PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – There have been some gut-wrenching experiences for the Pitt football team this year, probably none as rough as the loss to Wake Forest on Saturday. But coaches saying this 2-5 team is still coming to work as they play at 14th ranked Notre Dame Saturday afternoon.
“Probably still the best thing that is enjoyable is that our kids are still practicing hard,” said Panthers assistant coach Tim Salem on Tuesday. “They are still coming to the building wanting to be here, wanting to play, wanting to give effort. I’ve been on teams before when you’ve gotten on a dang losing streak and it’s like pulling teeth. It’s not like pulling teeth here. Thank God these kids still enjoy football.”
“They came out and practiced their tail off,” said associate head coach Charlie Partridge. “There is no lack of want to. There is no lack of will. We just got to get a little better at all positions and force some turnovers. We saw an example of when we can force some turnovers what that does for us and also eliminate some penalties.”
“We’re not building rockets. Let’s be honest, we are not working for NASA. Eliminate some penalties and create some more turnovers and we are feeling a lot better.”
Salem said as they watch film they see 10 guys doing the right thing and one guy just be a little off. That one mistake is costing them, but they continue to work and are moving on to find a way to slow down the Fighting Irish.
“I think if you keep working, working, working something good is going to happen to you,” Salem said. “It’s been like that for a long time. If you keep writing good articles with good information, you hope someday that stuff will be put in the paper, put on the news, the internet.”
“Our kids, it’s a joy to be here because they still have an attitude.”
“The loss we had last week is miserable. The food doesn’t taste good. The sleep isn’t good. Nothing is good. But you don’t have time to think about that because you are on to the next opponent in a blink of an eye.”
Salem said he’s at the point of his career where he just wants the kids to feel success. It’s the creed of coaching to do what you can to make the players better. He said it’s sickening to him when they can’t get wins for his players.
Partridge said he’s been through nightmare seasons and dream seasons. The way to flip a season from one to the other, or do something special when you had a disappointing performance the previous week, is just being in the moment. You take every period of practice seriously and make it the best period of your career. You move to the next drills and do the same, Partridge said that creates energy. Do that over and over, it makes it turn around.
All the coaches want is to see the Cathedral lit at as the team flies back into town on Saturday. Their season on the brink, the Panthers haven’t given up.