Pitt Business e-newsletter Issue 13, January 2009
Pitt Business Students Lead Panthers Football Team to Sun Bowl Birth
On December 31, the University of Pittsburgh made its third appearance in the 75-year history of the Brut Sun Bowl. The Panthers football team secured the invitation to the El Paso bowl from the Sun Bowl Association with a 34-10 road win over the University of Connecticut Huskies.
Contributing to the team's success this season—a 5-2 record in the Big East Conference and a 9-3 record overall—were placekicker Conor Lee, a full-time MBA student in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, and linebacker Scott McKillop, a 2008 graduate of the College of Business Administration who is now pursuing a second degree in administration of justice.
Lee and McKillop were two of three Panther National Honor Candidates in 2008, the third being running back LeSean McCoy, a student in the University's College of Arts and Sciences.
Among his many accolades this season, Lee was named First Team All-Big East, earned second team Academic All-American honors from ESPN The Magazine, and was twice named Big Eat Special Teams Player of the Week (September 29 and November 3). Lee is one of the most productive placekickers in Pitt history.
McKillop was named to the 25-player All-America Team selected by the Football Writers Association of America (first team) and was selected the 2008 Big East Defensive Player of the Year and was a unanimous first-team All Big-East selection for the second consecutive season. McKillop and former Panthers wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, now an All-Pro with the Arizona Cardinals, are the only Pitt players to twice earn unanimous All-Big East Honors. McKillop has been one of the country's most productive defenders the past two seasons.
