A superb high school quarterback during his days at Clymer/Sherman/Panama, he knows those dreams won’t come true under center.

But the 2020 Panama Central School and 2024 Washington & Jefferson College graduate may take another route.

Hinsdale was recently named coordinator of recruiting operations at the University of Pittsburgh.

“It’s a new position that was created,” Hinsdale said Monday evening. “There are a few different things on my plate. During the season, I’m more into the operations side of things: travel for our staff and players, and helping (associate athletic director) Chris LaSala.”

Gerrit Hinsdale returned to the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse last weekend with the Pitt football team. Hinsdale quarterbacked Clymer/Sherman/Panama to Class D state titles inside the stadium in 2018 and 2019. Submitted photo

After leading the Wolfpack to back-to-back state titles in 2018 and 2019, Hinsdale played for Presidents head coach Mike Sirianni in Washington, Pennsylvania, from 2020-23.

“The entire time the mindset was always football. I knew I was going to give football a shot and if it didn’t work out, I could fall back on a very broad degree,” Hinsdale said. “Football was always the No. 1 thing and the selling point for going to W&J; working with Coach Sirianni and building a great relationship to get more contacts in the football world.”

Following graduation with a bachelor’s in business administration and a minor in communications, life after football for Hinsdale began in February 2024 as a recruiting intern at Western Michigan University.

“While I was substitute teaching at Panama right after school, I was scrolling through LinkedIn and emailing Power 4 schools, but I never heard anything back,” Hinsdale said. “WMU had posted something about needing recruiting interns so I reached out to them and they were very quick in the interview process. … I got my start unpaid, long hours and a lot of nitty gritty work, but that has ended up benefiting me in the long run so far.”

In August 2024, Hinsdale was hired as a recruiting analyst at Pitt before his promotion this summer.

For 2020 Panama graduate Gerrit Hinsdale, “the dream has always been to get to the NFL and work as a general manager or in the front office making high-level decisions for an organization.” Submitted photo

“Day to day during the season, I evaluated guys in my area — in Ohio from Toledo down to Cincinnati and Dayton — and in Western New York,” Hinsdale said. “I’ll evaluate guys in their junior year, screen them to see if they are good enough to play at Pitt, then send them along to position coaches, coordinators and the head coach.”

Hinsdale’s promotion even caught the eye of his former college coach, who happens to be the brother of Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni.

“Start of a great career,” Mike Sirianni said on X. “So proud of this young man.”

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Thus far this fall, Hinsdale has seen some pretty good football played by the Panthers. Pitt is in the midst of a three-game winning streak with true freshman Mason Heintschel at quarterback.

“I wasn’t here for his official visit, but I was here for his senior year gameday visit,” Hinsdale said of Heintschel. “Michigan tried to poach him on signing day and we did a good job as a staff, as a whole, getting him to stay here at Pitt.”

The current run of success started with a 48-7 win over Boston College at Acrisure Stadium before the Panthers went on the road to beat No. 25 Florida State in Tallahassee. Pitt then beat Syracuse 30-13 at the JMA Wireless Dome, coincidentally where the Wolfpack won their back-to-back state championships with Hinsdale at the helm.

“I was at the dome last weekend. It was very emotional being back there,” Hinsdale said. “It was a full-circle moment because of all of my memories there … and I still haven’t lost there.”

The Panthers are currently 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. They will host North Carolina State this Saturday before traveling to Stanford on Nov. 1. Pitt still has home games against Notre Dame and Miami on the schedule.

“Certain games are bigger. We did a study, if you look at our 2025 recruiting class, the guys who committed usually came to a game. It’s a big deal to get guys on campus,” Hinsdale said. “This weekend we are trying to take advantage of the Penn State firing. We’ll have some guys on official visits. … Notre Dame and Miami are coming. It’ll be good for recruits to see how packed this place can get.”

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Originally, Hinsdale wanted to get to the NFL as quickly as possible, but his few seasons at the collegiate ranks have encouraged him to take his time.

“The dream has always been to get to the NFL and work as a general manager or in the front office making high-level decisions for an organization,” Hinsdale said. “I don’t think the dream has changed, but I think rushing to get to the league is not as big of a priority for me right now.

“I think treating college sports like the minor leagues is the way I’ve been looking at it,” he added. “For now, be where my feet are and perfect what I need to do to get to the next level.”