James Harrison is in the Super Bowl again.
That, you know. But what you might’ve missed when Pitt hired Randy Bates as its defensive coordinator earlier this month is that one of the former Northwestern linebackers coach’s most famous pupils was none other than public enemy No. 1 in this town.
Harrison, a turncoat of sorts who has taken that story line to its most logical conclusion by helping the New England Patriots defend their reign over the AFC, played his college ball at Kent State. Bates was linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator there in 1998 and 1999, and as it turns out, it was the kid who wasn’t doing anything when Bates first got there who would turn out to be a star.