Pitt is looking to get things right this week and the Panthers had better against what should be an overmatched FCS opponent – the University of New Hampshire.
As much as I love my alma mater (it’s where I met my wife, after all) and as good as UNH is within the FCS ranks Pitt should not have much to worry about. Then again, the words Pitt and should don’t exactly go together.
Still, while the Wildcats make keep it interesting for a quarter or so, as they did 11 years ago at Heinz Field, I expect the Panthers to pull away because of their depth, experience and pure talent.
So, I can’t really compare UNH to Pitt. I do, however, find a parallel with another Pittsburgh football team. That’s the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers? Yep and here’s why.
How often have you heard during a Steelers telecast that since 1969 they have only had 3 head coaches? Yeah, I know, pretty much every game. Well, my school actually goes one better. The University of New Hampshire has had 3 head coaches since 1968 – Jim Root for 4 seasons, Bill Bowes for 27 and Sean McDonnell now in his 22nd year. (I am not counting Assistant Head Coach Ricky Santos who took over in 2019 after McDonnell contracted bladder cancer.)
Sean and I actually go back a ways. I first met him when he was still in high school and at UNH on a recruiting visit. I can’t remember who is host was but I do remember he wasn’t the best guy to host a recruit; i.e. he was a jerk. Sean gravitated toward some other players who were friends of ours and my roommate and I spent quite a bit of time with him. We still insist that we were the ones who convinced him to come to UNH!
Sean also ended up in our dorm and made an immediate impact. Fun fact – he might have been a better basketball player, at least at first. He was good enough that guard-starved b-ball coach Gerry Friel tried really hard to get him to walk on after the football season was over.
McDonnell, though, was football first and ended up being an all-conference safety on some really good UNH teams.
After graduation, he worked with a few high school teams then started up the collegiate ranks, finally landing back at UNH in 1991 and has never left. He worked his way up to Offensive Coordinator which made him the logical choice to replace his mentor, Bowes, when he retired after the 1998 season. It turned out to be the right choice.
Although his teams have never won a national championship, the Wildcats had a string of 14 NCAA playoff appearances but often ran into the eventual national champions. He also has had some success against FBS schools, notably a 34-17 win at Northwestern during a string of five consecutive wins against the higher classification. That streak actually came to an end at Heinz Field in 2010.
McDonnell is among just a few to be named the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year twice and has won numerous conference and regional awards. Yet his most impressive accomplishments may be two of the people he has mentored – former assistants Chip Kelly, now at UCLA, and Ohio State’s Ryan Day who also played quarterback for McDonnell.
So, yes, I’m proud of him and happy he also considers me a friend after all these years – even though (outside of a few hundred bucks now and then) I am not the UNH Football “slush fund guy” as he playfully suggested on The Fan Morning Show this week. And, yes, I will be pulling for the Wildcats Saturday afternoon.
Nonetheless, as much as I’d love to see Sean celebrate with his team at Heinz Field, I do not expect UNH to win.
But, should the Wildcats pull it off, I will be glad I won’t have to host Panther Hotline!