Dave Wannstedt was all giddy on the BTN. He was clearly pleased.
That's because he's from Pittsburgh, played at Pitt, was a coach at Pitt, and then became the head coach at Pitt. He hates Penn State.
His Big Ten connection is being the Chicago coach.
That's the only connection there is.
All of their analysts have some sort of connection, except him. It's ok by me, he has great insight.
In 1977 Wannstedt and Jimmy Johnson were young coaches together at Pitt under Johnny Majors, and became friends. When Johnson became the HC at Oklahoma St, he took Wannstedt with him. Then when Johnson became the HC at the Miami Hurricanes, he took Wannstedt with him. Then when Johnson became the HC of the Cowboys, he again took Wannstedt with him.
Wannstedt was a coach when Pitt won its championship in 1976, again when the Hurricanes won it in 1987, and was the defensive coordinator when the Cowboys won the Super Bowl in 1992.
However, he never did well as a HC at Chicago, the Miami Dolphins, or Pitt. He never had a good QB at any of those places, and one of the dumbest things he did was start Tyler Palco over Joe Flacco, which led to Flacco transferring from Pitt to Delaware.