First Call: Steelers’ Highsmith praised; RMU hockey players unload; Pitt, Penn State Hall of Fame nominees
Thursday’s “First Call” has an odd honor for Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith, Hall of Fame nominations for Pitt and Penn State greats and Marc-Andre Fleury back in the crease for the Vegas Golden Knights. Plus, the Robert Morris hockey teams get to air their grievances against the university president who...
Former Pitt center and NBA 1st-round pick Eric Mobley dies at 51
Eric Mobley, one of only eight Pitt basketball players chosen in the first round of the NBA Draft, has died. He was 51. RIP ? pic.twitter.com/fBKb4lUpcV— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_MBB) June 3, 2021 Born in the Bronx, N.Y., Mobley played at Salesian High School in New Rochelle, N.Y., before enrolling at...
LaVar Arrington, 3 Steelers among Western Pa. stars nominated for College Football Hall of Fame
Nominees for the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame class include several Western Pennsylvania stars with roots in Bethel Park, Slippery Rock and many places in between. Plus, there are three who made their mark with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The ballot was emailed Wednesday to more than 12,000 NFF members...
Pitt basketball adds Stony Brook graduate transfer forward Mouhamadou Gueye
Jeff Capel continued rebuilding his roster Monday, adding a fifth new player when he received a verbal commitment from 6-foot-9 Stony Brook graduate transfer Mouhamadou Gueye. The addition of Gueye gives the Panthers some help in the paint for 6-9 John Hugley, who was recently reinstated from a suspension after...
Pitt baseball left out of NCAA Tournament field
Mike Bell embraced his team’s success this season, but he also wanted to address head-on its biggest disappointment. “Collectively and quietly,” he said Monday when Pitt’s baseball team was not included in the NCAA Tournament’s field of 64. So, minutes before the selection show appeared on ESPN2, he met with...
Pitt loses pitchers’ duel to N.C. State in ACC Tournament
Mike Bell didn’t like the outcome Thursday night when his Pitt baseball team bowed out of the ACC Tournament with a 3-2 loss to N.C. State at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C. But he appreciates a good thing when he sees it on a baseball diamond. “It was a beautiful...
Pitt stops 7-game losing streak, beats North Carolina in ACC Tournament opener
After recording the final out of Pitt’s 5-3 victory against North Carolina Tuesday night in the ACC Tournament, Jordan McCrum allowed himself a celebratory shout before putting a finger to his lips. The Pitt relief pitcher’s intent was to quiet the pro-North Carolina crowd, but he had already done that...
Pitt’s Tre Tipton recognized for fighting off physical, emotional injuries
Pat Narduzzi saw the precise route running, the speed and the love for the game that made Tre Tipton one of the first players he signed as Pitt’s football coach. But that was only part of it. The day he welcomed Tipton to Pitt as part of his 2015 recruiting...
City Game between Pitt, Duquesne won’t be part of the 2021-22 basketball season
The Pitt and Duquesne basketball teams won’t play each other this season for the third consecutive year, the longest suspension of the City Game since they didn’t play from 1940-1952. Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said negotiations have occurred this year, but “the terms weren’t amiable for us at that point.”...
Mt. Lebanon wrestler Mac Stout commits to Pitt
An injury kept Mt. Lebanon junior Mac Stout from defending his WPIAL Class AAA 189-pound wrestling title in 2021. But his success on the mat didn’t stop Stout from being heavily recruited by NCAA Division I programs. Stout announced on Instagram Sunday that he’s committing to Pitt, where his brother...
Pitt notebook: Backup offensive lineman Liam Dick enters transfer portal
Liam Dick, recruited from Milton, Ontario, in the class of 2019, became the second Pitt offensive tackle to leave the program since the end of spring ball when he entered the NCAA transfer portal, according to Rivals.com. Dick, rated a two-star prospect by Rivals.com, redshirted in 2019 and did not...
First Call: Why JuJu Smith-Schuster is motivated for 2021; will Ravens or Patriots get Julio Jones?; odd praise for Aaron Donald
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is channeling the criticism he got last year. Will the New England Patriots or Baltimore Ravens land Julio Jones? Odd praise for Aaron Donald. And a big night for ex-Pittsburghers in the NHL playoffs. Better luck this year JuJu Smith-Schuster says he’s using last...
No. 10 Pitt will play North Carolina on Tuesday in ACC baseball tournament
Pitt’s baseball team, ranked as high as No. 14 in the nation after taking two of three games from Virginia in March, will carry a seven-game losing streak into the ACC Tournament that begins Tuesday at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C. The Panthers (22-19, 16-17 ACC) are seeded No. 10...
Pitt volleyball’s Kayla Lund will train with U.S. National Team for 3rd consecutive year
Pitt’s Kayla Lund, the ACC’s first two-time Volleyball Player of the Year, will train for the third consecutive year with the 2021 USA Volleyball Women’s Collegiate National Team. One of 29 players chosen by the U.S. Women’s National Team staff and National Team Development Program, Lund will work with top...
If WVU can play Penn State, Duquesne, Pitt on consecutive football Saturdays, why not Pitt vs. Duquesne?
A random tweet about West Virginia opening the 2023 football season with consecutive games against Penn State, Duquesne and Pitt raised this question Wednesday afternoon (also on Twitter): Why not Pitt vs. Duquesne in football? Major pats on the back to West Virginia for scheduling the first three games of...
Pitt’s NCAA College Cup run ends with semifinal loss to Indiana
No. 3 Indiana has been to the NCAA College Cup 21 times, winning eight national titles, and although No. 2 Pitt put up a fight in the semifinals Friday night in Cary, N.C., the Hoosiers showed why they’ve had so much success. In the 79th minute, Indiana sophomore Herbert Endeley...
When Scott Barnes heard Jay Vidovich was available, he stopped looking for Pitt’s next soccer coach
They come from the pitches of Nis, Serbia and Greensburg; Nirot, France and Brooklyn, N.Y. Connellsville, Sewickley and Rabat, Morocco, too. Somehow, Jay Vidovich has blended a roster with roots in 11 countries into one of the finest college soccer teams in the U.S. Fans across the country will get...
Pitt freshman forward John Hugley reinstated to team after felony counts dropped
Prosecutors on Thursday withdrew felony charges against Pitt basketball freshman forward John Hugley, making him eligible for a program that ultimately will allow the case against him to be expunged from his record. He was subsequently reinstated to the team. Hugley was initially charged with criminal conspiracy and receiving stolen...
After tough year, Heather Lyke said it’s time for Pitt athletics ‘to stand back up’Video
Heather Lyke tells the story of basketball coach Jeff Capel purposely buying a house in Shadyside — mere blocks from Pitt’s campus — with the intent of having his players close enough to visit. Then, covid-19 happened. Not only were dinners with the coach discouraged for the next year, but...
Pitt’s Jay Vidovich carries Hoosier ties into College Cup match with Indiana
Jay Vidovich readily admits the truth about his one-year stay as a player at Indiana under legendary soccer coach Jerry Yeagley. “I wasn’t good enough for the program,” Pitt’s coach said. “I was coach Yeagley’s East Coast experiment.” So, after that 1978 season, Vidovich, a graduate of New Canaan (Conn.)...
Greensburg Central Catholic grads Nate Ward, Luke Mort to face off in NCAA College Cup
Nate Ward and Luke Mort pondered about the two of them meeting in a college soccer game, but chances seemed slim with them playing in different conferences. If they did meet, it could likely have to be in the postseason, maybe a few years down the road. The former Greensburg...
Aliquippa’s Will Gipson decides to transfer from Pitt
Wide receiver Will Gipson, an Aliquippa graduate who spent two years at Pitt without getting on the field, has announced his decision to transfer. 4 years of eligibility left!! Respect my decision. pic.twitter.com/mCj6rfexdd— Will Gipson (@TrxllWill3) May 11, 2021 Gipson plans to join former Pitt teammate Carson Van Lynn, an...
Pitt lands verbal commitment from junior college forward Chris Payton
There’s no denying Pitt will not easily replace Justin Champagnie. But coach Jeff Capel is continuing to replenish the roster, getting a verbal commitment Monday — the same day Champagnie declared for the NBA Draft — from junior college forward Chris Payton. #COMMITTED ‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/c0V9H72S63— Chris Payton (@chris_payton_) May 10,...
Pitt blanks Washington, 3-0, earns trip to college soccer’s Final Four
The soccer players who wrote a new chapter to Pitt athletics history don’t have far to go to find out how to handle what’s next. All they have to do is turn to the sideline, and there he is: coach Jay Vidovich, who has rebuilt the Pitt men’s soccer program...
Justin Champagnie decides to leave Pitt, declare for the NBA Draft
Jeff Capel received some additional bad news in his quest to reconstruct the Pitt basketball roster when All-ACC forward Justin Champagnie decided to enter the 2021 NBA Draft and hire an agent, ending his two-year college career. The announcement comes the day after five-star center Efton Reid, who Pitt had...
