Players React to Departure of Ryan Manalac
This is shaping up to be an interesting off-season for the Pitt football program with the news in the last 48 years that both Randy Bates and Ryan Manalac would be leaving the program.
Bates, the long-time defensive coordinator, announced his retirement after 40+ years in college coaching. That news didn’t come as much of a surprise but the same can’t be said for Manalac.
Hours after Pitt’s disappointing loss to East Carolina in the Military Bowl, ESPN’s Pete Thamel came out with the report that Manalac was leaving to become defensive coordinator at UConn.
Many believed that the 40-year-old would be one of the top candidates to replace Bates but that isn’t going to happen as he’ll new UConn head coach Jason Candle to run his defense.
Make no mistake about it, this is a big loss for Pitt in terms of on-field coaching as well as recruiting. Manalac has done a tremendous job for Pitt recruiting in Ohio as well as in New Jersey.
On the field and with player development, the prime examples are All-American linebacker Kyle Louis, as well as Rasheem Biles, SirVocea Dennis, Braylan Lovelace, Brandon George and more in the pipeline.
As the news of Manalac’s departure started to surface, some of his players made their feelings be known on Twitter.
