Wannstedt comes home

According to Dave Wannstedt, it’s been too long since Pitt football won a national… According to Dave Wannstedt, it’s been too long since Pitt football won a national championship, and he’s coming back to change that.

Athletics Director Jeff Long introduced Wannstedt as Pitt’s 34th head coach by handing him a No. 76 Pitt jersey, the number Wannstedt once wore as an offensive tackle, at a press conference on Dec. 23.

Coincidentally, ’76 is also the year Wannstedt helped lead Pitt to a national championship as a graduate assistant coach. He left Pitt in 1979, and after 25 years, he’s coming back with hopes of restoring a program he knows well.

“Nobody needs to tell me about the tradition,” Wannstedt stated firmly. “I was part of it. I lived it. I experienced it. I felt it. And that’s the passion that drives me to return to those great, great days of Pitt football.”

For Wannstedt, the idea of coaching at Pitt was not something that suddenly sprung up when head coach Walt Harris resigned on Dec. 13 after accepting a job offer from Stanford. It was an idea brewing in Wannstedt’s mind since his days as a graduate assistant at Pitt.

“This is something I’ve thought about for a long time,” he said.

Wannstedt reminisced in his press conference at the Duratz Athletic Complex, about the first time he thought of being Pitt’s head football coach. He said the dream started at a coaches’ meeting during the 1976 national championship season. He was sitting at a conference table with all the Pitt coaches. He pointed out that he was at the farthest end from then head coach Johnny Majors.

“I think my job that day was to make the coffee,” Wannstedt joked, adding, “I’m sitting at the end of the table and I said to myself, ‘Someday, I will be the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh.'”

His dream has come true.

The Pittsburgh native said he had to think hard about the decision because he did not want his emotions to get in the way. He wanted to look at the job for what it really was. According to Wannstedt, what he sees is a program filled with potential.

The team is led by sophomore quarterback Tyler Palko, who had a breakout year, throwing for 3,067 yards and 24 touchdowns. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

Pitt also has a young defense, with several sophomores and freshmen that made a difference this past season, especially in key victories against West Virginia and Boston College.

Wannstedt believes he can take these Panthers the next step. He looks to have an impact at Pitt on and off the field, something that Long stressed as an important characteristic for Pitt’s next head coach.

“I believe that I can make a difference on the football field,” Wannstedt said. “But just as important, I believe I can make a difference at the University and in the community.”

Wannstedt, 52, was at the top of Long’s Christmas list from day one.

“The first time I met Dave Wannstedt, I was immediately struck by his pride and passion for the University of Pittsburgh,” Long said on PittsburghPanthers.com.

He added, “Although Dave’s long and successful coaching career has taken him many different places, his love for Pitt has remained. He not only understands our tradition but has also helped build it.”

For a while though, it did not look like there was any chance for Wannstedt to be Pitt’s next head coach. He pulled his name from Long’s list a week before being hired, saying that the timing was not right and that he wanted to continue his work with Fox Sports as an analyst.

Then, Wannstedt apparently had a change of heart. Helped by his wife’s urgings, he is taking the job as a coach and not as a TV personality.

Wannstedt’s reversal came just as Long had narrowed his search down to two candidates: current Pitt Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads and former Pitt quarterback Matt Cavanaugh, who both had had second interviews.

Long said he wanted to make the decision as soon as possible and was looking to name a coach by Christmas because he feels it is a critical recruiting time.

Wannstedt became available to coach for Pitt after he stepped down from his head coaching position with the Miami Dolphins. He resigned after the maligned Dolphins started 1-8. Prior to 2004, he was 41-23 as Dolphins’ coach, and 82-86 as an NFL coach, posting professional career highs of 11-5 twice.

Before Miami, Wannstedt was the head coach of the Chicago Bears, where he turned the program around and took them to a 9-7 record and a spot in the 1994 playoffs. And before he took the helm in Chicago, he was the assistant head coach for the Dallas Cowboys under head coach Jimmy Johnson. His defense forced nine turnovers in Dallas’ 52-17 Super Bowl XXVII victory against the Buffalo Bills.

Wannstedt began his coaching career at Pitt in 1975. Johnson joined Wannstedt at Pitt following the national championship in 1976, and in 1979, both left for Oklahoma State. The two met again at the University of Miami, where they coached the Hurricanes to a 12-0 national championship season in 1987.

Wannstedt was at the University of Miami from 1986-88 as defensive coordinator. There, he led the Hurricanes to a 34-2 record over three years, coaching 11 defensive players who were selected in the first and second rounds of the NFL draft.

Wannstedt also played offensive tackle for the Panthers from 1970 to ’73. In his senior year, he was named a captain. In 1974, the Green Bay Packers drafted Wannstedt, but a neck injury brought an abrupt end to his playing career.

He returns to Pittsburgh with his wife, Jan, and his two daughters, Keri and Jami.