It's Official--Bob Smizik is in Love with Marky Marc Boehm

BONER BOY REPORTS:


Program needs more than just a caretaker
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The challenge in front of Jeff Long when he was named Pitt's athletic director in May 2003 was an enormous one: Succeeding Steve Pederson, the dynamic visionary whose imprint on Pitt athletics was historical.

It was Pederson who had the courage to tear down Pitt Stadium and move the football program to Heinz Field and the South Side complex. It was Pederson who reached beyond the talk and got the Petersen Events Center built.

There was no way Long, who left Pitt yesterday to become athletic director at Arkansas, or anyone could duplicate Pederson's success.

If only he had tried.

It's usually foolish to attempt to speculate on a successor. Whoever it is, it probably will be a person no one in Pittsburgh has as heard of -- as was the case with the enormously successful hires of Chuck Noll, Jim Leyland, Bill Cowher and Ben Howland.

But here are two names that deserve serious consideration.

Donna Sanft was named the interim athletic director yesterday. This is no cosmetic hire. Sanft, the senior associate athletic director for administration, student life and compliance, is hugely respected. Her title indicates she has a broad variety of experience. She was a standout athlete and coach at Pitt in gymnastics before becoming an administrator.

Mark Boehm, who was the interim athletic director before Long was hired, also should be considered. When Boehm was passed over, he followed Pederson, his mentor, to Nebraska. Although Boehm was in charge for only a few months, both Dixon and Berenato were hired on his watch. He was Pederson's key lieutenant at Pitt and a man who knows his way around college athletic administration.

Surely, Pitt will look beyond the obvious. It must. The next athletic director needs to be the best person, not the person most available. These are critical times in college athletics and critical times at Pitt. There should be no rush. Haste would be a mistake. But a larger mistake would again be picking the wrong person.

First published on September 12, 2007 at 12:00 am
Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.
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