If and when current Pitt football coach Paul Chryst accepts the job at Wisconsin, likely as early as Wednesday, the Panthers will have lost more than just a coach.
They are also losing out on valuable time, not only in a busy recruiting period, but valuable time in hiring a new head coach as well.
There’s nothing Chryst can do about the situation to help the Panthers, other than announce he is staying at Pitt, as the Panthers have been in limbo for close to a week now.
During that time, Houston, ironically the team that Pitt will meet in the Armed Forces Bowl on January 2, just hired Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman to be their next head coach. Herman is a guy I’ve been told that Pitt would have targeted, had they not been in the holding pattern that they are currently in.
Even former Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini is already off the market, having accepted the head coaching position with Youngstown State. There’s no indication if Pelini would have even been on Pitt’s radar, but he likely should have been worth at least a look.
With state law preventing Wisconsin from making a formal offer until Wednesday, Chryst is still carrying out his duties as Pitt’s head coach, which even included representing Pitt in a press conference promoting the Armed Forces Bowl on Monday in Fort Worth.
Naturally Chryst didn’t say much about the Wisconsin job.
Chryst has also been out recruiting for the Panthers this week, which really isn’t effective with a coach in limbo.
The truth of the matter is that Pitt is less than 24 hours away from looking for their fifth head coach since 2010.
Ironically, this could be the third time since then that Pitt may have to use an interim coach in a bowl game.
Hopefully for their sake, Chryst and Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez announces a decision on Wednesday and the Panthers can get out of this holding pattern before more potential head coaching candidates find other jobs.
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