Pitt football coach Dave Wannstedt is known as a great recruiter but his skills were put to the test in his search to find a defensive coordinator.

Wannstedt was successful in luring the prospect he has had his eye on throughout most of the process.

Wannstedt introduced former Southern Methodist head coach Phil Bennett as the Panthers' defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at a news conference yesterday. Bennett, who was fired as the Mustangs coach after a 1-11 season, is a well-known and well-respected defensive coach and has plenty of experience running defenses in some of the most high-profile conferences in Division I-A.

Of course, those credentials and his reputation for turning out great defenses are the reason Wannstedt had to work so hard to lure him to Pitt as he had a number of suitors for his services, including an attractive offer from a Southeastern Conference school.

In the end, however, Bennett said he chose to come to Pitt because of his respect and admiration of Wannstedt and because of the people in the administration, such as athletic director Steve Pederson.

It also didn't hurt that he watched the Panthers' defense shut down West Virginia in the final game of the regular season and knows he already has a lot of good young players to coach.

"I'm impressed with the foundation that is here already -- what they did in that game against West Virginia was impressive," Bennett said. "I just feel there is something building here that I want to be a part of. And I have known Dave for a long time and I have always followed his career and so when this came open, I actually called him because I have so much respect for who he is and what he believes."

In addition to hiring Bennett, Wannstedt also announced that he was promoting defensive line coach Greg Gattuso to assistant head coach. He said Gattuso had become one of his most trusted and dependable coaches and he will continue to lead the charge in recruiting Western Pennsylvania.

Gattuso was one of several candidates for the coordinator's job but Wannstedt said he wanted to hire a coach with the experience of Bennett, a 28-year veteran of coaching. He praised the work of Gattuso yesterday and said that the work he has done with the defensive line is a big part of the improvement of the defense over the past season.

"Phil has coached every part of the defense so he will be able to handle a lot of duties and, given that he has experience as a head coach as well, there are a lot of areas he can help in," Wannstedt said. "I think he'll be a great addition to what we are doing on defense and what we've built. I'm very excited to hire a guy with his experience."

Before his six seasons at SMU, he was a defensive coordinator at Kansas State (1999-2001), TCU (1997), Texas A&M (1995-96) and LSU (1991-94). He also served as a defensive coordinator at Purdue (1987-90) and Iowa State (1983-86) and he had a stop as a defensive assistant at Oklahoma (1998). He is a graduate of Texas A&M.

When Bennett was asked his defensive philosophy, he said it was very similar to Wannstedt's in that it was "aggressive and dictating."

"Defense is an attitude," Bennett said. "We want to be aggressive yet smart enough to execute the game plan. An old coach once told me 'a band is going to play every time you blitz so you better make damn sure it is yours.' If you want to be dominant on defense you have to dictate tempo and get takeaways and that's what we'll do."

The hiring of Bennett means Wannstedt only has one more full-time spot on his staff to fill -- receivers coach -- and he also will hire two graduate assistants.

NOTE -- Pitt defensive end Doug Fulmer was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA, which means he is a sophomore in eligibility and has three seasons left to play. Fulmer has missed most of the past two seasons with a broken ankle and a torn ACL.