It appears that former Jets wide receivers coach Noel Mazzone has moved to the front of the pack of candidates to replace Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh. In fact all signs -- and several sources as well -- are pointing to Mazzone and he is looking like he could be the guy.
Mazzone was in town over the past two days meeting with Dave Wannstedt and he has the right mix of NFL and college coaching in his background that Wannstedt is looking for. He was an offensive coordinator for 11 seasons at Ole Miss, Auburn, N.C State and Oregon State and he's also tutored a number of top flight quarterbacks, most notably Chargers standout Philip Rivers.
One guy whose candidacy appears to be fading is former Panthers head coach Walt Harris, although Wannstedt and Harris have had some discussions about the job. If Harris doesn't work out at Pitt, don't be surprised if he becomes a serious contender for the open offensive coordinator position at Akron.
The Zips are coached by J.D. Brookhart, who was Pitt's offensive coordinator under Harris from 2000-03 and prior to that he worked in various roles as an offensive assistant under Harris, who hired him 1997.
If Harris were to join Brookhart's staff, which is likely to happen if things don't work out with Pitt, it would be somewhat ironic given that he'd be working under a former assistant and replacing a former graduate assistant (outgoing Akron coordinator Joe Moorehead, who is headed for a similar job at Connecticut, was a graduate assistant under Harris at Pitt in 1998-99.
Stay tuned as an announcement could come early next week.
Posted
Feb 13 2009, 07:20 PM
by
Paul Zeise