Pitt offensive coordinator Mark Whipple interviewed with Nebraska Sunday, Parker Gabriel of the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
This comes as Whipple reportedly resigned from Pitt Tuesday afternoon and will not coach in the Peach Bowl at the end of the month. Gabriel reported that Nebraska head coach Scott Frost spent Sunday in the Phoenix, Arizona area, which lines up with Whipple’s trip to Chandler, Az. to visit a Pitt quarterback target.
While it’s still not confirmed that Whipple will eventually wind up as Frost’s offensive coordinator at Nebraska, it might not bode particularly well for Pitt’s pursuit of former four-star quarterback Chubba Purdy. Whipple originally offered Purdy out of high school, and he was Pitt’s main coach in the continued pursuit after he entered the transfer portal from Florida State.
With Whipple’s links to Nebraska and Purdy, along with Nebraska starting quarterback Adrian Martinez entering the transfer portal himself, there’s an opportunity with the Cornhuskers.
And with Whipple not coaching the bowl game, it does open a hole in play-calling that will need to be filled. Although there are some candidates to promote from within.
With Whipple’s contract expiring after the season, it isn’t a shock departure, but it does show the insanity that has become the coaching carousel this season. Whipple was in Arizona last night — without Pitt gear on — to recruit for the Panthers, and he resigns the next day.
Not to disparage Whipple as he did a nice job here and likely will do a nice job if he is hired on at Nebraska but winning big at Nebraska even though they’re a storied program will be a tall order given the nature of Big 10 football and schedule. Frost likely will be on a short leash even though he’s a former Nebraska star Quarterback. Success for Nebraska in the Big 10 has been hard to come by and that likely will continue for at least a little while longer. Nebraska in my opinion was never a good fit… Read more »
Why on Earth would Purdy even consider for a millisecond going to a school that is traditionally a run heavy school? He may have a good connection with Whipple but that would be a bad move in my opinion for Purdy and one he’d likely regret. I haven’t paid much attention to Nebraska in recent years but I know they don’t have a Jordan Addison on their roster. Why would any young man want to start from scratch instead of starting off with a likely Biletnikoff winner at his disposal?