Dave Wannstedt Quotes (78 Quotes)

No. 1, he has to stay healthy. That was the thing that really put him behind in the fall. Last year at this time he made a position change. Halfway into spring we put H.B. Blades in the middle and put Session outside. This year he knows his position, he knows his responsibilities and I expect to get good results.

No question, this is our big game. Our rival game. I know how our fans react and their fans react. That's what college football all about.

We watched the Notre Dame tapes, and I brought them back in here at 7 p.m. on Sunday night and I personally gave them a scouting report on Ohio University, and that was it,

We've got to find a way to get the ball in his hands eight or 10 times a game.

Most of the things they've said have come true, ... It's probably like anything else in life, in that you can read a book or be told about what's coming, but you have to go through some of those things, have that life experience, to make the adjustments.

Charlie and I are friends personally just from our acquaintance through the NFL ... but we probably know each other better from an X's and O's standpoint.

We're looking at all the possibilities. Whoever can make a tackle - we'll get them on the field.

Recruiting is exciting right now. I think we're close right now to adding a couple more players here in the near future to our outstanding class coming in already.

I know the responsibility that comes with being a head coach, and knew the work and commitment it would take to build a top-10 program. And that's the goal,

That's what the foundation of this program is going to be built on and the next few years that's what this team is going to be built on -- players we can trust, players that are going to be accountable and players who want to be the best -- not just OK, the best.

I was just sick and tired of hearing that John Denver song for five days leading up to it,

People were fired up. We had several recruits at our game, and they're fired up. It's going to be a top 10, possibly better, class in the entire country. It's going to be one of the best classes that I believe, if everything stays on course, that we've had here in a long, long time.

In the NFL, we've had the four preseason games, and even high schools around here have scrimmages. ... That's the unknown or the uncertain part of this whole college experience that I'm still trying to figure out a little bit.

This morning we had a meeting going over and correcting the stuff from the Tampa game, and now in two hours we're going to go into meetings on New Orleans. And we're going to practice for New Orleans this afternoon. We've never had to practice the day before a game, but we do this week, just to be halfway organized.

I told our guys when we went to Tampa, I said, 'This is going to help us down the road from the standpoint of the traveling and possible distractions.' You have to discipline your mind and be mature enough to deal with all of that during the season. And those things are going to come up during the season. Hopefully we've already crossed that bridge.

As a whole, the defense looked good. A few guys really showed up to play today. Developing the defensive line is one of our challenges and I was encouraged today.

They blocked us, there's no mystery in that. I didn't do a good enough job of getting these guys ready they must have been reading the newspapers too much and that's my fault. We've got to get better if you can't stop the run, you've got no chance to win no matter the level and we've got to get that done. We wanted to blitz them, but we could never get them to third down.

I believe we have as good a coaching staff as anyone in college football. But we are always looking for ways to make ourselves more efficient and effective and these adjustments help us accomplish that.

You have to respect their passing ability because they have a lot of weapons and they can make plays in the passing game.

They know we're being fair. We're doing everything we can to win every game, but there's no set amount of time that these freshmen are going to play.

The offense overall looked good. There was good protection, no turnovers and no fumbles. I was encouraged by the way they looked today. Getting those little things right gives you the chance to win.

Pitt will honor its 21 first-round NFL draft picks by designating them as honorary captains and introducing them on the field before the game. Tony Dorsett , Dan Marino , Mike Ditka , Bill Fralic , Bill Maas , Jimbo Covert , Chris Doleman , Sean Gilbert a

We just completely took away any kind of confidence that we might have been able to establish on offense. It's so disappointing right now. It's obvious we're not a very good team. Last week it was the defense, and this week it was offensively.

Leonard can make big plays he's already shown that ... The biggest thing about this team is they have talent and experience on offense.These guys are all seniors and most of them have played for two or three years.

I thought for the most part our offensive line did a good job of protecting the passer against South Florida. There was time to throw the ball, maybe more than what we had seen in past weeks. I really think we're making progress.

People were fired up. And we had some recruits at (Saturday's) game, and they were fired up.

We can't look past anybody. I mean, obviously we'd be fools to even think of it. We had the team in here this morning at 6 o'clock, we cleaned up the tape and I think we got their attention about playing better and winning the game.

I didn't think it would really have much of an effect on me until I walked out on the field and saw the guys. You know when you hear an old song, it kind of takes you back to a certain time and moment Well, that's kind of what the uniforms did. It was neat to do.

He's banged up and sore a little bit, but the good news is that obviously there's no breaks and no surgery will be needed. As soon as he can start catching and jogging, we'll get him to do that and then ease him into practice as soon as he can go. But he'll probably be riding the stationary bike Friday.

We thought we'd see some New England Patriots in their offense, ... but it was still Pitt versus Notre Dame, not the Miami Dolphins or the Chicago Bears versus the New England Patriots.

No question, we've seen it all. There's nothing in there we won't have seen. But as a defensive coach, you can't worry about defending ghosts. You can talk all you want about a team and the way they do things, but it comes down to what gets done on the field,

From a fundamental standpoint, particularly on defense, I didn't do a good enough job of getting the guys prepared. We hit adversity. We did not deal with adversity the way championship teams deal with adversity. We didn't handle it well.

There are some things that one does maybe a little better than the other, but we would not fall into that trap of wasting time working on plays that either one couldn't work or run.

Greg (Lee) will make that catch nine out of 10 times, Erik Gill - that's another touchdown he fumbled out of the end zone, ... Those things are all confidence builders and something we'll have to correct.

I didn't do a good enough job of getting the guys prepared. I must not have done a good enough job of preventing our guys from reading newspapers and magazines and thinking we were a little further along or a better football team than we are today.

Being thrown into that situation is not easy, particularly when you don't expect it. You sign with a team as a freshman and expect to come in and have that buffer year. Then all of a sudden a month or a couple weeks before training camp, we say that one of you guys has to be ready to play against Notre Dame if something happens. I think they've handled it well.

We're going to do what we have to do to try and win the game, ... Ricky wanted to go in at the end of (Sunday's) game to get 100 yards. I took him out. He's a competitor. ... There's not a player on our team who says, 'You try and win it, I'll watch.' That doesn't compute.

For us to make some strides as a football team, that position is critical. I don't care what level you're talking about, those guys up front have to perform -- and perform at a high level. We were inexperienced last year. That's scary. Now we're a year older and that will benefit us this year.

I think Shane is the toughest back we have, I didn't realize how tough he was. You can see that by the yards he gets after he gets hit. But I also like that he has had some runs where he outran people. He is one of those backs who wouldn't time real good if he ran against the clock, but he can run as fast as he has to when someone is chasing him.

I'll take the pressure off Ricky, ... I'll take the bullets for Ricky right now. When we made the trade, one of the first things I told him was, 'We've got Pro Bowlers on defense. You don't have to be the center of attention here. The media and the fans are going to try and make you that. But understand that's not how we're looking at it. We're not bringing you in here because we haven't been able to win any games here.'

I'll follow those guys. They're the best. Guys like Zach and Jason, that's the reason you coach. Players that work like that and who are committed like that -- people that you can trust, week in and week out. That's what makes it fun.

There will be a lot of pressure on us to get it right in training camp. We don't have any exhibition games, any 'give-me' games coming out of the blocks. Virginia is a very tough game, especially for an opener. We have young players, but they have talent and we'll work hard to get them ready. These guys will respond to the challenge and we'll be a lot better prepared for the beginning of the season this time through it.

I ask this every week, but how good is that guy Revis, huh He is special.

They were like all of us, me included, looking for someone to feel sorry for you. But that's the nature of the game. That game is not going to determine what type of season we have. That game is not going to be the determining factor of what happens in December. How we react to that game is going to determine what type of a season we have. And our guys have responded.

This class will be a good foundation for the future. Most of these players had a lot of (other offers). Most of these players chose the University of Pittsburgh because they expect to win.

There was no way I was going to have my first practice in pads and walk into that locker room without having anybody with mud on their pants,

We still have a lot of work to do. It was real obvious there were a lot of plays out there that we kind of left on the field, particularly on offense.

I've been involved in springs where, the last week, you're going backward -- you go out for the spring game and the quarterback throws three interceptions, the running backs fumble and the offense doesn't score a touchdown. Then you start making excuses. But we played well enough today and did enough good things.

You can only do what your players can execute ... what your players have time to comprehend and learn.

Any time you play anybody and you turn the ball over three times two of them for touchdowns, one in the (end) zone you're going to have a tough time winning. I don't care if it's the Pittsburgh Steelers.