Pitt assistants use their years of experience to help players deal with defeat

It sounded like a joke, but these days inside the Pitt football facility, nothing’s funny.

Tight ends coach Tim Salem met with reporters Tuesday after practice, and the topic of Gavin Bartholomew’s reception total was raised. The athletically gifted junior from Schuylkill Haven, who has been known to either hurdle or stiff-arm defensive backs depending on their proximity, has recorded only 17 receptions in seven games.

Two in some games, but never more than three.

It’s become such an issue that Salem hears about it even when he takes a break and goes home.

“My wife asked me the same type question,” he said. When reporters chuckled, he said, “What are you laughing it? It’s true.”

The story is told here as a reminder that Pitt’s current slump — five losses in the past six games — matters almost everywhere Salem turns.

Salem didn’t say what he tells his wife about Bartholomew, but he was joking when he said, “My wife asks me plenty of things, and half the time I just turn my back and walk away.”

Actually, Salem empathizes with his wife, Wendy, and the wives of other coaches.

“It’s our life,” he said of his profession. “Wives, the stuff they have to go through. They have to live with us. The good times, the bad times. It’s no fun living in these so-called low times.”

But it’s the job of Pitt’s coaches to keep players interested, focused and still enthused enough to tackle the final five games of the season, starting Saturday at Notre Dame.

To that end, Salem and his colleague, defensive line coach Charlie Partridge, said they aren’t having as much trouble as you might imagine.

“Our kids are still practicing hard,” Salem said. “They’re still coming over the building, wanting to be here, wanting to play, wanting to give effort. I’ve been on teams before (in a coaching career that began in 1985) where you got on a dang losing streak and it was, ‘Are you kidding me?’ It was like pulling teeth. It’s not pulling teeth here.

“Thank God, these kids enjoy football. They’re showing up. We’re demanding effort, and they’re trying to learn the game plan and move on to the next opponent.”

Partridge, a former head coach at Florida Atlantic who’s worked under three Pitt coaches, has seen a bit of everything in his 28-year career. He said the only way to fight through it is to be “where our feet are.”

“For me, I’ve been through seasons that are dream seasons. I’ve been through seasons that are nightmare seasons,” he said. “The way to flip a season from one to the other or do something special when maybe you had a disappointing performance the previous week, (you say) ‘I am here. I’m right here right now. I’m talking to you and (doing) nothing else.’

“We’re all frustrated because we didn’t win last week. That’s life in athletics. But it’s Tuesday Notre Dame week, and that’s where we are.”

The reality of Pitt’s situation is that there are several players — backups at one time or another this year — who are now assuming important roles.

On one side of the ball, start with quarterback Christian Veilleux, running back C’Bo Flemister and center Terrence Moore. On defense, redshirt freshman Sam Okunlola is displaying pass-rush potential. Also, safety P.J. O’Brien and linebackers Jordan Bass, Braylan Lovelace and Kyle Louis (the latter two when healthy) are among those receiving valuable playing time.

Salem, who has been a part of Pat Narduzzi’s staff for all nine years, said he has seen Veilleux improve over the past few weeks while displaying “huddle command and sideline awareness.”

“He does a very good job of studying, learning, preparing.”

Salem believes in the old adage, “If you keep working, working, working, something good’s going to happen to you. It’s been like that for a long time.

“The loss we had last week was miserable. The food don’t taste good. The sleep isn’t good. Nothing’s good.

“But guess what? You don’t have time to think about that because you’re on to the next opponent in a blink of an eye. And the focus goes from Saturday, which seems like four weeks ago, to the next game.”

Salem, 62, said it’s a “sickening” feeling when hard work fails to produce desired results. It hurts even more at this stage of his career.

“To me, the wins aren’t as high anymore and the lows are lower,” he said. “I just feel for the kids. To me, that’s what it’s all about.”