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Penguins have ties to Pitt
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
The University of Pittsburgh deserves credit for helping Tom Sims reach the NFL.
The Original Hot Dog Shop deserves credit for making sure he wasn’t a linebacker when he got there.
“I went there [to Pitt] as a 250-pound linebacker,” said Sims, “and left as a 300-pound nose guard.”
And it all was because of their hot dogs?
“No, the fries there are excellent,” said Sims, chuckling. “There’s a Primanti Brothers on campus, too.”
Sims, the defensive line coach at Youngstown State, played the 1988-89 seasons at Pitt after transferring from Western Michigan. He went on to play seven years as a defensive tackle in the NFL for the Chiefs, Colts and Vikings.
He’ll coach against his alma mater for the first time tonight when the Penguins play the Panthers. But Sims said the game doesn’t take on any extra meaning.
“It’s a big game because it’s the next game,” said Sims, a Detroit native who has also coached at Western Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois. “I had a great time at the University of Pittsburgh, let’s be clear about that. A lot of stuff you can’t write. It’s a fine university and I got an excellent education.
“I’m forever grateful to that place, but I’m a Penguin this time.”
Sims is one of two YSU coaches with Pitt ties — tight ends coach Mauro Monz was the Panthers’ recruiting assistant in 2000 — and one of several with ties to the Pittsburgh area. Monz and offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo, for instance, played at Duquesne, while receivers coach Andre Coleman played for the Steelers in 1997.
YSU also has 15 Pennsylvania natives on its roster, including two starters: junior guard Chris Elkins (Beaver Falls) and sophomore WR Christian Bryan (Irwin) who both live within 45 minutes of Pittsburgh.
Both played in Heinz Field in high school for the WPIAL championships, although Bryan fared a little better, winning as a freshman.
Elkins went 0-2, including a resounding loss as a sophomore to Jeanette High when a guy named Terrelle Pryor was the Jayhawks’ quarterback.
“It got ugly quick,” Elkins said, laughing.
His junior year, he lost to arch-rival Aliquippa, 8-6, thanks to a bad snap on a punt that went through the end zone.
“I’m hoping this time is going to be different,” he said of tonight’s game. “I wasn’t really a Pitt fan growing up, but a bunch of my family is Pitt fans and they’ve said they want me to do good but they want them [Pitt] to blow us out.”
Bryan’s take?
“I think my fan base is a lot better than his,” he said.
Bryan, a military child, grew up near Philadelphia and moved to the western side of the state in middle school. Like Elkins, he’s not a fan of Pitt or the Steelers but he’ll have plenty of family and friends in the stands.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am for this game,” he said. “It’s one of the biggest games of my life.
“I know I’ve got a lot of friends from Philly that are coming and a lot that have been texting me, telling me good luck, sending me messages over Twitter and Facebook. They’re all telling me, ‘Hey, good luck. We’re rooting for you.’”