Superbowl Afterthoughts
By burrito88
@burrito88 (2774)
United States
February 4, 2013 11:02pm CST
After watching this year's Super Bowl, I couldn't help but remember somethings.
Following the 2004 college football season, head coach Dave Wannstedt at the University of Pittsburgh told his backup quarterback that he would never be the starting quarterback at the school. That quarterback left Pittsburgh and transferred to the University of Delaware. Because he was transferring from a Division I school to a Divison I-AA, the quarterback should have been able to play at Delaware in his first year there but Wannstedt refused to release him from his Pittsburgh scholarship so he was forced to sit out a year. In 2006, the quarterback got to start for Delaware and the team won 5 games and lost 6. The following year, however, the team won 8 games and lost 3 in the regular season making the Division I-AA playoffs. Delaware won the first 3 games in the playoffs before losing the championship game. The quarterback was then drafted by the Baltimore Ravens and yesterday was the Most Valuable Player in the Super Bowl. Yes it was Joe Flacco.
Of course the second part of the story is Dave Wannstedt. He had some highly rated recruiting classes while at Pittsburgh but were never able to get into contention for the national championship. Wannstedt resigned from Pittsburgh under pressure late in 2010. In 2011, he joined the Buffalo Bills as the assistant head coach but he was fired along with all of Buffalo's coaches this past December. But he was just hired as the special teams coach for Tampa Bay. Perhaps he'll be better at picking kickers than he was with quarterbacks.
2 responses
@Fishmomma (11377)
• United States
6 Feb 13
I have noticed several coaches try to ruin the careers of great players like the MVP of the Super Bowl. Clearly, you have to be determined to prove the other person wrong and the player sure showed him. Wannstedt couldn't have been right, as he was fired for his decisions. I'm not a fan of Tampa Bay, so this decision by the team just has me thinking poor Tampa Bay Fans.
I like Flacco and glad he now is getting noticed for being a great player with an excellent team. A team wins when all the players work well together and that is how they won.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
6 Feb 13
In the '50's things were much tougher for players because the roster size was smaller and there were fewer NFL teams. A lot of good players passed through the NFL with short careers. Some went to Canada and were lucky when the American Football League was formed. One of my favorite players started as a half back-kick returner for the New York Giants. A story I recall was he fumbled a punt one day and was later released. He went to Canada where he did little for Hamilton but then was the first player to sign with the New York Titans (now the Jets) of the AFL. He used his speed as a college track man to become a wide receiver and later starred with Joe Namath in Super Bowl III. He is NFL Hall of Famer Don Maynard.
@stealthy (8181)
• United States
6 Feb 13
That is an interesting story. Of course Wannstedt was right in that Flacco never was the starting quarterback at the University of Pittsburgh. So either Wannstedt didn't recognize Facco talent or possibilities or he wasn't mature enough at that earlier age to be showing them. The story does point out that Wannstedt probably was not a great coach but some coaches have had a turn around in their career just like Facco appears to have had. It has taken eight years for Facco to prove himself. Of course Wannstedt appears to have gone in the opposite direction.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
6 Feb 13
The reason Flacco was never the starting quarterback at Pittsburgh was becasue Wannstedt picked Tyler Palko instead. To me, it seems rather stupid that Wannstedt decided that Flacco was not good enough to start when he was only finishing his redshirt freshman year.
Where I really fault Wannstedt is that he refused to release Flacco from his Pittsburgh scholarship. That cost Flacco a year at Delaware where he could play. Of course, that may have worked out to Flacco's benefit in that it gave him an extra year to work out with Delaware when he couldn't play. Also it was the extra year Flacco spent at Delaware where they almost won the I-AA championship and that season is no doubt what lead to Flacco being drafted in the second round by Baltimore instead of winding up as an undrafted free agent.
Wannstedt himself steadily worked his way up the coaching ladder until getting head coaching jobs with the Bears (after Mike Ditka) and the Dolfins (Jimmie Johnson). In both cases he inherited decent teams and made the playoffs but then things went downhill.
Tyler Palko has turned out to be a journeyman quarterback at best. He was not drafted after college and bounced around on practice squads (even in Canada and minor league football) before getting to play with a bad Kansas City team. He was released after the 2011 season and out of football last year.
