MIKE GOTTFRIED : Pittsburgh Finds More Than a Winner to Replace Fazio

Sid Gillman, who probably forgets more football in a day than some coaches know, leaned back in his chair, put his hands on his thigh and looked up.

“Let me tell you what I like about Mike Gottfried,” said Gillman, 74. “He’s like Dick Vermeil. He’s so secure. He’ll hire anybody he feels will provide some extra knowledge to help the organization. He doesn’t care where they come from. It takes a super man to say anyone who can help will be brought in.

“A lot of coaches, they don’t want to do that. They’re afraid somebody will steal their credit or something ridiculous like that. Vermeil and Mike are down to earth an beautiful guys. They’re splendid coaches, they accept suggestions, they know how to instruct.”

Gottfried, in his second year as coach at the University of Pittsburgh, summoned Gillman from retirement in La Costa, Calif., to become a volunteer assistant this season. Gillman, who has spent the last half century shaping the modern passing game, once helped the Philadelphia Eagles, then coached by Vermeil, reach the Super Bowl in 1981.

Vermeil, now a television commentator, was known for his intensity, loyalty and motivation.

“We had three criteria when we decided to look for a new coach: intelligence, integrity and loyalty,” Pitt Athletic Director Ed Bozik said of his search to replace Foge Fazio after the 1985 season. “When we interviewed Mike it was obvious he had those three things. To be quite honest with you, there never was a second choice.”

Said Craig Heyward, a star tailback for the Panthers: “Coach Gottfried worries more about players than football. Maybe that’s why he does so well at football.”

Gottfried, 42, built winners from traditionally weak programs at Murray State, Cincinnati and Kansas. He came to Pitt in December 1985, to a city that expects a winner.

The Panthers produced one winning season from 1961-72. Then Johnny Majors took over and the team improved, climaxing with a 1976 national title. Jackie Sherill was named coach in 1977 and in five years was 50-9-1. Fazio went 25-18-3 in four seasons. Not good enough.

So the Panthers turned to Gottfried, who early in his life in nearby Crestline, Ohio, deliberated between becoming a priest or a football coach.

“I really feel good about Pittsburgh, the people and the city,” Gottfried said. “I’m going to keep working hard to put this program back where it belongs: each year a chance to win, chance to compete for a bowl game and the Top 20 and occasionally the national title. Pitt is among the top 10, 15, 20 programs in the country.”

In his first season at Pitt, Gottfried mirrored Fazio’s last, 5-5-1. This year, Pitt was 4-2 after six games and looking like a bowl team for the first time in three seasons. A victory over Syracuse Oct. 31 could send the Panthers toward the Top 10.

And this in a season that started with trouble.

Charles Gladman, expected to share the running load with Heyward, and safety Teryl Austin were suspended from the team by Gottfried because they signed contracts with agents Norby Walters and Lloyd Bloom. Austin cooperated with the university and promised to repay a loan from the agents. He returned to the team following a two-game NCAA suspension. Gladman, according to Pitt officials, has yet to contact the school.

Gottfried insists the NCAA is correct in forbidding college players with eligibility to sign with agents. But that rule is threatened by the signing spree of Walters and Bloom and the NFL’s decision to hold a supplemental draft for such players.

The Philadelphia Eagles selected Ohio State’s Cris Carter in a supplemental draft. Because of that Gottfried refuses to let Eagle scouts attend his practices.

“I spoke up because there was a situation about to happen that would damage the relationship between the NFL and colleges, that most people in the NFL and colleges did not want to see happen,” Gottfried said. “The end result was positive because better communication lines were drawn. But, no, I was not looking to become a national spokesman on college football. I’m just the spokesman for University of Pittsburgh football.”

And, so far, the people in the program like what he’s saying.