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THE PITT PANTHERS have a new head football coach -- and he sounds like the sort of strong inspirational leader they need. No, Michael Haywood didn't come from a big school, but under his leadership Miami University of Ohio went from 1-11 in his first year to 9-4 in his second, which included winning the Mid-American Conference championship game. The Pitt team isn't a loser, but it is an underachiever and its 7-5 record this season led to coach Dave Wannstedt's forced resignation. Mr. Haywood, 46, becomes the school's first African-American football coach. He is known as a disciplinarian who believes in strict rules on academics and appearance for his players. He also likes early morning practices; maybe it's the early bird that gets the turnaround. Congratulations to Mr. Haywood -- and go, Pitt!

IF THE PANTHERS reach for the sky, they will be in good company. One of the great wildlife success stories of our time is the return of migrating bald eagles to Pennsylvania. Once depleted because of habitat destruction, hunting and widespread use of DDT, the eagles are clearly coming back in force. At the annual tally of migrating hawks, eagles and falcons at the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary near Kempton in Eastern Pennsylvania, bird-watchers counted a record number of migrating bald eagles this fall -- a total of 407 eagles, which easily beat the old record of 245 set two years ago, The Associated Press reported. On one day in late August, 36 eagles were spotted, the second-highest single-day flight in the history of the ridge-top preserve.

EAGLES navigate by their own signs, which is just as well if any ever flew in the direction of Duquesne. As the Post-Gazette's Jon Schmitz reported, two signs erected as part of the Rankin Bridge rehabilitation project misspelled the name Duquesne. The arrow on the signs pointed to some place called Duquense, which was a help only to motorists with dyslexia. It turns out that it is a common mistake -- and even appears on Duquesne University's website. As a newspaper that never has any typos (eagle-eyed readers will recognize that as a joke), we are amused but forgiving. Besides, the embarrassment will not last. A subcontractor on the project has been told to correct the signs at its expense, and here's hoping it will leap to the task like a panther.

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