It's the American dream, isn't it? You work hard and do the right things, you get rewarded. So it was for former Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads. He didn't feel sorry for himself or panic when Navy shredded his Pitt defense for 48 points and 497 yards on a mid-October night at Heinz Field even if many people outside of the program wanted him fired the next morning, if not sooner. He kept believing in what he was doing and what he was teaching -- kept his players believing in it -- and worked even harder. The payoff came Dec. 1 when Pitt shocked the college football world by beating West Virginia, 13-9. A bigger payoff came last week when Rhoads took a better job in a better program in a better league.

Sorry, Pitt isn't Auburn, at least not yet.

The Big East Conference isn't the Southeastern Conference, not by a long shot.

Even Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt seemed to acknowledge as much last week when he talked of Rhoads' departure and how he likes to see his coaches "move on to bigger and better things."

Good for Rhoads, who never cheated Pitt out of a day's pay. The system clearly worked for him.

Now, it's nice to think that same system will work for Pitt defensive line coach Greg Gattuso. He should be Pitt's new defensive coordinator.

Like Rhoads, Gattuso has gone about the business of coaching the right way. He was a successful high school head coach at Seton-LaSalle for three seasons and an even more successful college head coach at Duquesne for 12. He often said he wouldn't leave Duquesne for a bigger school unless it was for a coordinator's position. But those jobs are hard to come by, and Gattuso, now 45, was getting older by the minute. That's why he was so interested when Wannstedt was hired at Pitt three years ago and offered him a chance to be his tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator. The added benefit was that he didn't have to move his family. He's not your typical vagabond coach. His roots go deep here.

That's why Gattuso, who played at Penn State, decided to stick his foot in the major-college football door and see what happened.

Well, what's happened for Gattuso so far has been pretty good and is getting better every day. Pitt has yet to have a winning season or make it to a bowl game under Wannstedt, but that should change next season. (It had better change, right?). With that mind-blowing win at West Virginia, Pitt, suddenly, gave every indication it is a program on the rise.

Gattuso has played a big part in that surge. After working with the tight ends for one season, he coached Pitt's defensive linemen the past two years with remarkable success. Defensive end Joe Clermond made All-Big East both seasons after Wannstedt nearly ran him off the team after the 2005 season.

Defensive end Greg Romeus has the look of a future high draft choice in the NFL. Defensive tackles Mick Williams and Rashaad Duncan had motivational issues before Gattuso got them and turned each into a huge contributor last season.

The significant improvement of the young defensive linemen as a group was a big reason the Pitt defense was able to hold the silly-good West Virginia offense to one touchdown and a meager 183 yards.

It's reasonable to think Gattuso could have the same impact on the defense as a whole.

Wannstedt, a defense-oriented coach by background, probably won't name his defensive coordinator until after national letter-of-intent signing day Feb. 6. What he said last week makes it sound as if Gattuso has a heck of a shot: "We've spent three years working extremely hard building up this defense to the point where it is very close to becoming very good. So we're not looking to start over, we're looking to find someone that is comfortable with what we're trying to do, who is comfortable with our staff and will add some new things to make us better."

Wannstedt's thinking is sound.

Gattuso has been with Wannstedt every step of the way at Pitt. He's comfortable coaching Wannstedt's schemes. He'll also find a way to make the defense better.

That's why Gattuso should be Wannstedt's man.