It's the Pitt coaching shuffle: Paul Chryst juggles Panthers' staff

Pitt football head coach Paul Chryst made some moves to the coaching staff today and while the shuffling of coaches in the offseason isn't all that rare, a few things stuck out as intriguing.

The biggest move was that with the hiring of Troy Douglas, Matt House's role has shifted. House remains the defensive coordinator but instead of also managing the secondary, he now hops over to help out with the linebackers. Pitt's official presser that we got didn't mention this, but the Trib says that Douglas will also get help from graduate assistant Hank Poteat in the secondary.

My favorite thing I've heard so far? This:

Recently hired Troy Douglas will oversee the secondary, with help from graduate assistant Hank Poteat, and said there will be consequences when defensive backs drop the football.

...

"Interceptions, that's what gets the pretty girls," Douglas said. "Our job as a defense is to get the ball back to our offense," Douglas said. "We will attack the football. There is no such thing as a defensive back who can't catch."

I get it - talk is cheap. Still, if you're not excited to hear that after last season's debacle of a pass defense, it's probably a good idea to have your pulse checked. House remains the defensive coordinator, but it's hard to not feel a little better about the secondary with someone else completely focused on it.

That wasn't the only big move, either. So about that special teams thing ...

Pitt goes from having a special teams assistant to a special teams coordinator in Chris Haering. Haering also will help out on linebackers so special teams isn't his only gig, but the assignment shows that Chryst is taking things there a little more seriously there.

In other moves, player personnel coordinator Desmond Robinson is gone.

Overall, we'll see how these moves play out. But to be honest, I'm pretty impressed with the changes Chryst has made with the loss of Bobby Engram.

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