Steve Pederson Extension - How Pitt Fans Should Feel

Pittsburgh athletic director Steve Pederson has signed a five-year contract extension that will keep him at the school through 2018.

Everybody that knows me recognizes that I am not a Steve Pederson fan. I have been one of his biggest critics throughout his Pitt tenure and I was critical of him at his time in Nebraska. I am not going to go that far deep into the Nebraska fiasco but all I have to say is that anybody down in big red country will tell you that he is not a beloved figure for his alma mater. He was fired after 5 disastrous years and Pitt literally hired him back the next day. (He was also the AD at Pitt from 1998-2002).

With the news of his recent contract extension, there has been a mixture of reactions from alumni and fans about their feelings towards Pederson. I am going to create a pros and cons list of Pedersons actions while at Pitt and I want the readers of the article to tell me how they feel about him.



Lets get right into this.

Pros: He helped build the state of the art Peterson Events Center. He hired Ben Howland (who brought Jamie Dixon with him as his assistant). Howland helped Pitt basketball transform itself into its status among the nation’s top programs before leaving for UCLA in 2003.  He got Pitt out of the failing Big East and brought them into the ACC. He hired Walt Harris. Harris, hired in 1997, guided Pitt to the Liberty Bowl — its first bowl appearance in eight seasons. Harris also led Pitt football to its first BCS bowl game ever, a 35-7 loss against Utah in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. Pederson also hired current track and field coach Alonzo Webb, current baseball coach Joe Jordano, women’s basketball coach Traci Waites and volleyball coach Chris Beerman. All of the six hires won Big East Coach of the Year at one point.

Cons: He demolished Pitt stadium (where the Pete now is) and is quoted as saying that Pitt will "never ever" get an on campus stadium. The majority opinion among fans is that playing in Heinz Field isn't a good thing. Pederson also changed the Panthers’ logo from “Pitt” in the “Pitt script” to “Pittsburgh,” much to the chagrin of long-time Panther fans. Along with the logo change, Pederson also changed Pitt’s colors from blue and yellow to a navy blue and Vegas gold. These have been very unpopular changes as most fans say it destroys the tradition and pride of Pitt sports. Pederson gave former Dave Wannstedt a 5 year contract extension and then fired him the following season after Pitt went 7-5 and got a share of the Big East championship in 2010. He then later replaced him with Mike "Domestic Battery" Haywood who got fired two weeks later and then replaces him with Fraud Graham (who leaves after one season going 6-7). He then hired Paul Chryst who lost to Youngstown State in his first game as coach and went 6-7 for the season.  Pitt went from 26-12 over Wannstedt's last three seasons and a share of the Big East championship, to 12-14, with three different head coaches and a few intern coaches thrown in between. The coaching fiasco has probably been Pedersons biggest criticism.

So, what do you guys think? Does he deserve the contract extension? I think the good outweighs the bad in my opinion and I think there should be a change in leadership in Pitt. Then again, that's just my opinion.