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Hall of Famer [22127]
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Coach Johnny Majors
Jun 12, 2020, 12:02 PM
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I made a search in an attempt to verify a story about Majors but could not find anything.. Maybe one of you with a better memory can correct me if I'm wrong.
When Majors was coaching at Pittsburgh, there were no limits on number of recruits a school could sign. One season, he signed almost 100 prospects and, essentially, weeded them out. This was one of the reasons the NCAA began a program to limit the number of recruits a school could sign in one year. I believe it also led to the number of scholarship players each team was allowed.
Message was edited by: Joe21®
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Oculus Spirit [90680]
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Well..
Jun 12, 2020, 12:06 PM
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that night that Pitt Panthers (even w/o Heisman Dorsett) took Tigers to the cleaners in Gator Bowl around 1977, it seemed like they were playing 100 players at same time on the field Joe21..
but many don’t know Steve Fuller & a lot of team had just had the flu & were weak, thus poor play on our part.
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Orange Blooded [2532]
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Re: Well..
Jun 12, 2020, 12:32 PM
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When I was at The University of Tennessee in 1954-55 to get my MS degree I saw Majors playing Single Wing tailback. Since Clemson played the formation when I was there, I loved it and Majors made it a thing of beauty.
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Legend [19879]
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NY Times, 1981
Jun 12, 2020, 12:07 PM
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FROM the day that Johnny Majors became the head football coach at Pittsburgh, Dec. 19, 1972, until mid-August, 1973, he and his new staff scoured the nation for as many football recruits as they could find. They signed 76 newcomers and 67 of them showed up at preseason training camp, according to Jackie Sherrill, who was an assistant to Majors then and became the Pitt head coach when Majors left for Tennessee in 1977.
That grab bag of freshmen and junior college transfers produced the nation's best single football player of 1976 - Tony Dorsett, the tailback who won the Heisman Trophy. It also helped produce the nation's best team of 1976 - the undefeated Panthers who were ranked No.1 that season.
This unlimited recruiting of players also brought Pitt up from the depths of football despair to a ranking position among the nation's powers, where it is likely to remain for some time. The undefeated Pitt team, winner of eight straight games this season, was ranked No.1 in the nation in the most recent ratings by the two wire service polls and The New York Times computer analysis.
But this recruiting method for a quick comeback to national prominence is unlikely to happen anywhere again because of current National Collegiate Athletic Association rules limiting the number of players a team may recruit. Now the once-weaker teams are making progress because the long-standing powerful teams are being restricted and thus being brought back to the pack. Pitt probably would have made it to the top under its dynamic head coaches but not as rapidly.
While Majors and his Pitt coaches were grabbing every player they could, the N.C.A.A. enacted its ''95-30'' rule in January 1973. This limited a college to 30 new players a year and a total of 95 football scholarships. The 30 limit went into effect in 1974 and the 95 was effective in 1978. Pittsburgh just got in under the wire with that massive recruiting job.
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/09/sports/as-colleges-scramble-for-no-1-pitt-holds-line.html
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Hall of Famer [22127]
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Re: NY Times, 1981
Jun 12, 2020, 12:14 PM
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Thanks for that info. That article did not come up on my search.
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CU Medallion [67611]
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Re: Coach Johnny Majors
Jun 12, 2020, 12:50 PM
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GT did that when they became an independent. Often they would sign guys just so schools on their schedule wouldnt have them.
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MVP [529]
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Re: Coach Johnny Majors
Jun 12, 2020, 1:18 PM
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Pitt was independent so had no conference rules on limitations.
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110%er [6150]
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