Pitt category, Page 150

Robert Morris basketball coach Andy Toole joins us once again for our “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. He is our unofficial bracketologist for the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Both of our Final Fours are still intact after the first weekend. But this is where it gets dicey. RMU coach Andy Toole handicaps...

Nowhere in Pitt’s lineup are the holes left behind by departing seniors larger than at running back. The Panthers lost two 1,000-yard rushers, Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall, who totaled 2,357 yards. Fullback George Aston, who bulldozed hopeful tacklers and scored touchdowns, is gone. Coach Pat Narduzzi put every NFL...

When Pitt wrestler Taleb Rahmani was talking to former Panthers coach Matt Kocher last week, he was looking for one final piece of advice before the NCAA Wrestling Tournament. Kocher found just the right words. “He told me, ‘Compete like it’s your last time,’ “ said Rahmani, who is the...

With Day 1 in the books at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, it’s time to look for the best matchups in Friday’s quarterfinals at PPG Paints Arena. There are going to be some good ones, especially at 133 pounds. 5-Jack Mueller, Virginia (19-0) vs. 4-Ronnie Bresser, Oregon State (25-1)...

When Latrobe graduate Luke Pletcher walked out on the mat for his first-round match at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on Thursday, he heard a young fan yelling his name. Pletcher said he usually would nod, but when he saw the kid wearing a Latrobe wrestling sweatshirt, he gave...

For Ohio State senior Te’Shan Campbell and Oklahoma freshman Jake Woodley a trip home turned out better than ever after both claimed wins in Round 1 of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena. Campbell snapped a scoreless tie with a takedown in the third...

The City Game is going away, but only for one basketball season. Athletic directors Heather Lyke of Pitt and Dave Harper of Duquesne said Thursday that their teams won’t play each other next season for the first time since 1969, but the series will resume with games in 2020 and...

Pitt’s Micky Phillippi felt the butterflies all too briefly as he walked out to wrestle the first NCAA tournament match of his career. Then it was time to get down to business. Phillippi, a Derry graduate, was one of three Pitt wrestlers to win their first-round bouts at the NCAA...

Pitt’s men’s basketball team will be Robert Morris’ first opponent next season when the Colonials open 4,000-seat Peoples Court, their new on-campus home at the UPMC Events Center, officials from both schools announced Thursday. The game will be Nov. 12. “We’re extremely thrilled to open the UPMC Events Center against...

As a graduate transfer walk-on from a Patriot League school, Colin Jonov did not envision getting a chance to someday work out in front of dozens of NFL scouts. When the opportunity arose, the Franklin Regional three-sport standout and academic overachiever prepared as hard for the Pitt Pro Day on...

Pitt’s football players train in the same facility as the Pittsburgh Steelers, so it’s not uncommon for players from both sides of UPMC Rooney Sports Complex to cross paths on a regular basis. That doesn’t mean Pitt players still don’t get a bit star struck when they see Steelers players...

Pitt coach Jeff Capel, who has been a part of three teams that played in the NCAA Tournament, will be a guest studio analyst for CBS Sports and Turner Sports during their coverage of the tournament’s first-round games Thursday and Friday. He will join the Atlanta studio team of host...

Dave Borbely has coached offensive linemen at 14 schools for 40 seasons. It’s safe to assume he’s had more than a few challenges in his career and even some more difficult to solve than what he’s dealing with at Pitt. When he was asked about replacing four starters on Pitt’s...

When 13 former Pitt players work out for NFL coaches and scouts Wednesday on the South Side, one of the more intriguing storylines will involve fullback George Aston and the bench press. Long considered one of the strongest players on the team, Aston has done 30 bench-press reps of 225...

The cover will come off Pitt’s new branding marks April 7 as part of Bigelow Bash, an outdoor party entitled Nike Reveal and sponsored by the university’s athletic department. The marks will serve as what Pitt officials hope will be the enduring punctuation marks to a two-year collaboration with Nike...

When the NCAA Division I wrestling championships begin Thursday at PPG Paints Arena, there will be one official from Pittsburgh among the 20 picked to work the event. John Hnath, a former Pitt wrestler and Mt. Lebanon graduate and resident, will be working for the 10th consecutive season. Hnath, 51,...

By The Numbers The 2019 NCAA Division I wrestling championships will be held Thursday-Saturday at PPG Paints Arena. Here are some interesting numbers: 3: Franklin Regional graduates who are entered in the event: Iowa sophomore Spencer Lee (125 pounds), Arizona State junior Josh Maruca (149) and Arizona State junior Josh...

No matter how hard he tried, dutifully attending practice every day for four years at Latrobe, Ron Schirf never could master the game of football. But Schirf had another talent that got him into college and onto a national platform. He was that school’s best wrestler in the 1950s (the...

The ACC’s move from an 18- to a 20-game conference schedule means games that matter most occur sooner next season, and that includes Pitt’s 2019-2020 opener Nov. 6 against Florida State at Petersen Events Center. The date is nearly two months earlier than the opening to the 2019 conference schedule...

When Duke visited the Petersen Events Center last year to play Pitt, Jeff Capel couldn’t wait to get there. Then a Duke assistant and now the head coach at Pitt, Capel carried with him a bag of Duke gear he wanted to give to Dick Groat, one of the greatest...