University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Pittman Finds Fit On The Line
January 10, 2007 | Football
Jan. 10, 2007
By Adam Lucas
As he surveyed the room, Sam Pittman was realistic.
"I look at it this way," Pittman said as he scoped out a fourth-floor Kenan Football Center room that also included new Tar Heel assistants Chuck Pagano, Steve Hagen, John Blake, and Charlie Williams. "Coach Davis hired those guys...and me."
The comment drew some laughter, but then Pittman started listing the resumes of his fellow coaches.
"We've got Charlie, who spent time with the Bucs. Steve was with Coach Davis with the Browns. Chuck came from the Raiders. John Blake came from Nebraska and was with the Cowboys. And I'm here from Northern Illinois."
Pittman, who will coach the offensive line, sounded like he was apologizing. But two important factors indicate he belongs on what is expected to be one of Carolina's strongest coaching staffs ever. First, his credentials--the Huskies had a tailback top 1,500 yards in each of his four seasons at NIU. And second, his endorsement from the only man that matters: Butch Davis.
The new Tar Heel head coach primarily mined existing relationships to build his first Tar Heel staff. But consistent recommendations from Davis's coaching contacts--including newly hired John Blake, who employed Pittman on his staff at Oklahoma--led to an opening for Pittman.
"I didn't have a working relationship with him," Davis said. "But as I polled guys in the NFL that I had a tremendous amount of respect for, I said give me the names of three or four guys you have a lot of respect for. Of the four guys I called, Sam's name was first or second out of their mouth for three of them. They said this guy is a phenomenal teacher and a great recruiter. When you look at what they accomplished at Northern Illinois, they ran the football against just about everybody they played."
"I got this job because we did a lot of things with less talent than our opponents," Pittman said.
So far, Pittman has only reviewed about an hour's worth of film on returning linemen. He's briefly researched the personnel, and is already aware that four starters will return in 2007. Of the players who started the season finale on the line against Duke last year, only Brian Chacos will not go through spring practice in two months.
The rest of the depth chart includes some highly rated but untested younger players, plus lineman-turned-tight end Andre Barbour, who Pittman indicated he would like to see back on the line.
And although Davis hasn't yet hired his offensive coordinator, Pittman already knows the staples of the Tar Heel running game and blocking schemes.
"We're going to use a lot of zone schemes," he said. "I like to pull guys, and we run the stretch a little differently than most teams. We'll find out what I like to call our `can't-be-wrongs' and then we'll go from there. In the past, I've been a big inside zone and stretch guy, and we'll run the inside zone, outside zone, power, and counter.
"We're going to pull our linemen. That's what we do. If they can run, we can get out in front of the back and do some things."
The offensive line, traditionally the position group with the most camaraderie on the squad, had been a position of stability for the Tar Heels under Hal Hunter. But anyone with at least two years in the program will be playing for their third position coach in three years.
That makes creating chemistry one of Pittman's first priorities, so he began a quest to meet his linemen and their families immediately upon being hired. Building relationships--along with recruiting--are the priorities between now and signing day. Building an offense will come later.
And worrying about his lack of an NFL pedigree? That's not in the plans at all.
I've coached at Oklahoma, I've coached at Kansas, and I've coached at Missouri," Pittman said. "This isn't my first rodeo.
"I believe you won't be too worried about the offensive line at North Carolina for the next few years."
Adam Lucas's third book on Carolina basketball, The Best Game Ever, chronicles the 1957 national championship season and is available now. His previous books include Going Home Again, focusing on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.
