Football: Graham focuses on integrity

When redshirt senior Chas Alecxih ran into his new football coach Todd Graham a few days after… When redshirt senior Chas Alecxih ran into his new football coach Todd Graham a few days after the coach arrived, he asked Alecxih why the defensive lineman hadn’t visited him yet.

Alecxih, like other players on the team, didn’t believe Graham at first when he told them to stop in everyday.

“I was like, ‘Coach, you’re busy,’” Alecxih said. “But he said, ‘No, I want you to come see me.’ He really wants us there every single day.”

The players are expected to see their position coaches on a daily basis as well, and Alecxih said that level of Graham’s involvement is one of the most noticeable differences from former head coach Dave Wannstedt’s style.

Wannstedt was very involved with the players, Alecxih said, but treated the Panthers like a professional team and expected the athletes to handle their own business.

“I think the biggest difference is that Coach Graham and the staff are really up in our business,” Alecxih said. “I think I’ve had every class I’ve taken this summer checked. They don’t mess around with that stuff.”

Graham said that he believes it’s a privilege, not a right to be involved with a high-level football program, adding that he expects his players to set a new standard instead of adhering to a minimum standard.

In light of a high-profile NCAA investigation at Ohio State, Graham said that his goal at Pitt is to set a standard of hard work and help the players understand the rules and expectations.

The Buckeye program is undergoing an investigation into players exchanging signed equipment and memorabilia to a tattoo-parlor owner in exchange for tattoos and cash.

During the inquiry, Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel and quarterback Terrelle Pryor left the program.

An Associated Press article said that Tressel knew the players accepted benefits in exchange for memorabilia and did not disclose the information for more than nine months, breaking NCAA rules. He stepped down in May.

Pryor, facing a five-game suspension, decided to bypass his senior season last week.

Graham said the coaching staff is working hard to educate the Panthers on their boundaries as players. He added that the athletes are under a microscope because of the different sources they’re exposed to.

“I talk to them about going out here and rattling off 10 or 11 wins in a row,” he said. “Everyone gets excited and things start happening. All of the sudden they go to a restaurant and somebody wants to give them a complimentary meal.”

Graham said it’s the utmost responsibility of the coaching staff to be a positive influence on the team. The coaches explained to the players that there will be no short cuts or cut corners.

“It’s not worth winning and doing those things,” he said. “Sometimes things can benefit you for a short time, but you’re going to be found out. We’re not perfect, we don’t claim to be perfect, but we’re working hard to make sure we go about things in the right way.”

Quarterback Tino Sunseri said that the events at Ohio State make players realize that scenarios discussed at compliance seminars can become reality.

“To see it actually happen, it goes to show you that everything you’re doing is being watched and you need to make sure you’re doing things by the rules because stuff can happen,” Sunseri said.

Last season, the Panthers faced off the field problems of their own. Four Pitt players were arrested for violent crimes over a period of three months during the summer. Then Sports Illustrated and CBS/News released the results of a six-month investigation that looked into the criminal records of athletes on the 2010 preseason Top 25 college football teams.

Pitt had 22 players charged with a crime — more than any other team in the preseason rankings.

Graham wants the team to focus in the classroom and contribute in the community.

“I believe that if we can get our players to compete in the classroom like they compete on the field, you’d win a National Championship, and it’s the same thing with how they are in the community,” he said.

Sunseri said that as the players are becoming more accountable, they are starting to see results on the field, which has led to a higher level of commitment from the team.

The Panthers started player-led workouts this off-season, Sunseri said, something they haven’t done in the past. Sunseri said their goal is to simulate game tempo and make sure that the team understands the signals so that by the time training camp begins in August, the players are reacting and playing instead of thinking.

“Each week you can see guys getting more in shape, you can see guys getting stronger, you can see guys getting faster,” Sunseri said.

The biggest improvement for the team is its level of conditioning, Sunseri said. In the spring, players would get tired from running around within the first couple of periods.

“But now we’ve been running so much and lifting, you see guys out here and we’re fresh,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing with this tempo offense, you’re not able to go back to the huddle and get your feet underneath you. You need to be able to have max effort over and over again.”

Graham said the work the players put in before training camp in August is especially important for the season ahead.

“The team that is going to be the Big East champion is the team that invests the most, that has guys that are unselfish and understand that there’s only going to be one [champion],” he said.

Although many coaches focus on players’ physical development, Graham stressed the importance of mental preparation.

“The key for us to be successful is to go high-octane, fast tempo, but efficient,” he said. “It doesn’t do you any good to go fast and hard if you make mistakes.”

Graham said the most important factor in determining the success of the football team next season is the players’ belief in the system and their understanding of his expectations.

“The problem right now is that we have guys who think they are ‘all in’ that have one foot in,” he said. “We’ve got to get everybody completely all in.

“It’s not talk. Giving a speech is not giving a leader, it’s about a walk. The key to winning is developing personnel.”