Dave Wannstedt

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Dave Wannstedt
Title	Head Coach
College	Pittsburgh
Sport	Football
Conference	Big East
Team record	16–19
Born	May 21, 1952 (1952-05-21) (age 56)
Place of birth	Baldwin, PA
Career highlights
Overall	16–19 (NCAA) 82–86–0 (NFL)
Coaching stats
College Football DataWarehouse
Playing career
1971-1973	Pittsburgh
Position	Offensive tackle
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1975-1978 1979-1982 1983-1985 1986-1988 1989-1992 1993-1998 1999 2000-2004 2005-present	Pittsburgh (GA) Oklahoma State (DL) USC (DL) Miami (DC) Dallas Cowboys (DC) Chicago Bears Miami Dolphins (DC) Miami Dolphins Pittsburgh

Dave Wannstedt (born May 21, 1952 in Baldwin, Pennsylvania), is the current head coach of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football team. Previously, Wannstedt was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins of the NFL from 2000 to 2004, and he coached the Chicago Bears from 1993 to 1998. He also was a long-time assistant to Jimmy Johnson with the Dallas Cowboys, Miami Hurricanes, and Oklahoma State Cowboys as well as an equal with Johnson when both were assistants at Pittsburgh in the 1970s.

[edit] Early years

Wannstedt was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attended Baldwin High School (Baldwin, Pennsylvania). He earned an athletic scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh playing offensive tackle and blocking for future Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett. After a successful career with the Panthers, he was chosen in the 1974 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers, but spent his only NFL season on Injured Reserve with a neck injury.

[edit] Coaching career

[edit] First college coaching career

In 1975, Pitt coach Johnny Majors hired him as a graduate assistant coach. He was on the staff when the Panthers won the 1976 NCAA Division I-A national football championship with a victory over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. In 1977, Jimmy Johnson joined the staff of the Pitt Panthers and the two would forge a long lasting personal and professional bond. When Johnson left to become the head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys in 1979, he invited Wannstedt to join his staff.

Wannstedt served as defensive line coach for the Oklahoma State Cowboys for the 1979 and 1980 seasons and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 1981, a spot he held for two seasons. He moved on to USC in 1983 and served as the defensive line coach for the Trojans for three years. In 1986, Wannstedt became defensive coordinator for the Miami Hurricanes under friend and mentor Jimmy Johnson.

[edit] Dallas Cowboys

When Johnson was hired as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in 1989, Wannstedt joined Dallas' staff as defensive coordinator. The Cowboys defense was considered one of the best in the NFL under Wannstedt's leadership and he became a prime candidate to become an NFL head coach. When Chuck Noll retired as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, in 1992, Wannstedt was one of the finalists for the job, but was ultimately edged out by Bill Cowher.

[edit] Chicago Bears

On January 19, 1993, he was hired as the head coach of the Chicago Bears replacing legendary coach Mike Ditka. Wannstedt's tenure at Chicago was tumultuous. He led the Bears to only one postseason appearance in his 6 years at Chicago and compiled a 41-57 record. After posting back-to-back 4-12 seasons, Bears owner Michael McCaskey fired Wannstedt on December 28, 1998, a day when five NFL head coaches (one sixth of the league) lost their jobs.

[edit] Miami Dolphins

In 1999, Wannstedt again joined Jimmy Johnson's staff, this time as defensive coordinator and assistant head coach of the Miami Dolphins. When the 56 year old Johnson suddenly announced his retirement on January 16, 2000, Wannstedt was the obvious choice to replace him and he was immediately named Johnson's successor.

The 2000 football season went well for the Dolphins as they went 11-5 and won the AFC East title for the first time since 1994. Wannstedt, however, was highly criticized after a 27-0 blowout loss in the second round of the playoffs against the Oakland Raiders. The week before, in a game against Indianapolis Colts, Wannstedt had run the ball with Lamar Smith forty times in an overtime victory. This rendered Smith barely able to walk the next day, and virtually useless for their next game against the Raiders.

The Dolphins went 11-5 again in 2001, and again melted down in the playoffs. They were again dominated, this time by the Baltimore Ravens 20-3.

In 2002, arguably the most controversial season for Wannstedt, the Dolphins finished 9-7 without an appearance in the playoffs. During the offseason, Wannstedt had traded two first-round draft picks to the New Orleans Saints for running back Ricky Williams. Through week 15, the Dolphins seemed to be in prime position for a playoff spot at 9-5, needing only one more victory to clinch. The Dolphins blew an 11 point lead over the New England Patriots in the 4th quarter to lose out on the playoffs. Many believed that Wannstedt was simply out-coached by Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Some Miami fans called for his resignation after this loss.

The Dolphins started 2003 with a loss against the lowly Houston Texans, even though Miami was highly favored in the game. This game turned out to be the epitome of the Dolphins season this year, losing at very costly times. The team ended up 10-6, but still out of the playoffs. Again, Wannstedt was kept on even after a guarantee pre-season by owner Wayne Huizenga that he would fire Wannstedt if the team again missed the playoffs.

The 2004 season turned out to be a disaster from the beginning. Star running back Ricky Williams retired from football in the face of drug abuse charges and fear of being over-used as he was in the previous season, Randy McMichael was arrested for domestic abuse, and newly acquired receiver David Boston injured himself in training camp and was lost for the season. Many believed that most, if not all of the things that happened that offseason were a direct result of Wannstedt's lack of discipline and overall knowledge of the game. The offense sputtered and the team would post just one win in its first nine games, the worst record in the NFL. Wannstedt became the focus of intense criticism for his leadership and fell under immense pressure from fans and Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga. Wannstedt resigned as Dolphins head coach on November 9, 2004 and was replaced by interim coach Jim Bates. The team finished 4-12. The following offseason, the team would eventually hire Nick Saban as head coach.

Some people criticized Wannstedt for his decisions regarding the team off the field. Many of his offseason trades were arguably poorly scouted and put together, including trading a 2nd round draft choice to the Philadelphia Eagles for third-string quarterback A.J. Feeley. As projected by most of the media and fans, Feeley was unable to produce in Miami. That same year, he also traded a 3rd round choice for running back Lamar Gordon in haste, who would only play three games for the team before being injured and lost for the season. Wannstedt also had a series of very poor draft picks, including 2001 1st round pick Jamar Fletcher, and 2003 2nd round pick Eddie Moore. He worked as an NFL on FOX game analyst while looking for a coaching job after resigning from the Miami Dolphins after a 3-4 start. He eventually took the University of Pittsburgh football coaching job.

[edit] University of Pittsburgh

When University of Pittsburgh head coach Walt Harris announced that he was leaving Pitt to become head coach at Stanford, Wannstedt, a Pittsburgh native and Pitt graduate with NFL experience and a proven college recruiting record, immediately became a leading candidate to replace him. Wannstedt was initially interested in the job but pulled back over salary issues and concerns about his ability to keep a quality staff. After working out several issues with the Pitt athletic department including pay raises for assistant coaches, Wannstedt agreed to Pitt's offer and was named head coach on December 23, 2004.

Wannstedt said that recruiting will be a top priority under his leadership. Harris had been roundly criticized during his tenure for not recruiting top high school talent, especially in the crucial western Pennsylvania area. Wannstedt retained some of Harris' staff including Paul Rhoads, the defensive coordinator, but made several key changes including bringing in former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, Wannstedt's college teammate at Pitt, to run the offense. Both men had been in the running for the head coaching job.

Wannstedt's tenure at Pittsburgh has been rocky. Pitt, which won the Big East and played in the Fiesta Bowl the previous year under Harris, was ranked 21 in the first AP Poll of 2005. However, the team got blown out by Notre Dame in their first game, lost in overtime to unranked and unheralded Ohio University, lost 7-6 to Nebraska, and lost to Rutgers University to go 0-4 in Division I-A games going into October. Pittsburgh finished the season at 5-6 after being blown out by West Virginia University in the final game of the season, and Pitt's losing record made them ineligible for a bowl game. Given how poorly Pitt's season went, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and HBO's Inside the NFL wrote in his "Monday Morning Quarterback" column that one of his miscalculations for the 2005 college football season was to say that Pitt's hiring of Wannstedt would prove to be one of the best college coaching hires ever.^{[citation needed]}

Wannstedt's recruiting prowess led Scout.com analysts to rate the Panthers' class of 2006 #11 in the country. The Panthers finished 6-6, sixth in the eight-team Big East, and again failed to reach a bowl game.

Wannstedt followed his touted 2006 class by bringing in the #8 recruiting class as ranked by Scout in 2007. The class includes blue-chip players such as RB LeSean McCoy, QB Pat Bostick, and OG Chris Jacobson. The Pittsburgh Panthers finished the 2007 season at 5-7 and failed to reach a bowl game for the third consecutive season. On December 1, 2007, Wannstedt was given a contract extension through 2012. ^[1] He had previously been signed through 2009. On December 1, 2007 Wannstedt coached his team to a 13-9 upset victory over West Virginia University, upsetting the Mountaineers' chance to appear in the BCS National Championship Game.

[edit] References

1. ^ Pitt Football Coach Wannstedt Gets 3-Year Extension, bloomberg.com, accessed 2007-12-02.

• Scout.com Class of 2006 Recruiting Rankings
• Scout.com Class of 2007 Recruiting Rankings

[edit] External links

• Pitt Official Bio
• Dave Wannstedt Page at www.bearshistory.com
• Dave Wannstedt Audio Life Story & Transcript