At what point does Heather oust Cignetti?

[djbpitt]

I'm not a fan of ADs meddling in coaching staff issues. But, at some point after the season, she has a responsibility to make sure that one of her highest-paid assistant coaches is productive and earning his money. Because, at some point, an anemic offense costs us fan attendance, recruits and merchandise sales.

In private industry (which, admittedly, is not a perfect comparison), there are usually consequences for being highly paid and underperforming.

 

[jivecat]

She doesn't.......they tried to do that with Wanny and he walked. Narduzzi is not going to stand for that either.

 

[HopeandChangeforAntoons]

It really doesn’t matter what you or I think. The only person that can answer that question is the bartender at your local Applebees.

 

[HailtoPitt]

She won't touch that. And she shouldn't.

Duzz needs to make a good hire next time around

 

[thebadby2]

That just doesn’t happen, not the way it works. The head coach at any program is autonomous with hiring and firing staff. . She can, however, tell Cig’s knucklehead boss that he’d better take the offense and its personnel quality up a notch by whatever means necessary, or start looking for his next job as a DC somewhere. Not sure if Dooz just isn’t afraid of being fired because of his large buyout or not, but Heather needs to demand better out of him. He gets paid a lot of money to put a good product on the field. Hopefully that conversation has already happened.

 

[forbesfield]

I think it all depends on whether or not Heather thinks she'll be here much longer.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Just my opinion, but he might as well make his next OC hire based on recruiting prowess. I don't think he has much of an eye for a good offensive system. And I'm sure most OC's are similar enough where it's the players on the field who will determine the success of the system. And there's the fact that if he did luck into bringing in some young genius he'd be gone soon anyway (I normally hate that line of thinking; I'm just saying).

Get somebody who appeals to recruits and can get you some talent on that side of the ball. If you start bringing in legit talent - particularly at QB - then you can keep doing your recycling through OC's bit, and it won't matter as much.

 

[PittMan2003]

I don’t know if he’s connected but jj kitchen was saying lyke would be active in getting rid of cignetti. I took it with a grain of salt but he has been right about other stuff.

 

[Dointhatrag]

She only ousts the OC if he does something against school policy, not anything based on performance. Duzz is the manager and his reports are his responsbility.

 

[Hardslider21]

Maybe it’s just me, but looking around at other college teams. Most OC’s are really only responsible for recruiting the QB’s. I don’t see too many OC’s being listed as the primary recruiter for the skill guy’s. Do the talk to them, while sure they do. But mainly they are just visiting the QB’s.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

I don’t know if he’s connected but jj kitchen was saying lyke would be active in getting rid of cignetti. I took it with a grain of salt but he has been right about other stuff.

I would assume that decision would have negative implications on future head coaching hires.

Nobody would want to take a head coaching job under her if she tried to fire anyone other than the head coach for lack of performance.

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

I would assume that decision would have negative implications on future head coaching hires.

Nobody would want to take a head coaching job under her if she tried to fire anyone other than they head coach for lack of performance.

Correct. It’s bad for current and future. She can ask questions and ask what’s being done to improve the offense, the QB room, whatever. But the head coach should make the decisions then the AD can decide if the head coach stays or goes.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

She doesn't.......they tried to do that with Wanny and he walked. Narduzzi is not going to stand for that either.

huh? Wanny didn't walk, he thought Nordenberg had his back and he didn't. He was fired by Pederson

 

[h2p_5150]

She's probably just hoping Pat rights the ship before OSU has second thoughts about her resume

 

[pittdan77]

I'll be honest, when Cignetti's contract comes up, the conversation should be, "What do you think you need to improve the program?", and go from there. There are a lot of things we don't know about how Cignetti came to Pitt (was a very late hire) and we don't know if Duzz could have done better with a bigger bank roll.

 

[Cap pitt]

in my opinion I think it’s time to replace Narduzzi, he just can’t seem to get the program over the hump, to the next level, yea I believe it’s time, I also think some commits will decommit. 2021 was a good year winning the acc championship, that should have been something to build off of, instead he went backwards , the program is stuck in just little over over mediocrity, I like duzz but, he’s not getting it done, he also needs to lose his arroganc, I hate starting over but I think it needs to be done, and if this program does not improve I think it will happen at the end of the year

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

in my opinion I think it’s time to replace Narduzzi, he just can’t seem to get the program over the hump, to the next level, yea I believe it’s time, I also think some commits will decommit. 2021 was a good year winning the acc championship, that should have been something to build off of, instead he went backwards , the program is stuck in just little over over mediocrity, I like duzz but, he’s not getting it done, he also needs to lose his arroganc, I hate starting over but I think it needs to be done, and if this program does not improve I think it will happen at the end of the year

I detect a little "immediacy bias" in play here.

 

[thebadby2]

Maybe it’s just me, but looking around at other college teams. Most OC’s are really only responsible for recruiting the QB’s. I don’t see too many OC’s being listed as the primary recruiter for the skill guy’s. Do the talk to them, while sure they do. But mainly they are just visiting the QB’s.

That's generally correct.

 

[Dointhatrag]

Had we played a schedule like Syracuse has so far this year we would likely be 4-0 and none of these conversations would even be happening.

colgate
w mich
@purdue
army

 

[303vND]

She has every right to add her input regarding the coaching staff - that's her job. She's the chief executive of the entire athletic program and that includes assistant coaches. She may not directly say fire him but I'm sure she can "encourage" Nard to look in another direction.

 

[pafootballguy]

I think it all depends on whether or not Heather thinks she'll be here much longer.

It doesn't matter doing something like that will follow her to the next job and make hiring elite coaches in any sport really hard.

 

[pierre93]

She has every right to add her input regarding the coaching staff - that's her job. She's the chief executive of the entire athletic program and that includes assistant coaches. She may not directly say fire him but I'm sure she can "encourage" Nard to look in another direction.

The hire shouldn't of been made in the first place. Would love to hit Cignetti in the head with the wvcc goal post he has. If an assistant coach from wvcc had memorabilia from our 13-9 win how would that sit with the hoopie fan base? You know the answer H2P

 

[pierre93]

It doesn't matter doing something like that will follow her to the next job and make hiring elite coaches in any sport really hard.

Well major donors get the say too. HL has to play the game

 

[pafootballguy]

Well major donors get the say too. HL has to play the game

Doing something because the money people want change is not great optics either and can hold a program back.

 

[NatronaHeightsPanther]

Heather would never publicly do it. She would probably strongly suggest it to Narduzzi and let him decide, at his own peril.

 

[pierre93]

Doing something because the money people want change is not great optics either and can hold a program back.

How can the offense be held back any more???

 

[pafootballguy]

How can the offense be held back any more???

Yes, they can force change but what happens when Pitt needs to replace PN in the future, what coach with other options will want to come into a program where the AD and/or donors are forcing changes to their staffs? Forcing change may help next year or for the next couple but would ultimately hurt the program in the long run.

 

[jivecat]

Now....if Bickell said something to Narduzzi.....that would be different.

 

[happjack]

Had we played a schedule like Syracuse has so far this year we would likely be 4-0 and none of these conversations would even be happening.

colgate
w mich
@purdue
army

Pitt would be 2-2 or even 1-3 with that schedule, even Toothpaste U wouldn't be a gimme.

 

[buckage]

That just doesn’t happen, not the way it works. The head coach at any program is autonomous with hiring and firing staff. . She can, however, tell Cig’s knucklehead boss that he’d better take the offense and its personnel quality up a notch by whatever means necessary, or start looking for his next job as a DC somewhere. Not sure if Dooz just isn’t afraid of being fired because of his large buyout or not, but Heather needs to demand better out of him. He gets paid a lot of money to put a good product on the field. Hopefully that conversation has already happened.

Coaches are told to make changes all the time. Duzz can tell her to pound salt and then she needs to make another decision.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

Had we played a schedule like Syracuse has so far this year we would likely be 4-0 and none of these conversations would even be happening.

colgate
w mich
@purdue
army

We lost to WMU not very long ago and Purdue is exactly the kind of game we lose. 2-2 instead of 1-3, big deal, the conference is the goal anyway.

 

[Islanderpanther]

She doesn't.......they tried to do that with Wanny and he walked. Narduzzi is not going to stand for that either.

Then he can leave…

 

[Hardslider21]

Had we played a schedule like Syracuse has so far this year we would likely be 4-0 and none of these conversations would even be happening.

colgate
w mich
@purdue
army

What’s wrong with Colgate? Damn fine teeth products! 😂

 

[PittPharm2002]

She doesn't.......they tried to do that with Wanny and he walked. Narduzzi is not going to stand for that either.

We couldn’t get lucky enough for Narduzzi to walk .
Wanny was fired - but they let him resign for optics .
It ended up burning Pitt because he’s a petty

 

[PittPharm2002]

We lost to WMU not very long ago and Purdue is exactly the kind of game we lose. 2-2 instead of 1-3, big deal, the conference is the goal anyway.

We lost to WMU is the best season we’ve had in 40 years .

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

We couldn’t get lucky enough for Narduzzi to walk .
Wanny was fired - but they let him resign for optics .
It ended up burning Pitt because he’s a petty

so someone else is just going to ride in and be able to recruit at a top 20 level with 30K empty yellow seats at home games, a conference that is perceived to be less prestigious than the Big10 and SEC, a dwindling local recruiting base, of which the few talent that is decent immediately looks for a spot in one the "prestige" conferences, and a hostile local media that constantly ridicules the hometown school.

Please quit self-prescribing yourself the medication, or maybe give some to the rest of us.

 

[Islanderpanther]

Yes, they can force change but what happens when Pitt needs to replace PN in the future, what coach with other options will want to come into a program where the AD and/or donors are forcing changes to their staffs? Forcing change may help next year or for the next couple but would ultimately hurt the program in the long run.

Coaches are smart… they know the Cignetti hire was horrible. They’re not going to hold it against an AD who forced the HC to rectify a horrendous mistake.

 

[thebadby2]

so someone else is just going to ride in and be able to recruit at a top 20 level with 30K empty yellow seats at home games, a conference that is perceived to be less prestigious than the Big10 and SEC, a dwindling local recruiting base, of which the few talent that is decent immediately looks for a spot in one the "prestige" conferences, and a hostile local media that constantly ridicules the hometown school.

Please quit self-prescribing yourself the medication, or maybe give some to the rest of us.

If you think Narduzzi’s shoes would be too big to fill, you may need some of those meds.

That stadium has 30,000 empty seats in it and Pitt struggles to recruit because the product is consistently boring and generally irrelevant. Narduzzi was hired to change that. He hasn’t.

 

[pittmeister]

My thoughts:

1. Narduzzi is not going anywhere.

2. Narduzzi will fire Cignetti at years end. He won’t need any encouragement from Heather.

3. Most of all, as soon as Narduzzi realizes that he can’t hang his hat on the 2021 season forever and that the alumni (Chris Bickell) aren’t his friends, he’ll lose some air in his inflated ego.

Sure, the alumni will laugh, shake his hand and slap him on the back, but they’re loyal to Pitt and only Pitt.

 

[Pitt2006]

It would be the most PiTT thing for Duzz to bolt to MsU and then heather to appoint Cigs as interim head coach.