Five decades ago, Johnny Majors came in and drastically turned around the Pittsburgh Panthers football program ahead of the 1973 season. Today, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders has worked wonders in just a matter of months in Boulder, and the hype is spiraling out of control for the Buffs.
So, how is Coach Prime’s situation comparable to Majors? Majors arrived at Pitt and brought in a ton of recruits and transfers, and that was in the 1970s. This time, Coach Prime has reshaped essentially the entire roster and coaching staff in a similar fashion.
Dave Wannstedt, a former NFL head coach, was a member of the Pitt team in 1973 and opened up on similar strategies from Majors to Sanders (h/t Brent Schrotenboer of USA TODAY Sports):
“In that first year, everyone was hoping for us to win three or four games,” Wannstedt told USA TODAY Sports. “We won six and went to a bowl game. So now all of a sudden, everything that coach Majors and all coaches were preaching and what they were doing, everything made sense. Because we won. That’s going to be the deal with Deion at Colorado.”
Majors’ Panthers finished 6-5-1 in that first season before winning the 1976 national championship. And similar to the 2022 Buffs, the 1972 Panthers also won just one game to prompt a head coaching change.
The question is, will it pay off for the Buffs? Oddly enough, current Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi blasted the Buffs and Sanders for their use of the transfer portal.
Regardless of how the situation works out, we are getting another massive college football rebuild 50 years later. With today’s rules in place, there could be plenty more similar turnarounds coming.
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