Football: Wannstedt looking to build on first winning season at Pitt

When Dave Wannstedt was named Panthers head coach in 2005, the expectations were high. Three consecutive losses later, Panther fans were brought back down to Earth, and the subsequent thrashing of Youngstown State in Pitt’s fourth game did little to shake the realization that 2005 was not Pitt’s year.

Four years later, the Panthers open their season with Youngstown State and the expectations are lofty once again.However, this time a different team has to answer those expectations — a team comprised of Wannstedt’s own recruits.

After joining Pitt, Wannstedt decided not to make an immediate and drastic overhaul of the Panther program.

“Every first-year coach takes over a program and they don’t like the way they practice, don’t like the talent, don’t like the offseason program, they don’t like anything. Everything has to be changed, including the players,” Wannstedt said. “When I came here my first year, I made a commitment to myself. I said, ‘This is probably different than what most first-year coaches do.’ In fact, it was different.”

A roster full of Walt Harris’ recruits wasn’t unappealing to Wannstedt, even though he didn’t have the opportunity to handpick them out of high school.

“I really didn’t get into the [labeling] of were they my guys or Walt’s guys or whoever’s guys,” Wannstedt said. “They’re Pitt guys, and that’s how I [approached] it. Kids make decisions to come to school here, and we’re all one big family.”

Wannstedt made it a point to examine the state of his alma mater before making larger changes to the program’s framework.

“Because I’m a Pitt [graduate] and a Pitt guy, all these kids chose to come to the same school I did,” Wannstedt said. “The first year I just kind of went through it and tried to observe and then make some decisions after that.”

One of Wannstedt’s most fruitful decisions was concentrating on making Pitt a contender for top local talent. Despite Pitt’s 5-6 record in 2005, the recruiting trail was an area of success. Harrisburg’s Aaron Berry, Murrysville’s John Malecki and U.S. Army All-Americans Nate Byham, from Franklin, and Dorin Dickerson, from Imperial, all committed to Wannstedt’s first recruiting class.

The next year, Greg Williams, Dom DeCicco and LeSean McCoy agreed to play for the Panthers. Yet, while Pitt found itself listed within numerous rankings of top draft classes, it wasn’t experiencing similar success on the field.

Lackluster performances led the Panthers to records of 5-6, 6-6 and 5-7 in Wannstedt’s first three years. If it wasn’t for an improbable 13-9 upset in Morgantown against a championship-bound West Virginia team to end the 2007 season, the bottom might have fallen out for Wannstedt.

But the win at West Virginia gave fans a glimpse of the triumph they had hoped for with Wannstedt’s arrival.

It also helped solidify another talented recruiting class, boasting the likes of Jonathan Baldwin, Shayne Hale and Lucas Nix.

In 2008 Pitt showed flashes of brilliance, like beating then-No. 10 South Florida on the road and moments of underachievement, such as losing to Bowling Green to open the season.

The end result was a 9-4 record, Wannstedt’s first winning season.

Earlier this week, Wannstedt was asked whether this team resembled the squad that he imagined he would have going into his fifth season. He said the team is “pretty close” to what he envisioned.

“We’ve got a good group of guys,” Wannstedt said. “We’ve got guys that are committed, and they’re all here to win, and they’re here to do it the right way. That’s what you try to assemble as a coach.”

As for the hype around the team and Pitt’s preseason position as the Big East favorite, Wannstedt knows his team must justify the attention it’s receiving by performing on the field, starting with tomorrow’s game against Youngstown State.

“This time of year, it’s all just talk. [Media members] have to pick top teams, and they have to talk about different positions and individuals, but that’s the great thing about this game,” he said. “You have to go out there and prove yourself.”

Indeed, results are critical at this period in Wannstedt’s tenure. Lauded recruiting classes and promises of a brighter tomorrow no longer seem satisfactory.

Four years ago, Youngstown State provided Wannstedt with his first victory as a collegiate head coach.

If Wannstedt has guided Pitt’s football program to where it needs to be, this season Youngstown State should be Pitt’s first win on its way to a BCS bowl game.