‘Steve Pederson has been described as everything from “a visionary” to “not very competent.”

To some, the former Pitt athletic director might be the sole reason for all of the good Pitt athletics has achieved over the past 18 years. To others, he might be the one thing that held the Panthers back from excellence.

Pederson was Pitt’s athletic director twice, from 1996-2002 and from 2007-14. While it might be simple enough to say his first tenure was a success and his second a failure, his legacy is a bit more complex.

Pederson, 57, was hired at Pitt in 1996, and over his first eight years he breathed life into dormant football and men’s basketball programs. He also oversaw a facilities overhaul on Pitt’s campus, including the demolition of Pitt Stadium and the building of the sparkling new Petersen Events Center.

His first tenure was so successful that he was hired away in 2002 by Nebraska, his alma mater and one of the largest athletic departments in the country. Even after he was fired in Lincoln in 2007, Pitt chancellor Mark Nordenberg, the same man who hired Pederson in 1996, brought him back.

Pederson’s second stint at Pitt ended Dec. 17 when he was fired by new chancellor Patrick Gallagher, Nordenberg’s replacement, who took office Aug. 1

In his second term, Pederson helped Pitt land a spot in the ACC. But he struggled connecting with alumni and set into motion a revolving door of football coaches, which ultimately led to his downfall.

Without Pederson, it’s unlikely Pitt would be in the position it is now, with all the tools to be, as Gallagher put it, “a great athletic department.” It also appeared evident to Gallagher that someone else was needed to elevate Pitt’s athletic department to excellence.

When Pederson took over a floundering athletic department in 1996, he ditched the school’s historic “script” logo and embarked on a rebranding campaign. It de-emphasized “Pitt” in favor of “Pittsburgh.” He also introduced a new Panther logo.

The change signaled a new era in Pitt athletics, one far removed from the failings of the early 1990s. The move wasn’t popular, but change rarely is.

“Our athletic program at that point was the lowest in every imaginable category,” Pederson said Friday.

Pederson hired football coach Walt Harris to replace legendary Johnny Majors, who retired after the 1996 season, ending a disastrous second stint at Pitt.

“When you [went] into the stores, you couldn’t find anything that had Pitt on it, and it wasn’t because it was sold out,” Harris said. “That’s a reality that we were facing.”

Harris led Pitt to six bowl games in his eight years, including the Panthers’ only BCS appearance in 2005.

The basketball team had made just two NCAA tournaments in the previous decade, but Pederson’s hiring of Ben Howland turned that around. Howland made the NCAA tournament twice in four years and won the Big East in 2003. Under Jamie Dixon, Pitt has made 10 NCAA tournament appearances in 11 seasons.

But Pederson’s biggest successes were away from the games. While both Fitzgerald Field House and Pitt Stadium had history and tradition, they were outdated and decaying.

Pederson, along with Nordenberg, crafted a plan to raze Pitt Stadium and build a new basketball arena there, while the football team partnered with the Steelers to build a South Side practice complex and moved its home games to Heinz Field.

“I just remember how much anger, criticism and hate they took for knocking down Pitt Stadium, building the Petersen Events Center and putting the new football facilities over where the Steelers are,” Howland said. “But that completely changed the face of the athletic department in terms of its facilities.”

Some lamented the loss of an historic stadium. Others were upset they weren’t consulted.

“We never had that conversation,” said former Pitt quarterback Dave Havern, who worked for Pitt but was fired by Pederson a couple years after his arrival on campus. “I say ‘we’ as the old-guy Panther fans, alumni, players. It was just like an edict he dropped down and any dissent or any questioning was viewed as disloyalty.”

But even he said the decision was ultimately a pragmatic one.

It was one of many moves that, by 2002, had put Pitt’s athletic department on more solid footing than it was when Pederson arrived six years earlier.

“He was really an engine of change,” Nordenberg said.

Pederson’s time at Nebraska was defined by his decision to fire moderately successful football coach Frank Solich and replace him with former Oakland Raiders coach Bill Callahan, who struggled. Pederson was fired Oct. 15, 2007.

Pitt was looking for its own athletic director at the time after Jeff Long,

Pederson’s replacement, left for Arkansas one month earlier. Former executive vice chancellor Jerry Cochran, who chaired the search committee for all three athletic director hires, said last month that when Pederson became available in 2007, “the committee didn’t really get too far down the road when a decision was made.”

Pederson rewarded their faith by helping Pitt find a home in the ACC while the Big East Conference crumbled.

Nordenberg, who said his comments on Pederson don’t equate to a criticism of Gallagher, called it the “single most important contribution” Pederson made at Pitt

“Without membership in one of the Big Five conferences, the dreams that many people have for Pitt athletics really would’ve been sentenced to death,” Nordenberg said.

Pederson said the day Pitt received its ACC invitation was “probably the most important day in the history of our athletic program.”

While other schools practically begged for invitations, Pederson was much more discreet in his dealings, ACC commissioner John Swofford said.

“That’s where experienced people like Mark and Steve really came into play,” Swofford said.

Some credit Pitt’s appeal to the ACC to Pederson’s decision to invest in facilities, such as Petersen Events Center.

“If they had never done that, Pitt would not be in the ACC. Pitt would be in that league with Connecticut and Cincinnati,” Howland said. “The American whatever conference.”

Pederson viewed his second tenure at Pitt as a “chance to finish so many of the things that we started.”

The basketball team continued to improve, and within a few years it reached the No. 1 ranking in the country for the first time in school history. The football program, meanwhile, had gone three consecutive seasons without a bowl appearance.

Though Pederson recommended Pitt extend football coach Dave Wannstedt shortly before starting his second tenure, the two struggled through a strained relationship, Wannstedt said.

The former coach recalls one time he had to battle his boss over something as petty as new carpet for the football facility. Wannstedt couldn’t get it approved, even when he volunteered to cover some of the costs.

Wannstedt went over Pederson’s head to executive vice chancellor Cochran to get the money approved. Everything Wannstedt said he tried to do for the school “became a fight.”

“I hope he didn’t take it like I didn’t respect him,” Wannstedt said. “I didn’t think he was very competent.”

The Panthers improved, but still failed to excel in a weakened Big East. And though on-field issues bothered Pederson, off-field problems compelled him to act.

In a span of four months, four football players were arrested for violent crimes. The team was later lampooned by Sports Illustrated for being No. 1 in criminal activity.

“It just became inevitable that we needed a change in leadership,” Pederson said.

Pederson fired Wannstedt at the end of the 2010 regular season, and in many ways, that was the beginning of the end of his time at Pitt.

Wannstedt’s replacement, Mike Haywood, was fired two weeks after taking the job after he was arrested for domestic violence (the charges were later dropped)

“Certainly the terms upon which Dave Wannstedt left the program were not good, as far as I was concerned,” Nordenberg said. “I wish things had unfolded in a better way. You can’t imagine being at home on New Year’s Eve and getting a call saying your new football coach has just been arrested in South Bend, Indiana.”

Haywood’s successor, Todd Graham, bolted for Arizona State less than one year after promising to bring a “high-octane” offense to Heinz Field.

Paul Chryst lasted three years before returning to his alma mater, Wisconsin, last month.

Pitt predictably struggled on the field. The Panthers have gone 6-6 in every regular season since Wannstedt’s departure and usually do so in front of a half-empty Heinz Field.

“I do think Steve was the person in charge of the athletic program at the time, so he does bear some responsibility for those things,” Nordenberg said. “I think he would accept that responsibility.”

As the mediocrity continued, and with no consistent coach in place, Pederson became the figurehead for the football team’s struggles.

One of Pederson’s final major decisions as Pitt’s athletic director was to bring back the old script logo last year.

In an October rollout that seemed poorly planned at the time and hasn’t gained much clarity since, Pederson tried to appeal to a fan base going through yet another mediocre football season.

Gallagher said his decision to part with Pederson ultimately came down to Pederson lacking “latitude to manage.”

Basically, Pederson didn’t have enough support from the necessary parties at Pitt to make the Panthers’ next football hire. In Gallagher’s mind, it was time for a regime change.

Pederson himself, actually, may have said it best when he was discussing the decision to bring back the script logo, the day before Pitt’s 56-28 loss to Georgia Tech Oct. 25:

“All things kind of have their time.”