The following is an excerpt from a public letter Todd Graham released to Pittsburgh players, fans and family on January 12, 2011. Two days earlier he had accepted the job offer to become Pittsburgh’s head coach.
It is an honor and privilege to be your football coach at the University of Pittsburgh!
As I write this, I am not even 24 hours into my new job. But I wanted to reach out to you – the driving spirit behind the Panthers – to introduce myself and express my excitement in joining this outstanding university.
As I entered our practice facility yesterday, I was immediately struck by the awesome tradition that is Pitt football. It is a tradition of commitment and honor — and championships. Before I was a football coach I was a football fan, so it was a powerful moment for me to stand in front of the glass-encased lockers of John Majors and Mike Ditka, two men I’ve long admired for how they played and how they coached.
As Pitt’s new head coach, I am very aware of Pitt’s tremendous legacy. It is my promise that we will honor Pitt’s great tradition and work to build upon it. I believe there isn’t a football program in the country that has more potential for future greatness than the University of Pittsburgh.
I wanted to share with you our goals for Pitt football. They are, in order:
1) Produce men of character and integrity. If we don’t achieve this goal, then we can never reach our other aspirations.
2) Graduate every single one of our players. I want every young man who comes under our watch to earn their degree from this prestigious university.
3) Win the Big East Championship. It is our goal to bring home the Big East title on an annual basis.
4) Win a BCS Bowl. When competing on college football’s biggest stage we want to shine.
5) Win the national championship. We know this to be the standard for Pitt and Pittsburgh!
On Wednesday, December 14, 2011 it was reported and confirmed by multiple outlets that Graham had accepted a job offer from Arizona State to become their next head coach.
Look, we all get it. Coaches talk, and then they walk. Coaches need to throw out statements like this to get their team to buy in to the new regime. For the players it is easy to understand why they are disappointed this morning, as Big East Coast Bias pointed out. Some of these players will now have a fourth coach during their collegiate careers (although Mike Haywood never had the chance to coach a game). That is not the great college football experience these players signed up for.
For Graham, it seems to be more of the same. He wil take over the head coaching duties of his fourth program since 2006. For Pittsburgh, where do they go from here?
Pardon me for allowing my Pennsylvania roots to show here, but if Tom Bradley does not end up getting the head coaching job at Penn State, then Pittsburgh would be almost foolish not to give him an ofer this time. Bradley had been one of the favorites for the job twice before, but he was never offered the job. Bradley is a western Pennsylvania guy and has strong roots within the state, especially the Pittsburgh region. Bradley has always said that he owuld like to keep the head coaching job at Penn State, where he is currently serving as the interim head coach in place of Joe Paterno, but many suspect that he will ultimately be out of a job when all is said and done at Penn State (although the longer Penn State’s search goes the more likely it is that Bradley could be the best remaining candidate for the job).
If Penn State is not going to hire Bradley, perhaps Pittsburgh should. For real. Finally.
Follow Kevin McGuire on Twitter @KevinOnCFB, Facebook and Google+.
 |
Like CBR on Facebook |  |
Follow CBR on Twitter |
