already be beginning to fall behind in terms of recruiting. While Pitt is still holding it's own on the recruiting trail, several of their prime targets have fallen to other local teams. Gateway's Jon Ditto and Greensburg Central Catholic's Nick Sukay chose Penn State and Andrew Devlin, a tight end whom the Panthers were very high on, chose Virginia. Offensive linemen Evan Blankenship and Donny Barclay chose Ohio State and West Virginia respectively, as did Gino Gradkowski. Highly touted guard Stefan Wisniewski has also ruled the Panthers out.

But there is no need to panic. At least, not yet.

There have been a slew of quality recruits coming out of the area for the past two seasons. Last year, Wannstedt signed nearly every prospect he targeted and Pitt wound up with a recruiting class rated as high as 12th in the country by some recruiting services. This year, despite some good talent slipping away, the Panthers did manage to land the top recruit in the state, QB Pat Bostick, as well as several other high touted players.

Both Rodriguez and Groh put their first season struggles behind them and enjoyed immediate success in their second seasons. Groh went from 5-7 to 9-5; Rodriguez from a woeful 3-8 to 9-4. Southern Cal's Pete Carroll, another NFL coach turned college coach, also saw a dramatic turnaround from year one to year two, going from 6-6 to 11-2. These numbers reiterate the importance of Wannstedt and the Panthers turning things around this season. For now it seems that the window of opportunity remains ajar, even if it is just cracked open enough to let in a breeze.

When his coaching career winds down and Wannstedt is interviewed at the end of his tenure at Pitt, he will be asked what made the difference for his teams. Whether he had a successful run or not, it doesn't matter.

He already knows the answer.

Staff writer Joe Giardina previewed the Panthers in the August PSR.