It’s Back to College for Pittsburgh’s Wannstedt

The first coaching job Dave Wannstedt wanted may turn out to be his last one.

Wannstedt, 52, was hired at alma mater Pittsburgh on Thursday, a week after taking his name out of consideration because he wasn’t ready to get back into coaching so quickly after leaving the Miami Dolphins in early November.

After talking with Athletic Director Jeff Long on Dec. 13, Wannstedt remembered one of his first staff meetings as a Pittsburgh assistant on Johnny Majors’ staff in 1976.

“I was at the end of the table, and I was a little upset -- probably because he made me make the coffee,” said Wannstedt, a former Panther tackle who once blocked for future Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett. “I said to myself, ‘Someday I will be the head coach at Pitt.’ I’ve thought about that for a long time.”

Now, the former Dolphin and Chicago Bear coach takes over a program that isn’t quite at a level with that 1976 national championship team, but is vastly improved from the one predecessor Walt Harris inherited in 1996.

Majors went 12-32 during his second and less-successful stay at Pittsburgh from 1993-96, but Harris has since taken the Panthers to six bowl games in eight seasons and is 25-12 over the last three seasons. The No. 19 Panthers (8-3) play No. 5 Utah (11-0) in the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl, Harris’ final game before leaving for Stanford.

*

The Big Ten’s experiment with instant replay went so well the conference is asking the NCAA to approve its use on a permanent basis for all of Division I-A.

The Big Ten hopes its proposal will be heard by the NCAA Football Rules Committee at its February meeting. If instant replay can’t be approved for widespread use in time for next season, the Big Ten is also asking the NCAA for a one-year extension for its system, and to allow other conferences to experiment with it in 2005. The Big Ten said replay was used in 28 of the 57 games last season. Of the 43 calls questioned, 21 were overturned.

*

Toledo Coach Tom Amstutz and video coordinator Chris Binder have been reprimanded by the Mid-American Conference because the team omitted a trick play from a game film given to Eastern Michigan.

Toledo ran a fake punt in a loss at Kansas, then ran the same play the next game against Eastern Michigan. Afterward, Eagle coaches discovered that the fake punt against the Jayhawks was not in the game film or the play-by-play script sent to the Eastern Michigan staff, a violation of conference rules.

*

Oklahoma State cornerback Darrent Williams will not play in Wednesday’s Alamo Bowl against Ohio State after he was suspended by Coach Les Miles for violating team rules.... Temple linebacker Rian Wallace will forgo his final season of eligibility and make himself eligible for the NFL draft.