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Pitt Football: Jeff Hafley To Rutgers

More photos » Keith Srakocic - AP

Pittsburgh running back Dion Lewis. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

The coaching shuffle has begun ... in a bad way. Pitt has lost super recruiter Jeff Hafley to Rutgers.

Star-divide

Hafley, also the secondary coach, was the one guy I was hoping they could keep. Not for his coaching (as the secondary was one of Pitt's worst units last season), but for his recruiting. Hafley had begun the difficult job of getting Pitt quality guys farther east, which was generally considered Penn State territory as far as Pennsylvania schools are concerned.

While getting star players from New Jersey such as Dion Lewis and Bill Belton isn't going to be impossible for Pitt, it's now going to be that much more difficult. Not only is Pitt going to be starting over in some ways when it comes to recruiting in New Jersey, they'll now be doing it against the guy who is at an in-conference rival school.

The school, I'm sure, has other connections there, but Pitt's staff is going to be dramatically reshaped. Mike Haywood, I'm sure has his own guys in mind, but how many of those guys are going to have a history of recruiting out east? It's impossible to say right now, but one thing is certain - if Bill Belton and Jameel Poteat head elsewhere, the recruiting class is suddenly looking much worse.

And another thing that's going to hurt Pitt. When new coaches come in, sometimes they bring their own recruits with them if they're moving to another top school. But Miami-Ohio probably has little, if any, prospects that Pitt would be interested in.

I think Haywood could be a good recruiter, but time is running out and many of the top recruits are already secured elsewhere. Pitt is likely going to have a difficult time adding top recruits for next year.

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Comments

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What a crappy time to be a fan of a PA FBS school and their recruiting.

Temple loses its head coach, and much of his staff, to Miami, where he’ll use his northeast connections to poach some players for at least a couple of years.

Penn State couldn’t land a good class if ten 5* players showed up and said “Where do we sign?” The staff would still find a way to screw it up.

And Pitt has had recent de-commits due to the coaching change, but, as you said, the move that hurts the most is Hafley leaving. By all accounts, he was crushing it in NJ and other eastern areas, eating into Penn State’s fertile recruiting ground.

Here’s to a better 2012 class!

@EpicTripod
SBN - Pittsburgh
Success With Honor

by PSUJunny05 on Dec 18, 2025 11:02 AM EST reply actions  

What is good for the big east is good for Pitt

The recent coaching changes could help the Big East. If things work out, WVU and Rutgers will get better. If Syracuse can continue to get better and with TCU coming in perhaps the Big East won’t be a joke in football anymore. Better players will come to the conference and that is good for Pitt if they keep up.

Lots of ifs here but I think the conference has to improve before the champ become anything more than a BCS sacrificial lamb in most years.

by rad552 on Dec 18, 2025 12:00 PM EST reply actions  

hafley was a great recruiter

but his coaching sucked, pretty much like the entire wannstadt regime. this year’s recruiting class is screwed but whatever, hopefully haywood can pick up the pieces and put his own stamp on this thing.

by panthro on Dec 19, 2025 9:11 AM EST reply actions  


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