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CNNSI.com GROUP
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Roaring Panthers Harris glad to have storied program back on track
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pitt Panthers regrouped Saturday following a four-day holiday break and flew to Phoenix for only their second bowl game in 12 seasons, one that coach Walt Harris says is raising their national profile. Harris said the combination of playing in a bowl game and landing a player on the AP All-America team for the first time in 15 years -- Antonio Bryant also was selected as the nation's top receiver -- is re-establishing Pitt's identity. The Panthers, a fixture in the national rankings for much of the 1970s and 1980s, hadn't had a winning season since 1991 and had been to only one bowl since 1989 before going 7-4. They play Iowa State (8-3) in the Insight.com Bowl on Thursday night. "They [opposing recruiters] used to say you can't go there and go to a bowl game. You can't go there to be an All-American. You can't go there to win individual awards," Harris said. "But that's not true any more. You can come here and make it happen, any way that you want it to happen." The Panthers also dramatically upgraded their facilities this season, leaving now-demolished Pitt Stadium for a new, $30 million practice complex they share with the Steelers. They start playing next season in the Steelers' new 65,000-seat stadium. In one year, Harris said, the Panthers will solve many of the problems that opposing coaches cited when recruiting against them: facilities, lack of a national identity and lack of success. "Some things are happening before they're scheduled to happen or before people perceive them to happen," Harris said. "I'm sure there are a lot of the people who didn't believe that we'd be in our second bowl game in four years. When we lost 22 seniors and five coaches [after the 1999 season], they probably wrote us off. "With the new facilities and new stadium, we're at another level faster than what we would have had to do just eking our way along at Pitt Stadium." Harris didn't like interrupting practice just before the bowl game, but he thinks the Panthers will regain their game legs during three pre-game practices in Phoenix beginning Sunday. They will also have a walkthrough practice the day before the game at Bank One Ballpark. Harris liked the way the Panthers were practicing before they broke up Tuesday for a few days with their families. "Our last three practices, we had pretty spirited practices," Harris said. "Maybe we're ready to play someone else, but we have to come back from our holiday break and get back into it quickly." When the Panthers last played in a bowl, the 1997 Liberty Bowl, Harris felt they got too out of shape during days off, and he practiced them hard once they got to Memphis. It didn't help as they lost to faster Southern Mississippi 41-7. This time, it would seem the Panthers and Cyclones are more evenly matched, but Harris doesn't want the Panthers thinking their season is complete just because they're in a bowl game. "To me, it's a one-game season, and we're not going down there just to keep it close," he said. "Both teams were sprinting just to get into a bowl game, and now you've got to change the mindset to, 'You've got to win it.' "I don't think we went to the Liberty Bowl to not win or else we wouldn't have practiced so hard. I know all our players and the ones from Iowa State are working very hard to go down there to win the game."
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