Colin Dunlap
Verified- On-Air Host and Multimedia Content Creator, KDKA-FM (Pittsburgh, PA)
- None, Love to See It with Emma and Claire (Podcast)
- None, Love to See It with Emma and Claire (Podcast)
Pittsburgh
93.7 The Fan and KDKA Pittsburgh • Dad of cancer fighter🎗• Autism dad 🧩 • No guru, no method, no teacher • colin.dunlap@audacy.com
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Colin Dunlap
Skenes Molded By Time At Air Force Academy
Straightforward, direct and unswerving, Paul Skenes sat inside a media conference room in the catacombs of PNC Park Tuesday afternoon and fielded one question after another. About his past. About the present. And the ones Pirates fans were most likely most interested in --- about the future. Know what hit me hardest? How Skenes did it with workmanlike precision and unwavering conviction. How he didn't sound like a 21-year-old. How proficient and skilled he was.
Priester And Endy Up, Now Trajectory Toward Winning Must Start
Today starts something new. Or at least it should. The Pirates' swift and steady tumble to a spot in the standings much, much closer to last place than first place makes it feel like those first 30 games never really happened. But it should do something else: It should make us all --- from the front office on down to the paying customer --- put a full focus on the future. And those players who will play a part in the future. Enter Quinn Priester. Enter Endy Rodriguez. Enter Liover Peguero.
Skenes Should Be Rushed
Not that my opinion matters to Pirates brass, but newly-minted Bucs top pick Paul Skenes should be raced through the Pirates' system. I haven't time for patience right now. This isn't a long play. Rip up those paint-by-numbers plans --- this is a dude. A legit dude. I don't want to hear about protracted stints in outposts like Altoona or Indianapolis. Let's go easy on the seasoning here and grab a heavy pinch of on-the-job training at the big league level with this guy.
McCutchen Definitively Wants To Be A Pirate ... Until He Retires
Andrew McCutchen has heard the trade talk. He and his wife, Maria, understand this is all part of the game as June rolls toward July, contenders and pretenders materialize and the former want to bolster their rosters. With three children now and their second go-round here in Pittsburgh, the McCutchens recognize all that comes with it --- and this is, well, part of all that comes with it.
Patrick Peterson Understands Leadership
Wednesday after mini-camp practice, new Steelers defensive back Patrick Peterson --- listed at 32 years old but could pass for about 21 --- was standing in his locker alone. Shirt off, wearing just a pair of workout shorts with the Steelers insignia on the right leg. His eyes danced and darted around the room, a smile radiated from one ear to the other. This is the place he wants to be.
Steelers Staff Demands Greatness From Pickens
Adages. They are all old. I mean, there aren't really any new ones. But this is one of the oldest ones in the NFL --- players are expected to make a big jump from Year 1 to Year 2. Especially the good ones. That is to say, a marked improvement is projected from a guy like Steelers receiver George Pickens, who in his rookie season showed some brilliant flashes. The second-round pick who is still just 22 reeled in 52 passes for 801 yards and four touchdowns last season.
Porter's Progress Could Simply Come Down To Feel
Seems like they'll just know. Something will go off --- perhaps that proverbial light bulb over Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin's head. But, yeah, he'll just know when rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr., picked with the first selection in the second round in the most recent draft, is ready for prime time. So, what are the yardsticks and targets Porter would need to hit for this staff to be comfortable throwing him out on that island?
Walk and Talk with Colin: Phil Jurkovec
A much-ballyhooed quarterback recruit from Pine-Richland, Phil Jurkovec was offered a scholarship from just about every school in the country. He headed off to Notre Dame. Things didn't work out as planned. Then he had a solid career at Boston College - although saddled with injury. With one season of eligibility left and his familiar offensive coordinator, Frank Cignetti now at Pitt, Jurkovec has one college season to make his mark for the NFL scouts.
Steelers Tight End Grouping Has Chance To Be Great
The Pittsburgh Steelers don't have a more complementary --- yet probably more intriguing unit because of the way the puzzle pieces all fit together --- than the tight ends. They have four seemingly NFL-caliber tight ends, nonetheless no two are the same. How will they fit together? Will they fit together? Who will be organized in what formation and in what down-and-distance arrangement? Will one player play more on first down? Another in goal line? Will they stand a guy up a lot?
Steelers Longsnapper Kuntz Afflicted With Bucco Fever
Bucco Fever has hit the Steelers locker room pretty hard. I mean, that's what happens when the hometown nine are atop the National League Central standings and carry a six-game win streak into Tuesday night's game with the lowly Oakland A's. That's also what happens when you're a guy who, as a college kid, used to park Andrew McCutchen's Range Rover. Confused?
Heather Lyke Has Positioned Pitt, And Herself, Masterfully
The buzz keeps buzzing. But when you're successful, the buzz will always buzz. That's a good thing - a great thing, really. When you take a place, flip it on its ear and make it so much better, the buzz keeps buzzing. When you raise the property value by doing a total tear down and rebuild and make it shine, the buzz keeps buzzing. That's Heather Lyke. That's what she has done. And the buzz keeps buzzing.
McCutchen Milestone Chasing Must-See Right Now
Andrew McCutchen is going to do it. And he's going to do it soon. I'm not in the business of telling people how to feel, but this is the way I feel about it all ... no matter your thoughts on all things Pirates from a wide angle lens, no matter how you feel about that May slide hoping it doesn't turn into a June swoon, no matter how you feel about a team that started like a rocket ship and has cooled to a decent degree, this is one you should probably get up for.
Dubas Crushed The Press Conference, For What That's Worth
Can't count them. Don't know. But there's been seemingly a million times over the years I've sat in a chair shoulder-to-shoulder with other members of the media while someone faces us and talks. Press conferences. Seen my fill. Seen more than that, actually.
A Designated Runner In Baseball? Sure, Why Not
What a shift, huh? Well, that's actually one of the things --- you can't shift anymore. And the bases are bigger. And there's a pitch clock. And you can't attempt as many pickoffs. Baseball sure has revolutionized and transformed to push the product in a faster-paced, more offensive-driven way in a hurry, huh? I like it. I love it.
Detroit-Mercy Basketball Player Making Fool Of Himself
I have had absolutely enough of this young man named Antoine Davis. Totally enough. Pipe down, young fella. Zip it. I'm not going to go all get-off-my-lawn on you or anything, but he is a precise and complete microcosm of what's wrong with the "everyone gets a trophy" epidemic running rampant through some younger generations. He's also a young man who comes off sounding like the world owes him something --- when it owes him zero.
MLB pitch clock is glorious
No one has a problem with this, right? I mean, we're all good --- everyone likes this and thinks it is one of the best things to happen to Major League Baseball in a long time, right? At least I hope we can universally agree. Because, looking at the pitch clock --- some call it a "pace clock" so as not to put the full onus on the pitcher --- that has been implemented in Spring Training, I simply cannot find one negative word to say. I love it and can't get enough of it.
PIAA Headed Toward Being Obsolete
Even when the PIAA does --- or attempts to do --- the right thing, it really proves just how archaic, dated and headed toward unnecessary it is. The latest example is this nonsense I read in a very well-written piece by the Post-Gazette's preps sports guy Mike White who, incidentally, I think has been covering high school sports since Jim Thorpe was a student/athlete at Carlisle Indian Industrial School and was running roughshod all over would-be tacklers in the center of the state.
Steelers Should Have Done What Carolina Did
The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one. The Pittsburgh Steelers are loathe to admit they have one --- which is, well, probably the biggest problem in all of this. Far be it for me to suggest the Steelers adopt a strategy or tactic employed by the Carolina Panthers. I mean, after all, they are the lowly Carolina Panthers ... but I think they are swinging and making solid contact in an area where the Steelers refuse to even take the bat off their shoulder.
Column: Play Rudolph, it is simple
What is all the fuss here? I honestly don’t get it. Is there even a story? Is there more to it I’m missing? I don’t think so. Seems pretty surface level and easy for me. I don’t know why everyone can’t look at things so straightforwardly. The city — and more to the point Steelers Nation -- is involved in contorting itself all kinds of ways in an attempt to come up with the best possible remedy for the malady that just might be quarterback Kenny Pickett’s absence in the upcoming Carolina game.
Dunlap: Of All People, You Pick Mike Tyson?
Former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson during an interview with USA TODAY. Mike Tyson Photo credit © Robert Hanashiro / USA TODAY NETWORK I looked it up on some FAA website, so I guess it is probably correct. There are about 2,900,000 passengers on average who fly every day in and out of airports in the United States. So that said, even if he was flying on the same day as you and booked on a multi-legged trip, the chances of bumping into Mike Tyson at an airport are pretty slim.
Dunlap: The Browns Will Always Screw Things Up
The Cleveland Browns love screwing up. It’s what they do better than anything. I mean I can’t think of a time when the Browns didn’t take a situation and ultimately screw it up. If screwing up were championships the Browns would be a dynasty. If screwing up was money, the Browns would be the wealthiest entity on this Earth. And, man alive, they just keep it rolling. The latest example of their ineptitude came in the form of totally botching their quarterback situation over the past couple days.
Dunlap: Raise A Hand If You Think Kenny Pickett Can Play
National quarterback Kenny Pickett of Pittsburgh (8) looks to throw during National practice for the 2022 Senior Bowl Photo credit © Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports Glad all that nonsense is over. Yep, I’m glad one of the biggest questions facing our wonderful nation has been answered. We’ve all been sitting around vexed, exasperated and on a zillion pins and needles thinking, talking and wondering about Kenny Pickett’s hands. More to the point, the size of them.
Dunlap: Don’t Be Silly About The Handshake Line
Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard and Wisconsin basketball coach Greg Gard both acted like knuckleheads to varying degrees. That’s why both were punished to varying degrees following the nonsense that occurred in the handshake line after the two teams played in a Big Ten matchup the other day. You have seen the commotion by now.
Dunlap: Is CB dead to Steelers in first round?
Florida Gators safety Kaiir Elam (5) against the Alabama Crimson Tide Photo credit © Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports I have been wondering something about the Pittsburgh Steelers and the impending draft. You know the draft, the one everyone is talking about. You also know the one --- where people are knocking around the particulars about whether the Steelers should take a quarterback. Also, should they take Kenny Pickett or Malik Willis if one or both are available?
Dunlap: If tanking did happen, owners must sell
The National Football League crest is under fire. The logo is being attacked and the whole sanctity and fairness of this thing is having a couple grenades lobbed at it. Check that. Not just grenades, but an all-out arsenal unleashed on it. The disproportionate nature of the skin color of coaches is one thing; when the outcomes of actual games on the field are being tinkered with by owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell has a gigantic problem of even bigger proportion.
Dunlap: Steelers Way Is Welcoming Canada Back
Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Canada Photo credit © Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports This won’t be popular. No way in the world you’re going to agree with me – and, heck, I don’t agree with myself here. But I’m feeling like this is the reality; like it is what frankly will happen. OK. Here goes. Man, even just writing these words pain me, but I find them to probably be true: I’m guessing the Pittsburgh Steelers will keep offensive coordinator Matt Canada around another year. That’s their way.
Dunlap: Wish Him Well, Pickett Has Done Enough
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 04: Kenny Pickett #8 of the Pittsburgh Panthers celebrates after winning the ACC Championship game at Bank of America Stadium on December 04, 2021 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo credit (Photo by Logan Whitton/Getty Images) By Colin Dunlap, 93.7 The Fan I mean, let’s all think with our heads here. Sports fans, by nature, have trouble doing as much. Almost always, we are think-with-our-heart kinda people.
Dunlap: Vikings Game Pretty Much Must-Win For Steelers
What’s that magic number for you in terms of how many wins the Pittsburgh Steelers need to hit to reach the playoffs? For me, it is nine. Yep, nine. I think nine wins would get them in. No telling what they’d do if they got there; but nine wins (to me at least) would be enough to secure a spot in the single-elimination tournament Mike Tomlin loves to talk about so much. Know what all of this means?
Dunlap: Claypool and his music, It Was A Story
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool (11) is pulled down by Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Darius Phillips (23) Photo credit © Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK Let’s get this straight: I’m not against playing a little music at football practice. And I’m the last person who will ever be accused of being The Fun Police. Ain’t me. Get loose. Shake a leg. Motivate yourself. Have a good time. But also know the time and place. Read the room. Don’t be totally tone deaf.
Suspending Texas Tech radio crew is ridiculous
Lubbock, Texas, USA; Iowa State Cyclones running back Breece Hall (28) rushes against the Texas Tech Red Raiders Photo credit © Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports Have you heard the story out of Texas Tech? I sure did, because a good friend of mine and former college roommate was one of the officials working the Texas Tech/Iowa State game. I’m still friends with him to this day; exchange texts regularly and got a chuckle when I heard his name read aloud by the furious Texas Tech radio crew.
Dunlap: Steelers Need To Make The Playoffs, At Least
There seemingly has been something lost in the past couple weeks when the storylines have been the Steelers not playing and also some people feeling a need to connect Mike Tomlin to jobs he will never take --- there still is a season left to be played. It is, essentially, an 11-game season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Will they end up 9-8? Maybe 8-9? Something drastically different than that? Who knows?
Baker Isn’t The Long-Term Guy
Baker Mayfield isn’t the guy. Not long term at least. I mean, he’s better than what the Cleveland Browns have had in the past --- not really a high bar to reach --- but he isn’t going to be the quarterback who leads the franchise to any great riches. Nope. Too fragile although he’s tough as can be. Guy just gets hurt too much. He’s also someone I surely don’t count on in the most important situations to make the most important throws. I mean, is he for you? Be honest about all that.
Dunlap: Monday Morning Will Be Something Else
There will be a swing totally to one side or the other. No middle here – not at all. Oh yes, come Monday it’ll be alright or come Monday it will be absolute disaster. Mark my words. And there will be no middle ground to be found. It will, decidedly, be one or the other. Total disaster or real, true hope and positivity.
Dunlap: Why Matt Canada? Why?
Matt Canada Photo credit © Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports Why is Matt Canada falling on the sword for Ben Roethlisberger now? I don’t get it. Why in the world is Canada stepping up and electing to be the fall guy when we all know he really wasn’t at fault? This is truly bizarre. Like, I get it, Matt. I know you are (relatively) new here, especially when measured against the guy who has quarterbacked the franchise since 2004. Like, I get it, Matt.
Dunlap: Tuitt News Doesn’t Sound Great
You have to tread gently here. I get all of that. But you have to tread, right? You must ask the questions. You must wonder, when it comes to such a recognizable and important person, what the future is all going to hold. And this might seem cold, but in the business of the NFL, someone who is making such a sizable chunk of your salary allotment --- you have to ask the questions about him. Just have to.
Dunlap: QB big picture needs to be focus for Steelers
Maybe through the preseason and the first victory against the Buffalo Bills you had delusions. Perhaps your brain got twisted and distorted into giving reality the boot. But after what happened against the Las Vegas Raiders you can’t anymore. More to the point, the people in charge of making decisions can’t anymore. It’s time to really get down to figuring out this long game at quarterback.
Dunlap: One Thing I’d Like To See The Offense Change
When you beat a team many are picking to advance deeply through the AFC Playoff bracket --- and you do it on the road --- the positive outweighs the negative. And it ain’t even close. Winning trumps all and trumps it by a million miles. A trillion miles, even. The Steelers beat the Bills and the main takeaway from this past Sunday should be precisely that --- the Steelers beat the Bills.
Dunlap: I don’t think this will be the one
There have been dips and twists. The highs, the Super Bowls, the lows and the times you have screamed at your television during the whole Mike Tomlin Era. Yes, back to that 2007 season when a 35-year-old coach we did not know all that much about walked in here and posted a 10-6 record – we have seen it all. Hell, we have even seen him half-heartedly try to trip a guy on the other team as he whisked down the sideline on the way to the end zone.
Dunlap: Steelers O-line situation in shambles
Don’t let anyone fool you. Don’t let anyone spin it another way or serve it to you on any platter but the following one: The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive tackle situation is a damn disaster right now. It is a guessing game mixed with hope and, for good measure, a dash of blind faith thrown in. Even in a best-case scenario, the Steelers were going to barrel into this season with a gigantic unknown quotient on the far ends of that line.
Dunlap: James Pierre will shine for Steelers
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Detroit Lions quarterback David Blough (10) is tackled Photo credit © Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports Get #OldTakesExposed ready. Save this, because I know just how much you love when us media guys and gals are wrong about things. Get it ready --- pounce if I’m incorrect. Have a field day with this hot take if it turns out wholly improper. OK, here goes … James Pierre is going to be really good for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season.
Dunlap: The Left Tackle Better Be Really Good
Chukwuma Okorafor Photo credit © handout photo Chukwuma Okorafor. “Chooks.” Or is it “Chuks” of “Chucks” --- hell, I don’t know the official way most people go about spelling out his unofficial name; I’ll just go with Mr. Okorafor. Anyhow, Mr. Okorafor better be really good this season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’m not talking about average or a slight tick above average.
Dunlap: Tomlin needs to be flexible with Najee Harris
Hey Mike, slow down a bit here. Look, I like the dedication to Najee Harris and the way Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has done exactly what he should have done --- how he firmly stomped his foot down and exclaimed the rookie from Alabama is the man in the backfield for this franchise since the very moment he stepped into the Steel City. Good. That’s how it should be. Big move by Big Mike. But slow down with this whole “Najee is going to get work in all four preseason games” stuff, Mike.
Dunlap: Just Enjoy the Olympics, OK
An overall view of the skate park as Funa Nakayama (JPN) Photo credit © Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports I’m exhausted by it.the games. Totally done with the silly debate -- or will be after this column. Why are there so many people who want to debate the merits of the Olympics? Why must so many Boomers yell and scream and complain about some endeavor "not being a sport" or that it is "ridiculous" another event is part of the Games?
Dunlap: Deion Sanders Is Acting Like A Fool
Deion Sanders Photo credit © Eric Shelton/Clarion Ledger via Imagn Content Services, LLC I was kind of rooting for Deion Sanders as he embarks on this coaching thing. Until yesterday. Now I’m indifferent at best and, perhaps, maybe even rooting against the guy. You’ve most likely seen the video by now. The second-year coach at Jackson State was settled in to do his media availability at SWAC media day when things went quickly --- and catastrophically --- wrong.
Dunlap: How Soft Can We Get?
Oklahoma Sooners spirit squad hold their hands in a downward Hook 'em Horns Photo credit (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) I have found it. It is example 2,904,876 (actually it might be example 2,904,877) of how soft we are getting. This one very well could take the cake --- it is a first-ballot, unanimous Hall of Fame entrant into the Please Don’t Hurt My Fragile Feelings Hall of Fame. Man, this is amazing.
Dunlap: NLI Issue Making The Rich Even Richer
DJ Ivey #8 celebrates with Dee Wiggins #8 Photo credit (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) I don’t know much about a man named Dan Lambert. Heck, hadn’t even heard of him until Wednesday morning. But you know what? I like his style, I like it a whole lot. I also wonder just how much a man like Lambert --- and more to the point his money --- is ever going to anything but widen the divide between the haves and have not programs in college football.
Dunlap: Should There Be Worry About DeCastro?
David DeCastro Photo credit © Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports What’s going on with Steelers guard David DeCastro? That is a really valid question. And with it comes no hint of an answer. But does it seem to you there is starting to be a little too much smoke around the situation for there to not be any fire at all? Sure feels that way to me. Is something definitely up? Can’t say that. But this has become odd. Like, really odd.
Dunlap: Unvaccinated NFL Players Will Have Rough Road
Save it for someone else. Email them, call them, text them and/or tweet them about your vaccination beliefs. I don’t want to hear it as this isn’t a sounding board or space for debate on the topic. We all have our opinions and they are best served being voiced somewhere other than to me or by me. But I know this as fact: The National Football League is going to make it damn near impossible for an unvaccinated player to compete during the 2021 season. Was that their aim and goal? In a way, kind of.
Dunlap: Devin Bush better have better season
Devin Bush Photo credit © Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports By The Fan Morning Show and Colin Dunlap Devin Bush is very sure about Devin Bush. That’s a good thing. Self-confidence in sports is something to be applauded and, in many ways, something you must have if you want to maximize your potential. Heck, I’m not against even faking a little self-confidence from time to time if the situation permits.
Dunlap: He's Just … Tunch
Offensive lineman Tunch Ilkin of the Pittsburgh Steelers Photo credit Otto Greule Jr. /Allsport By Colin Dunlap and The Fan Morning Show I don’t know Tunch. But I feel like I know Tunch. If you’re from Pittsburgh you know exactly what I mean. And you know exactly who I mean. He’s just … Tunch. He’s that well-known, that celebrated and distinguished that he can go by just that one name … Tunch. Oh, it helps you probably don’t know anyone else named Tunch, but that’s beside the point.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Colin
Contact Colin, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack