Dave Wannstedt knows about the Cignetti family. He knows how close they are, and he knows about the western Pennsylvania roots that tie them together.

But most importantly for Wannstedt’s program, he knows Pennsylvania football is a bond that may run deeper than those the family shares.

When Frank Cignetti Jr. arrived in 2009 to accept the offensive coordinator position and join Wannstedt’s staff at Pittsburgh, he wasn’t just turning a new leaf in his career. He wasn’t just fulfilling a lifelong goal. He was continuing the family tradition at the place where it all began.

‘Frank Cignetti is, quite simply, a great football coach from a great football family,’ Wannstedt said when Cignetti was introduced to the media on Feb. 18, 2009. ‘Not only is he coming back to Pitt, but he is also coming back home.’

For Cignetti, a return to Pitt was a return home. Almost literally. The western Pennsylvania native began his coaching career as a Pitt graduate assistant, following in the footsteps of the older generation of the Cignetti family. The family football legacy begins with Frank Sr., who was an assistant at Pittsburgh before moving on to the head coach position at West Virginia and then at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Cignetti played safety for his father at IUP.

That was 20 years ago.

Since that first job with Pitt, Cignetti has had stints as an assistant with IUP, Fresno State, North Carolina and California, as well as the Chiefs, Saints and 49ers of the NFL. He’s led an offense to a Top 10 finish in the nation in points per game (Fresno State, 2005). But in the mind of those who know him best, all roads led back to Pittsburgh.

‘You could just tell how much he wanted to come back home,’ said former Pitt quarterback Bill Stull, who started every game for the Panthers last season. ‘You could definitely tell he was very excited to get the job and to be in the Pittsburgh area, and also to come back to where he was coaching before.’

Initially, Stull was somewhat concerned with Cignetti’s arrival. Despite Cignetti’s enthusiasm, family history and pedigree, Stull had spent four years learning an offensive system and preparing to excel within it. With Cignetti joining Pitt’s staff, Stull worried he would have to learn a new system during the spring and summer workouts before his final collegiate season.

But Cignetti’s ability to help Stull overcome that challenge in the most productive way possible is what Stull says makes him such a special coach. Pitt’s offense torched the competition in 2009 with the detail-oriented Cignetti at the helm, finishing with 32.1 points per game and showcasing breakout seasons for Stull and teammates Dion Lewis, Dorin Dickerson and Jonathan Baldwin.

‘There was detail in every little thing that we did,’ Stull said. ‘Once you get our whole offense on the same page and understand why we’re doing things, it puts more meaning into every play. Once everyone knows what they’re supposed to do, you get a little more out of each player.’

Dickerson earned First Team All-American honors, and Lewis was the Big East’s Offensive Player of the Year in just his freshman season.

Baldwin, who caught 57 passes for 1,111 yards and eight touchdowns as a sophomore last season, said Cignetti’s unique approach to a new offense was a major factor in the extraordinary season. It is an approach that is manufactured in part from bouncing around with eight different teams in 20 years and learning to maximize talent on the fly.

Baldwin said Cignetti has a tendency to build an offense around his players, rather than force his players to adapt to his offense. With the success of players, such as Aaron Brooks while with the Saints and Jahvid Best at California in his offensive systems, as well as Pitt’s four-headed monster of last season, his strategy has a history of unexpectedly producing the best seasons of his players’ careers.

‘We didn’t really know what to expect because it was a totally different game,’ Baldwin said. ‘He looks at each player and says, ‘Where would he be the most successful in this offense? What plays would he be most successful running?’ It’s not just a case where he says, ‘You’re in my offense, so run this.’ He does a great job of moving people around.’

Though he is known for coming into offenses and making quick stars, Cignetti’s connection with his players runs deeper than a one-way tutoring relationship. His western Pennsylvania roots wouldn’t allow that.

The Panthers have 70 players from Pennsylvania on the roster, including Baldwin, who come from Aliquippa. Baldwin said the western Pennsylvania attitude was one of the first things he noticed about Cignetti, and that established an immediate connection on a team full of local players.

‘When he first came here, he told me that he played against Aliquippa in high school, and he mentioned some people from Aliquippa that I know of,’ Baldwin said. ‘When I first met him, I was thinking, ‘How did he know this person?’ It definitely made us closer just from that.’

Despite the growing connections with his offense, the current season is not humming along as it did last year. Cignetti is working with a new quarterback in sophomore Tino Sunseri and a reshaped offensive line, and the offense has not gelled the way it did with Stull. The Panthers are 2-3 to this point, with a big 31-3 loss at home to ACC powerhouse Miami.

But some Cignetti trademarks have remained consistent, even in what seems to be a down year as Pitt gets ready to face Syracuse (4-1) on Saturday. He is still moving people around effectively, as four players have already caught at least 10 passes. The team is averaging more than 25 points per game, despite the paltry point total against Miami. And sophomore running back Ray Graham has exploded on the scene with 536 yards and five touchdowns, becoming the latest of Cignetti’s stars to have a breakout season.

Cignetti has come full circle in his career, making the rounds from Pitt to the West Coast and back, and has earned the unwavering support of his players, regardless of how the season plays out. The only thing left on the agenda is to follow completely in his father’s footsteps by becoming a head coach, which Stull believes is on the horizon.

‘Coach Cignetti is a great quarterback guy, a better coordinator and, maybe more importantly, a great friend as well,’ Stull said. ‘I think he can do whatever he wants to do, and I absolutely think that he has all the qualities to be a great head football coach.’

jakrakow@syr.edu

Published on October 13, 2010 at 12:00 pm