Pitt football makes offer as recruiting frenzy for freshman phenom Rodney Gallagher heats up
Before it’s done, the recruitment of Laurel Highlands freshman sensation Rodney Gallagher might wake up the echoes of the mad 2008 pursuit of Jeannette star Terrelle Pryor. It’s become clear Gallagher is going to receive dozens of scholarship offers from the top programs in the country in both basketball and...
Pitt extends scholarship offers to Beaver Falls’ Josh Hough, Brashear’s Ta’Mere Robinson
Pitt extended scholarship offers to two area prospects Thursday. Beaver Falls junior running back Josh Hough, who scored a touchdown an average of every 7 1/2 carries last season, and Brashear freshman safety Ta’Mere Robinson (6-3, 190) announced the offers on their Twitter accounts. Blessed to receive an offer from...
Pitt AD Heather Lyke ‘optimistic’ about return of college football, but ‘not overly confident’Video
Heather Lyke continues to remain optimistic that there will be college football this year, but she said Thursday she is not “overly confident.” “There are just a lot of unknowns still out there,” Pitt’s athletic director said on 93.7 FM. “I would categorize my expectation as optimistic. But I’m relatively...
RMU’s Chris King on challenges athletic directors face because of covid-19
First-year Robert Morris athletic director Chris King had just gone through a full week of overseeing his teams barrel through playoff performances. The men’s basketball team had just won the NEC Tournament at the brand-new UPMC Events Center. His women’s team finished 17-1 in conference play. The men’s hockey team...
Pitt signs guard Femi Odukale to boost 2020 class to four players
Femi Odukale, who came remarkably close to averaging a triple-double in his post-grad season, signed a national letter of intent with Pitt on Wednesday. That brings coach Jeff Capel’s 2020 class to four players. “Femi displayed outstanding versatility, talent, toughness and competitiveness during an outstanding post-grad season,” Capel said in...
Pitt lands 2019 Mountain West Freshman of the Year Jayla Everett
Lance White can’t put Jayla Everett in his lineup until the second semester of the 2020-21 Pitt season, but he believes she will be worth the wait. Pitt’s women’s basketball coach made Everett’s transfer official Wednesday after a season and a half at New Mexico. “She is a dynamic player...
WPIAL wrestling champ Ryan Michaels of Elizabeth Forward headed to Pitt
Coach Keith Gavin, now wrapping up his third season at the helm, has made solid progress in improving the standing of the Pitt wrestling program on the national scene. Over the past two seasons, the Panthers have gone 23-7 in dual meets, crowned five ACC champs and qualified 11 wrestlers...
Pitt athletics floods Twitter with year-end awards
Pitt’s athletic department refused to allow the covid-19 quarantine to shut down its presentation of the most accomplished student-athletes of the past academic year. So, the third annual Panthers’ Choice Awards went viral via Twitter on Wednesday. Several staff members, including Chancellor Patrick Gallagher, and former student-athletes, including Dan Marino,...
Local agent Alex Guminski helps athletes chase a dream
Aaron Mathews only wanted the opportunity to get noticed. Alex Guminski helped make that happen. Guminski, a Pittsburgh-based NFL agent, found a way for local football players to get exposed to pro scouts — while adhering to social distancing guidelines — by organizing workouts for Mathews, Pitt teammate Jazzee Stocker...
Former Pitt wrestler Joe Solomon named to Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame
Joe Solomon, a Pitt wrestler who won an NCAA championship in 1954, has been named to the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. Solomon, a Canonsburg native, won his title at 167 pounds, but that was only one achievement in a long wrestling career. In four years at Pitt, he was...
Latrobe’s Luke Pletcher presses forward after NCAA title dreams evaporate
Luke Pletcher is a two-time All-American wrestler at Ohio State and a legitimate Olympic hopeful. He has to wrap up only two more online classes before he graduates, and he has a coaching job — a volunteer assistant position at Pitt — lined up once he does. Yet at the...
With family by his side, Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi prepares for football
One minute, a recruit will send Pat Narduzzi a text message while he’s on a conference call with reporters. Then, Marty, the family dog, might bounce into the room, perhaps looking for something to eat or checking to make sure Pitt’s football coach is hard at work and not sneaking...
Former Latrobe wrestler Luke Pletcher joins Pitt coaching staff
Latrobe’s Luke Pletcher is coming home to chase a goal while helping a former rival reach its own. Pitt wrestling coach Keith Gavin hired Pletcher, a two-time All-American at Ohio State and three-time PIAA champion, as a volunteer assistant. Pletcher will join the staff after his graduation from Ohio State...
2 Pitt divers, 1 swimmer earn All-American status after NCAA cancellation
Three athletes from Pitt’s swimming and diving team lost their opportunity to compete in the NCAA Championships, but that roadblock didn’t stop them from becoming first-time All-Americans. Sophomore divers Serena Buchwald and Amy Read and junior swimmer Blaise Vera were named Wednesday 2020 All-Americans by the College Swimming & Diving...
With draft approaching, former Pitt teammates Reggie Mitchell, Saleem Brightwell reunite
Saleem Brightwell always felt comfortable asking Reggie Mitchell for guidance. Didn’t matter where. Didn’t matter when. Didn’t matter how many people were watching. He did so during a moment of chaos in Clemson’s Death Valley in 2016 when more than 80,000 people were making so much noise that Mitchell, Pitt’s...
Former Pitt guard Trey McGowens decides to transfer to Nebraska
Former Pitt guard Trey McGowens settled on his new home Saturday when he announced on his Twitter page his intention to transfer to Nebraska. COMMITTED #GBR? #PuBd pic.twitter.com/ieTpZrtj4g— Trey McGowens 3rd (@Trey5mac_) April 4, 2020 The Cornhuskers (7-25, 2-18) finished last in the Big Ten this season. Fred Hoiberg has...
High school, college players feel effect of MLB Draft change
If things were normal, Serra Catholic catcher Mark Black would be about two weeks into his senior season, wowing scouts, fans and teammates with his daily power displays as he tried to boost his stock for the MLB Draft. If things were normal, Pitt outfielder Nico Popa would be in...
Pitt women’s basketball gains player, loses another via transfer portal
One of the top women’s basketball players in the Mountain West Conference could be in a Pitt uniform next season. Jayla Everett, the 2019 Mountain West Freshman of the Year, decided to transfer from New Mexico to Pitt. She posted her intention on Twitter on Thursday. ??? pic.twitter.com/jraBEeI7x1— JAY (@jayla_dianne4)...
Pitt AD Heather Lyke says if football is played in the fall, fans will be there
Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke said Wednesday if the football team is allowed into Heinz Field to play a normal season, fans will be a part of it. “If we’re playing the game, we’ll be playing it in front of fans,” she said, speaking on a Zoom conference call with...
Former Pitt guard Ryan Murphy settles on Tulane as his final destination
Former Pitt shooting guard Ryan Murphy announced on his Twitter account Wednesday morning his intention to attend Tulane next season. Blessed to announce I’ll be playing my final year for Coach Hunter and his staff at Tulane ! #RollWave #GreenWave @GreenWaveMBB pic.twitter.com/FbnrSMvD9s— Murph dawg (@Ryanmurphhoop) April 2, 2020 Tulane (12-18,...
Pitt football coaches keep busy while working from homeVideo
The coronavirus has forced Pitt coaches and most of their colleagues across the U.S. to work from home. But athletic director Heather Lyke knows football coach Pat Narduzzi isn’t sleeping in. She said she received a recent text message from Narduzzi at 6:15 a.m., detailing the tasks performed by each...
NCAA granting extra year of eligibility impacts student-athletes in many ways
It sounded so simple and fair. The NCAA Division I Council voted Monday to grant all student-athletes in spring sports an additional year of eligibility after losing the 2020 season to covid-19. But what happens to those rosters in 2021? What about the scholarships that need to be honored? Who’s...
West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons wants to continue basketball series with Pitt
West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons said Wednesday he hopes to continue the basketball series with Pitt after the current four-year contract expires Nov. 13 with a game at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown. “I’d love to see it continued,” he said on a conference call that was otherwise devoted...
Former Norwin, Pitt player Alayna Gribble plans to resurrect her career at Saint Joseph’s
There was a time — a very brief time, as it turned out — when Alayna Gribble was at peace with putting an end to her basketball career. After all, by the time she was 21, Gribble had accomplished more than most student-athletes manage in a lifetime. She was the...
Pitt’s Au’Diese Toney says he’s staying with Panthers
After two Pitt guards revealed plans to transfer, junior-to-be Au’Diese Toney announced Saturday on Twitter he is staying. “You never forget those who believed in your first,” Toney wrote. You never forget those who believed in you first and you never abandon those who held you down while experiencing your...
