Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 12, 1993 TAG: 9309110023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PITTSBURGH LENGTH: Medium
Other than that, the to-do about Majors' first home game in his second stint as the University of Pittsburgh's football coach hasn't exactly drowned the city bracketed by the Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny rivers.
That fits Majors just as well as the tan slacks and rust-and-gray print shirt he wore on a bright, windy Friday afternoon at Pitt Stadium, where the Panthers play Virginia Tech at 7 p.m. today.
For Majors, whose coaching career started 36 years ago at age 22, it's life as usual.
"I'll approach this the way I've approached things all my life: compete . . . hustle and have some excitement about your life," said Majors, whose unhappy split with the University of Tennessee last fall preceded his return here. "There's no more significance about [today]. You can't put anything more in it than is there."
Twenty years ago, Pitt came off a 1-10 season to tie a superior Georgia team on the road in Majors' first game as the Panthers' coach, then returned home and lost to Baylor. Pitt finished that year 6-5-1; three seasons later, it was the national champion.
Last year, Pitt was 3-9, its worst record since 1972. Majors returns, Pitt beats favored Southern Mississippi on the road in the opener, then returns home and . . .
Beats Virginia Tech? Pitt fans' hearts are pounding at the thought of a 2-0 record, although Majors downplays the significance of such a start.
"There've been a lot of highlights in my life," said Majors, who has 174 coaching victories, including nine in bowl games. "I never take it for granted. I just hope we can win another game this year.
"I don't know if anybody's playing to win it for me. That doesn't pay off in the long run."
Whether he'll admit it or not, Majors probably would be thrilled to reward his longtime Pittsburgh-area friends, and Pitt's administration, with a "homecoming" victory.
"There's no way I could express how I appreciate the way the people have treated me before, since or now," he said. "They're genuine. They were good to me before we ever won a game."
Twenty-five years after he ran onto the field for the first time as a head coach, at Iowa State, Majors said the feeling is the same: butterflies.
"Every Saturday, home or away, bowl game, championship, nonconference, three-touchdown underdog or three-touchdown favorite," said Majors, the Heisman Trophy runner-up to Notre Dame's Paul Hornung in 1956. "It hasn't changed since I put my first game uniform on as a freshman [at Tennessee]."
About 35,000 fans are expected at Pitt Stadium tonight, well below the facility's capacity of 56,500.
\ PLAYING, SORT OF: Tech defensive tackle Eugene Mays and cornerback Danny Dunbar are ineligible for competition because they did not meet NCAA requirements that a student-athlete pass at least 18 hours per school year, but they are allowed to practice with the team and have done so since preseason began. Both were expected to contribute in that role.
\ HIT OR MISS: Six members of Tech's 20-member 1992 recruiting class either have quit the team (linebacker Chris Grubbs of Richmond, quarterback Dave Tolan and defensive back Kenny Bailey) or are ineligible (Chris Breheny, Mays and Dunbar). However, Antonio Banks starts at safety and seven others, including tackle Waverly Jackson and tailback Tommy Edwards, have played key roles.
by CNB