When it comes to the job of being a head football coach, it’s not all about wins and losses. Yes, those things are very important, but witness the snake-bitten head coaching career of Dave Wannstedt. After mixed results coaching at the professional level, Wannstedt landed his dream job. He was coming back to his alma mater to coach the football team. Is there any bigger glory for a former player than to be asked to help return his former team to greatness? Unfortunately for Wannstedt, it didn’t quite work out that way. Dave Wannstedt was forced to resign by Pittsburgh.
It’s not that Wannstedt didn’t win; his three-season run between 2008 and 2010 was 26-12, Pitt’s best three season streak since the glory days of Dan Marino. It’s that he didn’t win big enough. When faced with a chance to get his team into the BCS in 2008, his team lost. When he had to win one of two games to get to the BCS in 2009, his team lost both games. This year, a win over Connecticut or West Virginia would’ve locked down the Big East’s BCS bid; Wannstedt lost both games. You see where this is going.
With the Big East about to get tougher with the addition of TCU, the writing was on the wall. Wannstedt is nothing but a disappointment in the eyes of Pitt’s fans, and the team was having trouble selling tickets. Time for a fresh break.
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