Something has got to change

[Predatory Primates]

Nope. They got 1 really good safety from uno. The boon that year was the crappy coach from the patriots running off all the local kids at ku.

[Predatory Primates]

Broyles beat a lot of teams having less talent than them.

The big knock on him was always recruiting. I mean that tag got thrown on him as soon as Fran left, and only got worse once all of Fran's players were gone.

[PSR]

How does a coach get that? This is more of just a curiosity question. How do some coaches seem to be able to get kids to perform, and some not. How do they at one point, and then no longer? Its weird...

You go from being a Head Coach to being their Grandpa figure.

[GreenwoodBearcat]

Broyles beat a lot of teams having less talent than them.

The big knock on him was always recruiting. I mean that tag got thrown on him as soon as Fran left, and only got worse once all of Fran's players were gone.

Or maybe Broyles downfall was his DUI...or was Pitt already starting their free fall to mediocracy.

[catbacker07]

Or maybe Broyles downfall was his DUI...or was Pitt already starting their free fall to mediocracy.

One PO appearance in his last four years (which, theoretically, should have been chock full of quality recruits stemming from the success of the best offense in college football history) would suggest it started much earlier.

[northwest missouri state]

that was at the very end
he basically resigned right after iirc but i might not be
charges were dropped too again iirc

[Predatory Primates]

Or maybe Broyles downfall was his DUI...or was Pitt already starting their free fall to mediocracy.

The DUI was a symptom. His kid dying started the major slide.

[Predatory Primates]

I can't imagine being able to get up and go to work at all under those circumstances, tbh.

[catbacker07]

I can't imagine being able to get up and go to work at all under those circumstances, tbh.

Agreed.

[GreenwoodBearcat]

The DUI was a symptom. His kid dying started the major slide.

I forgot about that. Yea, I can't even imagine the heart pain that the Broyle's family must have endured.

[GorillaBred]

The DUI was a symptom. His kid dying started the major slide.

And the way the decline started definitely falls in line with this theory.

Those 2005-08 teams had the talent level that Pitt State was accustomed to in that era (not the talent level of 04 or late 80s/early 90s, but in line with late 90s/early 00s)--they played NW's runner up teams competitive at Arrowhead in 07 and in the POs in 08--but the week to week focus, consistency and preparation wasn't there. Unlike earlier version of Pitt State, who largely only lost to teams that were better than them (01 and 03 NW games being the exceptions), the 05-07 Gorillas started losing games they should've won. That was almost unheard of for Pitt State in the 90s--1996 MW is the only game that comes to my mind as a team that we had no business losing to.

[Go-Rilla]

To pare down the recruiting failures, just look at the quarterback position. The failure to recruit a game-changer at QB has been brutal.
They got lucky with Dickey, who struggled mightily his junior season after transferring in before finding magic with the right framework around him in 2011. If you'll remember, most people wanted Abenoja to start over Dickey in 2011 as a true freshman.
Abenoja was a legit QB, but he came to Pitt along with Rampy.
Roderique had the tools to be great, but I don't know how much actual recruiting went into getting him to come home.
None of the other QBs they've brought in have been able to make much of a difference.

Even going back to Mark Smith, who was pretty damn good at the D2 level, how much work did it take to get him to come down the street to play where his dad and older brother played, and where his younger brother would eventually play.

Have they gone out and beat other contending schools for any good QBs since Philpot and Majors?

[GorillaTeacher]

To pare down the recruiting failures, just look at the quarterback position. The failure to recruit a game-changer at QB has been brutal.
They got lucky with Dickey, who struggled mightily his junior season after transferring in before finding magic with the right framework around him in 2011. If you'll remember, most people wanted Abenoja to start over Dickey in 2011 as a true freshman.
Abenoja was a legit QB, but he came to Pitt along with Rampy.
Roderique had the tools to be great, but I don't know how much actual recruiting went into getting him to come home.
None of the other QBs they've brought in have been able to make much of a difference.

Even going back to Mark Smith, who was pretty damn good at the D2 level, how much work did it take to get him to come down the street to play where his dad and older brother played, and where his younger brother would eventually play.

Have they gone out and beat other contending schools for any good QBs since Philpot and Majors?

I think Mak could be a gamechanger, and they recruited him but he is young.

[Predatory Primates]

I think Mak could be a gamechanger, and they recruited him but he is young.

He's got raw talent, but I don't think they have anyone to help develop him from a HS pro-set pocket passer into a collegiate pistol/RPO guy. They also don't seem to be willing to do so at all.

Bradbury and Harman were both on a lot of radars, but you have the same development issues there.

[Predatory Primates]

By raw, I mean. He can't read D's yet, stares down his target almost every single throw, and hasn't learned any touch yet.

He can make throws that a lot of QB's can't, and has a crazy powerful arm, though.