Wannstedt Won't Speculate On His Future
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) — Pitt football coach Dave Wannstedt declined Monday to speculate about his future at his weekly press conference.
Pitt was ranked 15th in the AP preseason poll and was a near-unanimous pick in a media poll to win the Big East Conference.
After losing the Backyard Brawl 35-10 at Heinz Field against their rival West Virginia, Pitt has a must-win game coming up Saturday against Cincinnati to become bowl-eligible.
Wannstedt is under contract through 2014 after signing a two-year extension in March. Pitt extended Wannstedt's contract to reassure recruits that the Panthers have a stable football program.
"I'm not concerned with job security right now, we're just trying to beat Cincinnati," said Wannstedt, who went on to add several reasons why he should be back. "We're not going to graduate very many players this year. We have a great future ahead of us. We have a lot of recruits committed and a good, young team coming back next year."
Wannstedt blamed multiple injuries to star defensive end Greg Romeus, inexperience at key positions on the field including a new starting quarterback and running back Dion Lewis' drop-off, as reasons why the season hasn't been better.
However, Wannstedt did not mention coaching or preparation as possible causes for the mediocre season.
Romeus, the Big East defensive co-player of the year last season, was limited to two games by back and knee injuries. Lewis has rushed for 695 yards after gaining 1,799 yards as a freshman. Linebacker Dan Mason was also injured.
"We obviously had higher expectations. I really thought that we felt like we needed to get a big year out of our best defensive player, Greg Romeus, and the way that he trained, we believed that we would get a first-round-draft-pick-type of year out of him. That was a little bit disappointing," Wannstedt said. "Obviously, with Dion Lewis and the expectations there, with all the hype ... I think it was all legitimate. For whatever reason, we just never did get on track with our running game. There were some setbacks there."
"I look at it, and the whole thing with the development of a new quarterback, the three new linemen and the new tight end and a new wide receiver, I knew it would be difficult," Wannstedt said. "I knew that we had the least amount of starters returning in the conference. I knew we were a young team and that it would be a work in progress. You don't expect to turn the football over; that's the one thing that really disappoints me. For the most part, over last three years, we've always run the ball and protected the football. We might not have been as wide open as we would have liked, but we've always protected the football very well."
