Can Steve Pederson Hire A Football Coach? He's 0-2

If I'm a university president would I want Steve Pederson, the current athletic director at the University of Pittsburgh, hiring my head football coach?

Let's go back to 2003 when as athletic director of Nebraska fired Frank Solich as head football coach of the Cornhuskers. All Solich did was win 75 percent of his games in six years as Tom Osbourne's hand picked successor.

Pederson decided the Nebraska program needed a new direction so he brought in Bill Callahan from the Oakland Raiders, a total outsider.

The move was a total disaster as Callahan dropped his pants on the "Nebraska Way" that was begun by Bob Davaney, fostered by Tom Osbourne and maintained by Frank Solich. The classiest fan base in all of college football became disillusioned and it took the return of Osbourne as athletic director replacing Pederson to restore Nebraska's storied traditions.

Pederson has moved on to the University of Pittsburgh and once again he's bitten in the backside by another head football coach hire.

Dave Wannstedt had a mediocre six years as the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh and perhaps a move needed to be made. Wannstedt was pressured to resign which he did.

Pederson hired Mike Haywood as head coach and well, you know what happened.

For the second time Steve Pederson's head football coaching hire goes down in flames leaving a blackeye on the university.

The University of Pittsburgh should find a good head coach because it is a good job it just do you trust Pederson to find that guy? His track record is pathetic.

"It's turned into a bit of a national embarrassment," Mike Farrell, a national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com said to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "It's going to take a long time to recover from (the Haywood hiring and firing).

"Would coaches jump at this job? Absolutely. But the glimmer has faded in the span of less than a month."

You wonder if University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg will have a much more active role in the new search for a head football coach or take it out of Pederson's hands all together.

I'm just wondering what kind of Pittsburgh team will show up in the BBVA Compass Bowl Saturday, one that's heading South?

Photo Courtesy: AP