Pitt hires defensive line coach from UCLA
Share with others:
New Pitt coach Paul Chryst hired Inoke Breckterfield as defensive line coach, the university announced Tuesday. He previously worked as defensive line coach at UCLA, Montana and Weber State.
Breckterfield was an All-Pacific-10 Conference defensive end at Oregon State and was named the league's defensive lineman of the year in 1998, his senior season. He played professional football in Canada.
Breckterfield played five seasons in the CFL before eventually returning to Oregon State. He joined the Beavers as a volunteer assistant in 2006 then became a graduate assistant in 2007-08.
It was the recruiting version of the Backyard Brawl -- and Pitt won.
Deaysean Rippy, a senior outside linebacker at Sto-Rox High School, made a verbal commitment to Pitt. His final two choices were Pitt and West Virginia.
"As of [Monday], it really was 50-50 with him and both schools," Sto-Rox coach Ron Butschle said. "It really was a tough choice. I think a lot of it had to do with his family really wanted him to stay here [at Pitt]."
Rippy was a Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 selection and all-state (Class A).
Today is the first day high school seniors can sign a binding letter of intent with colleges.
Skyler Mornhinweg, a high school quarterback who verbally committed to Penn State, will instead sign a letter of intent to attend Florida.
Mornhinweg, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound star at St. Joseph's Prep and son of Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, committed to Penn State in July, but was swayed to the Gators after a visit to Gainesville.
Mornhinweg made his decision last week, and informed Florida coach Will Muschamp, but did not make it public out of respect for Joe Paterno's family and the former Penn State coach's funeral services.
Former Washington State offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy is the new wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Iowa State.
Sturdy, a native of Tipton, Iowa, previously spent 12 seasons as the head coach at Saint Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.
He was the offensive coordinator at Eastern Washington in 2007 before spending the past four seasons with the Cougars.
Florida International is planning to sign a strong recruiting class today, one of the many reasons why Mario Cristobal is staying on the Panthers' sideline.
Cristobal said he believes the class of newcomers will be the school's best yet. He was a top candidate for the opening at Rutgers and before that Pitt, but never accepted the job and spent Monday telling recruits he was staying. Cristobal has taken once-moribund FIU to consecutive bowl games, and often speaks of how appreciative he is to coach in his hometown of Miami. The school rewarded him recently with a four-year extension.
First Published February 1, 2012 12:00 am
