INDIANAPOLIS — More than four years ago, after beating Virginia Tech for his first win as a head coach, Paul Chryst’s Pitt players gave him the game ball in the locker room.
“It certainly means a lot,” Chryst said at the time. “And when it comes from the players, that’s what you’re in it for.”
As he sat at a podium in Lucas Oil Stadium Friday afternoon, 24 hours away from leading his alma mater into the Big Ten championship game, Chryst’s mindset was still centered on the players in the locker room, rather than any sense of personal accomplishment.