A rumor floating around the Internet about a potential football coaching change at Pitt suggests that Dave Wannstedt will be promoted to athletic director and will be replaced as head coach by Tom Bradley. Sounds like a longshot laced with some wishful thinking on the part of the rumor mongering Panthers who unearthed it. Nevertheless, it is something to think about for five minutes or so.
To this Turkey, it seems unlikely that Wannstedt would want to take a pay cut to move off the field into a politically charged, pain in the ass administration job. On the other hand, he has lots of money from his NFL years, giving him the flexibility to do whatever he wants.
As for Bradley, while he is anointed by some self-described pundits as the “heir apparent” at Penn State, an offer from the University of Pittsburgh might seriously interest him. After all, former “heir apparents” Jerry Sandusky and Fran Ganter previously got tired of waiting for the “apparent” to become reality. There’s some bad karma floating around the Nittany Lion football program right now; bailing out might be a good move for a bright, young shining star who does not want his resume tainted by the association with a sinking ship. Bradley is from Johnstown, and he doesn’t want to leave Pennsylvania. If an opportunity were to open up at the only other major football program in the state, Bradley might want to jump on it before the window slams shut leaving him stuck at Penn State.
So, is this rumor all that implausible?