Later today, before he and his quarterbacks get down to the very serious of business of preparing to beat Utah Thursday night, Pitt offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti will hit his favorite book hard.

No, not the playbook.

"The Maxwell Daily Reader" by John C. Maxwell.

Today's inspirational lesson will make Cignetti smile:

A WILLINGNESS TO PAY THE PRICE

"Are you committed only when it is comfortable, or are you willing to pay the price to help your team succeed?"

"The guys love that stuff," Cignetti was saying last week. "They'll come in and say, 'Coach, can we do our reading now?' "

It's all a part of what Cignetti describes as trying "to create a learning environment in the classroom that's the best in the country." He was schooled on the little tricks by his best friend, Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy, when the two were with the New Orleans Saints. "The best quarterbacks coach in the world," Cignetti gushed. Aaron Rodgers of the Packers just might agree.

"I want our guys to walk in the door to our meeting room, thirsting for more," Cignetti said. " I want them to take ownership of what we're doing. I don't hand the ball off. I don't throw one pass. They do."

True. All true. But that doesn't change the bottom line here this morning: Cignetti will give the Pitt offense its best chance to pull the upset at Utah.

Not quarterback Tino Sunseri or wide receiver Jon Baldwin or even Heisman Trophy candidate running back Dion Lewis.

Cignetti.

The man works miracles with quarterbacks.

Remember where Pitt was last season at this time? Cignetti was the new offensive coordinator, having left the University of California to come home. His father, Frank Sr., was an assistant at Pitt and head coach at West Virginia and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Senior Bill Stull was the Panthers' quarterback, coming off a lousy performance in a 3-0 loss to Oregon State in the 2008 Sun Bowl. He was widely considered the team's weak link. Just about everybody was asking one question: Where are Pitt's points going to come from?

You know that answer.

Stull played well as Pitt averaged 32 points per game, its highest total since a quarterback named Dan Marino was running the offense in 1981. Stull played so well in leading the Panthers to a 10-3 record that he's with the Kansas City Chiefs, fighting for their backup job with another former Pitt quarterback, Tyler Palko.

Do you believe in miracles?

Now, Cignetti is working with Sunseri, who backed up Stull last season. A lot of people are wondering if Sunseri will be good enough to do what Cignetti asks of the Pitt offense, notably get the ball to playmakers Lewis and Baldwin.

Cignetti isn't among the worriers.

"Tino has had the advantage of watching it done right," he said. "He's prepared well. He's been trained. Now, he just needs to go out and get experience ...

"The thing about Tino is he sees it on the field. We'll run a play and he'll come back to me and say, 'Here's what I saw.' I'll put on the tape later, and he's dead on. When a guy sees it like that, he can be a decisive decision-maker."

It goes back to that learning environment in the classroom, Sunseri said.

"[Cignetti] kind of simplifies it for you. You know exactly what's expected of you each and every play. You don't have to play outside of yourself."

Cignetti's messages are similar to those of every coordinator. Eliminate the things that beat your team: Turnovers, penalties, sacks, dropped balls and mental mistakes. Win on third down. Get points in the red zone. Execute the 2-minute offense flawlessly.

"The goal of our offense is to score on every possession or at least change field position," Cignetti said. "Never put your defense in a bad situation. Protect the ball."

Football Coaching 101, right?

Cignetti teaches it better than most.

"It's a pleasure to be a person in his meeting room," Sunseri said. "It's awesome to be in there just to talk to him."

It's easy to imagine Cignetti, 44, as a head coach, perhaps as Dave Wannstedt's successor at Pitt. In the offseason, he turned down three opportunities to interview for head college jobs and also drew interest from an NFL team that was looking for an offensive coordinator.

"I love the job I have," Cignetti said.

Much work remains to be done before Pitt plays Utah. All of us will see how Sunseri does with the offense Thursday night in the cauldron that will be Rice-Eccles Stadium. What we won't see is what Cignetti surely will do in a quiet moment at the team hotel in Salt Lake City earlier that day.

Let's go back to "The Maxwell Daily Reader" for Thursday's lesson:

ALLOWING PROBLEMS

"Problems can stop you temporarily. You are the only one who can do it permanently."

If you listen to Sunseri, you get the idea Cignetti already has preached that lesson. It will come in handy if Sunseri happens to struggle against Utah early.

"You just need to be ready for the next play," Sunseri said. "It doesn't matter what you did on the play prior. It's about what you do right now."

Cignetti will do the reading, anyway.

Any good teacher will tell you a little lesson reinforcement never hurts.