FINALLY, A DC HAS COME TO PITT!!!

Today Pitt announced their new Defensive Coordinator…FINALLY…and also brought aboard two new coaches as well.  In true Panther fan form, Pitt fans took to social media to pretty much bash the announcements left and right.  If there is another fan base that jumps off  a bridge quicker than Pitt’s, please let me know, because I do believe they have the market cornered.

We’ll start with the DC.  Matt House was promoted from defensive backs coach to the coordinator position.  House is young and has never held this big of a job, but he was a pretty strong recruiter and considering the year the DBs just had, did a great job on the coaching side of things as well. House has promised that he will mix up the defenses with forms of both the 3-4 and 4-3 and he also states the defense will be very aggressive (maybe my brother will finally stop texting me during games that they need to blitz more).  House’s resume has been pretty well known, but in case you don’t remember, he has experience at Michigan State, North Carolina, Buffalo, and also a couple of years in the NFL. Most people will point out that when he was the interim co-DC for the Ole Miss game, things did not go really according to plan.  Oh, how quickly we forget that Pitt played that game with their third string middle linebacker, Pitt’s offense gave them VERY little time off the field (especially at the start of the second half), and finally that Ole Miss is a team that was getting better and better throughout the year.  Why focus on that though, when it is so much fun having Pitt fans be…well…Pitt fans. 

Also coming to the Pitt coaching staff is veteran coach John Palermo to coach the defensive ends and linebackers.  He comes from Tennessee and the Redskins before that, but the thing that stuck out was that Palermo spent 15 years at Wisconsin on Barry Alvarez staffs. If he was good enough for Barry Alvarez to keep for a decade and a half, why on earth would he be a bad hire for the Panthers? With House’s promotion, the defensive coaches are somewhat young, so why not bring in someone with some years under their belt?

Lastly, is the hire that I think will turn out to be a very good one for Pitt. The rumors surfaced about this a few weeks ago and I am glad they are true. Former Panthers’ DB Hank Poteat returns to his alma mater as a GA and will handle the cornerbacks.  Poteat spent a decade in the NFL and recently was the defensive backs coach at Kentucky Christian University.  Poteat played under some great coaches as a pro in Bill Cowher and Bill Belichick.  He also is from Harrisburg, PA and those ties cannot hurt him on the recruiting trail.  Poteat brings in young energy and the staff has a lot of youth on their side, which I think helps in the recruiting aspects.

Overall, I like these hires and I know that is not a popular opinion right now, but some of the tweets today were just so Pitt fans if you will.  Really, the only problem I have with the whole process is how long it took, but other than that, I cannot complain.  I think each coach serves a purpose and I’m excited to see how these additions can improve Pitt.  It says a lot that when Dave Huxtable left Pitt as the DC, there was not even a ripple among the potential recruits.