Pitt Football: Just How Bad Was Dave Wannstedt in 2010?

by CardiacHill on Jan 19, 2026 11:23 PM EST in Pitt Football

I promise, there won't be much rehashing of the 2010 football season in the offseason. But Brian Bennett's Big East coaching grades for last year got me thinking a bit.

Just how bad was Dave Wannstedt?

Even Dave Wannstedt's most ardent supporters (and while I wouldn't consider myself his biggest fan, I did believe he deserved another season) couldn't argue that Pitt underachieved and that Wannstedt didn't do a great job.

It's always a fine line when determining just how much blame players deserve and how much a coach deserves. I'm generally of the opinion that players are responsible for individual plays while a coach is responsible for the gameplan and overall picture.

So when deciding who was the culprit for Pitt's mediocre 8-5 season, I probably go a little bit in each direction.

Still, Bennett of ESPN.com thinks Wannstedt was bad. Real bad:

D-minus

Dave Wannstedt, Pittsburgh

Whether you agree or disagree with Wannstedt's removal as coach, he definitely provided some justification for it with a lousy season that included not only embarrassing losses but troubling off-the-field transgressions by several players. A team almost universally picked to win the league finished 7-5 in the regular season, though it did clinch a hollow co-championship in the Big East.

A D-? Really? That, for the record, was the worst grade Bennett dished out. That's right - worse than that of Greg Schiano at Rutgers or Butch Jones at Cincinnati.

I don't know - Pitt certainly didn't hold up its end of the bargain by failing to win the conference, but going 8-5 with several things working against him (Greg Romeus' injury, Dion Lewis' slow start, rookie quarterback, bad offensive line), that seems a bit harsh to me.

What would I give him? I don't know. Below average - maybe around a C-.

Poll

What grade would you give Dave Wannstedt for 2010?

A- or better

5 votes

B+ or B

10 votes

B- or C+

45 votes

C or C-

94 votes

D+ or D

62 votes

D- or worse

16 votes

232 votes | Poll has closed

Panthers Fan Confidence Poll

Last tallied on 01/19.

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Read More: Greg Romeus (DL - Pittsburgh), Dion Lewis (RB - Pittsburgh), Pittsburgh Panthers

Comments

I give Wanny a B-

You have to consider a lot of things. First, I will agree with Bennett that we did suffer more than a few embarrassing losses this year and grossly underperformed if we’re measuring next to the ludicrous expectations for this team. And honestly, people thinking national championship, BCS, etc, were out of their mind.

Biggest thing you need to consider are the players he had to work with. His best defensive player missed almost the entire season. His star running back was banged up for the first half of the year. He was starting a rookie quarterback. And when you look at the defense past the DL, there is nobody that really stands out and says “Hey, look at me, I’m a difference maker”. So essentially, he was told to win everything with this situation? Not sure who could have.

Next, have to look at the recruiting. Which he gets great marks. If you only count his final year, he put together a great class, headed by now Penn State commit Bill Belton. Go back a few years and it’s just more of the same thing.

Finally, his coaching. Was he the best in-game coach in the world? Certainly not. I don’t even know if I could say he’s a good one. He always wanted to play his style, maybe it was just too complicated for Tino, I’m not sure. But that might be another fault, he never really was able to recruit a true pro-style QB to run his offense.

But with everything taken into account, he wasn’t great, certainly wasn’t a D- either because he still did win a share of the Big East title.

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by BobPurkey34 on Jan 20, 2026 1:44 PM EST reply actions