I always hesitate in trying to make knee-jerk decisions based on hires. Sometimes, like in the case of Mike Haywood, my lack of enthusiasm was warranted. Others, as was the case with Paul Chryst, who never got things turned around, my excitement over hires hasn't been justified.
But at the risk of overhyping the school's recent expected hiring of Scott Barnes as its next athletic director, it's hard not to like his addition.
Let's make things pretty clear. Barnes is not entirely, but largely, a football hire. While it's true that he played college basketball and was Chairman of the NCAA Tournament selection committee, he probably doesn't land the job at Pitt if not for the job he did in hiring Gary Andersen at Utah State to turn the football program around.