Pitt Targeting Frank Cignetti Jr. for OC

Its looking like a stronger and stronger possibility that the new offensive coordinator for the Pitt football team will be current Cal OC Frank Cignetti, Jr. as Dave Wannstedt has formally offered him the job, the PG is reporting. It seems unlikely that this sort of info gets public unless there is a very, very good chance that Cignetti is going to accept the offer.

I have to say, I am very, very impressed by Pitt's willingness to look outside the immediate Pitt and/or Wannstedt family for an excellent offensive mind. Cignetti does have local ties, which probably boosts his candidacy a little bit, but after watching the Matt Cavanaugh error era for 4 years that doesn't really do a whole lot for me personally. They could bring in a guy from the North Pole who's never even seen Pitsburgh, and if he knows how to run an effective, efficient offense and how to utilize skill positions, I'd be elated.

The reason why I'm as jazzed up about this as I am is because Cignetti has had a chance to learn under Cal Coach Jeff Tedford, and also under Fresno State coach Pat Hill. These two schools have both run very good offenses over the past several years, and have succeeded with systems that got the most out of their players, as opposed to the Matt Cavanaugh system, which got the least out of players and consisted of 3 passing plays: 1)Fade pass to Jonathan Baldwin, 2) Bubble Screen, and 3) Fade Pass again to Jonathan Baldwin.

In all seriousness, though, look at how well these systems were able to prop up players. Cal never has the top players coming into their school due to academic standards and because of the allure of USC, but they still are always cotending for 8 and 9 win seasons and turning guys like Aaron Rodgers into first round picks and utilizing skill players like JJ Arrington and DeSean Jackson in the proper ways. Its refreshing to think about, actually. Let's just hope it happens.