New coordinator lands 'dream job' at Pitt
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Frank Cignetti, Jr., talks to the media after he was introduced as Pitt's new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach by head coach Dave Wannstedt Wednesday. shot 021809 Frank Cignetti Jr. fields a question yesterday.
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Frank Cignetti Jr. didn't have to be convinced that Pitt was the right place for him because it is the one place he has always wanted to be.
And if he has his way, it is the last stop he'll ever make.
"Anybody that knows me, knows that Pitt is my dream job," Cignetti Jr. said at a news conference yesterday in which he was introduced as the new offensive coordinator.
"This is home. This is like hitting the lottery, not only professionally but personally, for my family, my wife and our kids. It can't get any better than this: to be a part of the University of Pittsburgh again, living in this great city and working for a great coach like Dave Wannstedt."
Cignetti, who was a graduate assistant at Pitt in 1989, was the offensive coordinator at the University of California last season.
"It is great to be back at a place with such great tradition both academically and athletically," Cignetti said. "Being familiar with the city sparked the initial interest, but the bottom line is, to leave a good job, which I had, you have to take a better job. And there is no doubt in my mind that there is a great future and tradition here."
Cignetti, who worked under coach Jeff Tedford at Cal, admitted he took a pay cut to come to Pitt. He said his compensation package is "competitive" but it is likely in the $250,000 range, which is about where the Panthers' coordinators have been in recent years.
Cignetti's base salary at Cal was $168,000, but his total compensation package was in the $350,000-$400,000 range with a $77,000 assistants bonus built into Tedford's contract, an $80,000 talent fee, $10,000 from camps and the potential to earn $69,500 in merit bonuses.
"If you just look at the base salary, of course [I took a pay cut]," Cignetti said. "But when you look at the cost of living, that's where you have to make a decision. And there are so many things that are more important than money. How important it is to live back at home, to have my kids grow up around their grandparents, my wife's family, their cousins -- to me, you can't put a price tag on that, to me, that is priceless."
Cignetti, who is the son of the former IUP and West Virginia coach of the same name, grew up in New Kensington and played football for his dad at IUP. He has been coaching for 20 years, and his most recent stops include the 49ers (quarterbacks, 2007), North Carolina (offensive coordinator, '06), Fresno State (offensive coordinator, '02-05) and the New Orleans Saints ('00-01, quarterbacks).
Wannstedt said he was ecstatic to hire a coach of Cignetti's background.
"I'm excited about this because obviously he is someone who has experience calling plays and coordinating an offense," Wannstedt said. "But also he has expertise in developing and coaching young quarterbacks. And the other thing is we are still going to have the same offensive philosophy from the standpoint of being balanced and running the ball and using the play-action passing game."
First Published February 19, 2009 12:00 am
