Wannstedt gives $250K for Pitt left tackle scholarship
PITTSBURGH -- Dave Wannstedt is willing to put up his own money to make sure Pitt has a competitive football team.
The coach and his wife, Jan, have donated $250,000 to his alma mater to endow a scholarship at left tackle, the position he played at the school from 1970-73. Pitt is launching a fundraising effort to endow scholarships for every position on offense and defense, plus the punter and kicker.
Wannstedt grew up in Baldwin, a Pittsburgh suburb, and once worked summers at a now-demolished steel mill to make spending money for college. Pitt's football training complex is located on the site of that former mill.
"As a high school senior growing up in Baldwin, I was provided with the life-changing opportunity to receive an outstanding education and play major college football due to a scholarship," Wannstedt said. "Scholarship funding is incredibly important in the world of collegiate athletics and we want to be able to help provide those same opportunities for both current and future generations of student-athletes."
Pitt's $45 million fundraising project is designed to raise scholarship money for Pitt athletics and to fund capital improvement projects.
Pitt athletic director Jeff Long said it costs $2.1 million annually to pay for the 85 football scholarships.
