Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Dec 8, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Pittsburgh Panthers would no longer have Dave Wannstedt as their coach. The team had a terrible season this year, with a disappointing 7-5 finish, that made them qualify only for a minor bowl. However, he is not completely out of the team, as the highly adored coach would remain in the Pittsburgh University as a special assistant to athletic director Steve Pederson.

However, his dismissal rather came up as an utter piece of humiliation, as the coach had no clue that he would be dismissed. After the team accepted the bid of the Compass Bowl, in Birmingham, Alabama, he said that he was looking forward for a better recruitment for the next season. However, after he met Steve Pederson, the team called for an unannounced news conference, which clearly declared about his dismissal as the coach of the team. Dave Wannstedt has been their coach for the last six seasons and has even yielded the team one of its best performances since 1983, which was a 26-12 mark from 200-8-10. He went 42-31 in six seasons. He has made the Panthers win ten games in the last season.

Sources say that the main reason to make him resign as a coach was because, despite the team’s enrichment with some of the most competent players, it was unable to outright Big East title in six seasons under Dave Wannstedt. In 2008, they could have made it, but at the last moment they lost to Cincinnati. Last year, they lost to West Virginia, despite being ranked on the top ten, to rule out the possibility. Even this year, they could have made it to BCS had they won over either Cincinnati or West Virginia, but they lost to both. Authorities of the team thought that it is high time that they replace the coach to make full use of the potential of the players.