[1] He quickly implemented several sweeping and controversial changes to resurrect an athletic program that had fallen on hard times.
Pederson also hired Ben Howland as Pitt's head men's basketball coach in 1999 to replace Ralph Willard.
In addition to Harris and Howland, Pederson hires included Alonzo Webb for track and field, Traci Waites for women's basketball, Joe Jordano for baseball, and Chris Beerman for volleyball.
[5] Pederson retired the football jerseys of former Panther greats Mike Ditka, Marshall Goldberg, Joe Schmidt, and Mark May.
Pederson significantly elevated the athletic department's fundraising efforts, some of which was through implementing controversial donor requirements for men's basketball seating.
The football team moved their home games permanently to newly constructed Heinz Field in 2001 after a one-year temporary stop at Three Rivers Stadium for the 2000 season.
Pederson also oversaw the move of the football team into state-of-the art practice facilities that he helped to design at the UPMC Sports Performance Complex in 2000 as well as a refurbishment and expansion of Fitzgerald Field House in 1999.
"[8] Pederson left Pitt to return to his alma mater, the University of Nebraska where he assumed athletic director duties in December 2002.
Pederson justified the move by stating he would not "let Nebraska gravitate into mediocrity" and would not "surrender the Big 12 to Oklahoma and Texas".
The futile, disorganized coaching search hit rock bottom when a private jet owned by Nebraska donor-of-substance Howard Hawks sat on a runway in Fayetteville, Arkansas, for hours while Arkansas coach Houston Nutt used Pederson’s desperate offer as leverage to renegotiate his contract with the Razorbacks.
After a week-long search, Pederson hired Miami University head coach Mike Haywood to succeed Wannstedt.