Dave Wannstedt Head Coach
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DAVE WANNSTEDT HEAD COACH The Pitt football program’s stock continues to On an individual level, Pitt players again were recent string of strong recruiting classes, and the rise under the direction of Dave Wannstedt, who recognized among the very best in all of college infusion of a winning culture at Pitt, the Panthers enters his sixth year as head coach of the Panthers. football. Tight end Dorin Dickerson earned first appear primed to continue their rise. Wannstedt’s tenure at his alma mater has been team All-America honors from the Football Writers A winning brand of football is nothing new to marked by unmistakable progress and achievement. Association of America (FWAA), the third player in Wannstedt. The 35-year coaching veteran has been The 2009 season was the latest example of Pitt’s the past four seasons under Wannstedt to earn part of 12 bowl teams as a collegiate coach, ascendance under his direction. Among the that prestigious accolade. including two undefeated national champions — highlights: Tailback Dion Lewis was the most decorated the 1976 Pitt Panthers and 1987 Miami Hurricanes. freshman in the country after rushing for 1,799 In total, his 19 years of collegiate coaching • The Panthers finished with a 10-3 record, yards last year. Lewis was named the national experience include 13 winning campaigns and a capped by an exciting 19-17 victory over North freshman of the year by Sporting News and CBS 147-74-4 record. Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. It was Sports. Additionally, he earned Big East Offensive On the professional level, Wannstedt was part of the program’s winningest campaign since 1981. Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors six NFL playoff teams and a Super Bowl champion from the league’s coaches. (the 1992 Dallas Cowboys). • Pitt’s 10 victories secured a final national On the other side of the ball, defensive end Although his professional travels have taken ranking of No. 15 in both polls, the Panthers’ Greg Romeus and defensive tackle Mick Williams him all over the country, Wannstedt has always highest final listing since 1982. shared the Big East Defensive Player of the Year considered Pittsburgh his home. honor, the first time in the league’s history a pair of When Wannstedt speaks about Pitt and • Over the past two seasons, Pitt has produced teammates received the award in the same season. Pittsburgh, there is an unmistakable strength of 19 wins, the second highest total in the Big All indications are that this success is just the conviction. He owns not one but two degrees from East Conference and among the top 25 beginning for the Panthers. With Wannstedt’s nationally. 24 MEDIA INFORMATION 2010 PREVIEW the University of Pittsburgh. He is a living, the Panthers’ weight room in preparation for the A rugged offensive tackle for the Panthers breathing example of a Pitt education and Pitt upcoming season. from 1970-73, Wannstedt returned to his alma football. Each of these scenes — the football fields, mater with three decades of highly accomplished “There might be no other coach in the country steel mills and the city — are embedded in coaching experience on the collegiate level and in who knows the very soil beneath him better than Wannstedt. “Pittsburgh never really left me,” he the National Football League. His career has ‘Wanny,’” CBSSports.com senior writer Dennis said. “It’s always been a special place in my heart.” produced three championship rings, including a Dodd said. “Wannstedt’s blood and sweat literally That is why, more than 30 years after Super Bowl title and two national collegiate stain the grass at his alma mater.” captaining the Panthers’ 1973 Fiesta Bowl team, championships. “I wouldn’t want to do this job anywhere else,” Wannstedt was the perfect choice to lead the These days, Wannstedt only wears his Pitt Wannstedt said. “I love Pitt and I love the city of University of Pittsburgh’s football program. He was 1976 national championship ring. “Our players Pittsburgh.” named Pitt’s 34th head coach on December 23, 2004. and prospects should know that I was part of the The scene outside of Wannstedt’s office windows “This opportunity is something I have dreamed greatest team Pitt ever had,” he said. “I take M in the Pitt football practice facility provides a view about since my early coaching days at Pitt,” said pride in that.” COACHING STAFF that is uniquely Pittsburgh and totally fitting for Wannstedt. A “Pitt Man” through and through, Wannstedt the Panthers’ head coach. has served as a bridge to the program’s past — The immediate view is to the east, where in the the visits by former players and alumni have foreground the Panthers’ lush grass practice fields capture the eye. Just beyond the green fields sit steel mills, a reminder of the city’s industrial heritage and, for PROFILES decades, the economic lifeblood of the region. PANTHER A gaze back to the west and one can soak in Pittsburgh’s breathtaking skyline. The skyscrapers now symbolize the “new Pittsburgh,” the former steel city that has evolved into a thriving center for corporations, medicine and higher education. Although he spent most of the last three 2009 SEASON decades residing outside of Pittsburgh, these views IN REVIEW still remain familiar and comforting for Wannstedt. He, too, once worked during the summers in the mills that inhabited a stretch of land located off Pittsburgh’s Second Avenue. Wannstedt would labor alongside his father, Frank, and then head to old Pitt Stadium to pump a different kind of iron in RECORD BOOK PITT HISTORY PRO FOOTBALL THIS IS PITT 25 reached unprecedented levels — as he is driving game, your Pitt experience will continue to influence the Panthers strongly into the future. and inspire everything you do as a person, “Dave is a Pitt guy,” said Mike Ditka, an All- professional and citizen. There’s a reason people America end for the Panthers before he went on to from this university have helped change our world a Hall of Fame playing and coaching career in the in so many positive ways. That’s the power of Pitt.” NFL. “Dave has a commitment to this university. Wannstedt rejoined the college ranks after The excitement created since Dave came back spending the prior 16 years in the NFL. Eleven of probably hasn’t happened in, what, 20 years? those years were as a head coach, including six Dave is the right guy to lead this program. He’s a with the Chicago Bears (1993-98) and five with young guy with a lot of enthusiasm and he’s really the Miami Dolphins (2000-04). proud to be a Pittsburgh guy.” It all began, though, in Pittsburgh, where first In 2006, Wannstedt and his wife Jan gave a he was a star at Baldwin High and later played a $250,000 gift to the University of Pittsburgh to key role in Pitt football’s resurgence in the 1970s. endow a football scholarship. “Dave was such a leader,” said Jim Gilloolly, “As a high school senior growing up in Baldwin, his high school football coach. “Dave would I was provided with the life-changing opportunity scramble up the side of the hill on all fours, in the to receive an outstanding education and play weeds and the brush, to get in shape. He made a major-college football due to a scholarship,” big W-A-N-N in the side of the hill. That became Wannstedt said. “We want to be able to help part of our drill, the Wannstedt Drill. Even after provide those same opportunities for both current Dave was gone.” and future generations of student-athletes.” Wannstedt was a three-sport star for Baldwin Wannstedt has clear cut goals and standards in football, basketball and track and field. He for each young man who signs with the Panthers. earned all-state in football and played in the “The first and most important goal we have for prestigious Big 33 Classic all-star game. Wannstedt our players is for them to earn their degree from captained both the Highlanders’ football and this outstanding institution,” Wannstedt said. basketball squads before graduating in 1970. “That degree is a life-changing achievement. Earning a scholarship to the University of Secondly, if a young man aspires to play professional Pittsburgh, he played on the freshman team during football, we are going to work hard to give him all the ’70 season (freshmen were then not eligible for the tools — physically, mentally and personally — varsity competition) and earned a starting job as that can help his dream become a reality. just a sophomore. “Ultimately, the University of Pittsburgh will John Majors took over as head coach at Pitt for mean more to you than just four years of school Wannstedt’s senior year and led the team to a 6-4-1 and football. Even after your last class and final regular season and Fiesta Bowl berth. The ’73 26 MEDIA INFORMATION 2010 PREVIEW campaign was the launching pad for Pitt’s During Wannstedt’s head coaching juggernaut success the rest of the decade that tenure with the Dolphins, Miami was included a 55-15-1 mark (.782), a national one of just three NFL teams from championship and five bowls over the next six 2000-03 to record nine or more years. Wannstedt was one of the ’73 team’s victories each year. unsung heroes, providing tough blocking from his The Dolphins’ 41-23 mark left tackle spot. His efforts helped a young back during that span tied for the named Tony Dorsett rush for 1,686 yards.