A little about your new conference partner Pitt since you may not be so familiar with it.
Pitt was founded as a private school in 1787 and became “state-related” in 1966. It is a medium-sized, urban, public-private hybrid university located smack in the middle of the city of Pittsburgh. It is most renowned for its medical, health, and biosciences. It is top 20 university in total R&D expenditures and typically top 5 in National Institutes of Health funding (#3 in 2022 after Johns Hopkins and UCSF). Its affiliated medical center, UPMC, is one the largest academic medical centers in the world with over 40 hospitals in 3 states and multiple countries including Ireland and Italy. Notably, Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine, Peter Safar developed CPR and the field of emergency medicine, and Thomas Starzl pioneered organ transplantation while at Pitt. Pitt is also ranked highly in philosophy, creative writing, information science, and international studies, among other programs.
(Click here for a post of photos introducing Pitt's athletic facilities and campus)
The university’s main Pittsburgh campus houses just under 20K undergrads and 10K grad students on only about 150 acres, one of the smallest by acreage in NCAA Division I FBS. So the campus is built vertically like no other major research university.
The centerpiece is a 42-story gothic skyscraper called the Cathedral of Learning. It is the largest academic building in the Western Hemisphere, but it is perhaps even more impressive inside with a 1/2 acre, 3-story gothic hall and 31 working “Nationality” class rooms that are essentially small museums. After every football win, the top of the Cathedral of Learning is lit up with blue and gold "victory lights."
Other features around campus are a French gothic chapel with some of the world’s tallest stained-glass windows, a neo-renaissance Italian villa arts building, and multiple neo-classical and beau-arts buildings including a student union with immaculately restored Louis XV-style ballrooms. Alas, the campus has its share of modern brutalist beasties as well.
Pitt is located in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood immediately adjacent to the city’s major museum and public library complex (the Carnegie), a large wooded urban park (Schenley), botanical garden (Phipps), and Carnegie Mellon University, with which Pitt has a highly collaborative relationship. Pitt also has three additional 4-year regional campuses throughout Western Pennsylvania (all part of the same university), one with Division II sports and the two others competing in Division III.
Pitt plays football 3 miles from campus in Heinz (now Acrisure) stadium. Both the stadium and the football practice facility were originally designed to be equally shared between Pitt and the Steelers, who have long had collaborative partnerships.
Pitt claims 9 national championships in football, primarily based on Sports Illustrated 1967 published research on the subject, 3 of which occurred under Pop Warner who coached Stanford after Pitt, and 2 of which are AP national championships. Pitt is a top 20 program in all-time wins, has the 12th most College Hall of Fame inductees (19), the 8th most Consensus All-Americans (55), and the 4th most players enshrined in Canton (10). Historically, Pitt is arguably the most decorated football program in the ACC. In addition, men’s hoops has 27 all-time NCAA appearances, including this past season. Women’s volleyball has appeared in the past two final fours and men’s soccer in two of the last three College Cups. Women's soccer and wrestling are nationally ranked.
Hopefully you get the opportunity to visit Pittsburgh and tailgate at our stadium, maybe even catch some fall foliage if the timing is right. Many people find it a surprising city compared to its historical stereotype as there are no longer any working steel mills in the city proper and it has transition into a white collar financial, technology, educational, and medical hub even though it still retains its historic blue-collar sensibilities. There are plenty of things to explore along the city’s three rivers which boast the world’s most numerous bridges: from the Andy Warhol and August Wilson museums to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and funiculars that take you to impressive views, you should be able to find things to fill up any football weekend with additional activities.
In any case, a big welcome from the Pitt Panthers and hope to see you either in Dallas or in the ‘Burgh (and don’t forget the “h” at the end of the name; very important to Yinzers).
