• Among the first items Dave Wannstedt addressed when he took over at the University of Pittsburgh four months ago was the need to re-establish a recruiting connection between the Panthers and the top Western Pennsylvania prospects. If this week was an indication, the former
Miami Dolphins coach is going to mine plenty of backyard talent for his alma mater. Unlike predecessor Walt Harris, who embraced a more global but fundamentally flawed recruiting philosophy that alienated many of the area's top prep coaches and sometimes ignored viable local prospects, Wannstedt is selling the Pitt program at home first.
His pitch, it appears, is a solid one. This week alone, Wannstedt received verbal commitments from six western Pennsylvania prospects. That raised to 11 the number of commitments for the 2006 recruiting class (eight from western Pennsylvania). No matter what his critics thought of Wannstedt as an NFL head coach, the one universal in assessing him was that he is a terrific guy, a down-to-earth person who connects with people. That trait has been obvious so far in his brief tenure at Pitt and it will serve the Panthers well.
but good read
