Things are coming into focus in Pitt’s search for an offensive coordinator.
From what we’ve been told, there are three primary candidates that Pat Narduzzi has focused on right now (in alphabetical order):
Kade Bell - Western Carolina offensive coordinator
Mack Leftwich - Texas State offensive coordinator
Mike Yurcich - former Penn State offensive coordinator
As best as I can piece it together, the timeline has more or less gone like this over the last two weeks:
On Sunday, Nov. 26, Narduzzi fired Frank Cignetti. Over the course of the next week, he identified candidates and conducted preliminary calls with at least a half-dozen (probably more) potential targets.
From there, Narduzzi moved on to the first round of interviews. These interviews were probably all virtual, and I think the three coaches mentioned above plus others such as Georgia pass game coordinator/receivers coach Bryan McClendon, Boise State offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan and likely more took part in those interviews.
EDIT: I was reminded that there is some indication Bell was in town last weekend. So his interview may have happened in-person. I'm still hearing that he is expected to come back for a final in-person interview.
(Memphis offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey was involved here as well; whether that was a preliminary call or a virtual interview, I can’t say. But I’ve heard from more people than I can count that he declined the opportunity because he wants to stay in Memphis for family reasons.)
Now it appears that Narduzzi has narrowed the list to the three listed above and will look to bring them to Pittsburgh next week for in-person interviews.
I know what stands out the most here:
In-person interviews next week
That puts the overall timeline for the search and hire into mid or even late next week, which would be closing in on the three-week mark since Cignetti was fired. I have to say, I believed a hire would be made sooner than that. I said it would be done by Signing Day on Dec. 20, but I didn’t think it would get close to that deadline. Now it looks like it might end up being less than a week before Signing Day.
That still allows Narduzzi to have his new offensive coordinator on campus next weekend for official visits with transfers and potential recruits (quarterback commit Julian Dugger, among others, is scheduled to visit that weekend). So the new coordinator doesn’t necessarily have to miss the pre-Signing Day recruiting period. But still, it would probably have been ideal to get it done sooner.
We can talk another time about the mechanics of transfer portal evaluation and recruiting, and we discussed previously about college teams moving more and more toward an NFL model with GM’s and personnel people handling most of the roster construction - that takes a little bit of the urgency off rushing the hire.
But it doesn’t take all the urgency out of the equation, and while there might not be quite as much downside in waiting, there’s also no upside. And beyond recruiting and transfers, there’s also the matter of current players; I have to believe there are at least a few guys on the offensive side of the ball who are waiting to see who gets hired before they decide on whether or not to return to Pitt next season.
So it would be in everybody’s best interest to get the hire made sooner rather than later, but that’s the timeline things seem to be on.
Still, I think everyone would agree that Narduzzi absolutely has to get this hire right; it’s the most important hire of his career, so if he feels like he needs some extra time to get the right guy, then I suppose he should be afforded that.
As for the three candidates who appear to be finalists…
Bell has been the offensive coordinator on his father’s staff at Western Carolina for the last three years, and the Catamounts sported the top offense, statistically, in FCS last year.
Leftwich just finished his first year as offensive coordinator at Texas State, where he was hired after GJ Kinne took the head coaching job there last offseason. Leftwich and Kinne worked together at Incarnate Word prior to Texas State, and at both stops, they put together a very prolific offense.
Yurcich is probably the name we’ve talked about least on the board (particularly in the last two days), but he’s a very real candidate at this time, from what I’m told. We all know that things didn’t end well for him at Penn State this year (he was fired midseason, which was a fate some were hoping would be replicated in Pitt’s situation), but prior to 2023, he was considered among the better coordinators in college football. I don’t think the last season took all the shine off of that reputation.
Yurcich is different from Bell and Leftwich in a few ways - most notably his age and experience. Whereas Leftwich and Bell graduated from college in the last decade, Yurcich has been a college coach for a quarter-century and an offensive coordinator for nearly 20 years. He called plays at Texas and Oklahoma State in addition to being on staff at Ohio State prior to getting hired in State College, and he’s even got some local ties in that he went to Cal (Pa.) for undergrad.
He was also the coordinator at Oklahoma State when the Cowboys used RPO’s to perfection in lighting up Pitt’s defense in 2016 and 2017, if you want some idea of his offense.
So who will Narduzzi hire among that group? That remains to be seen. I believe he wants to bring in all three of those guys for interviews next week, but I’ve been told that Leftwich is not interested in leaving Texas at this point, so he could decline that next step. If that’s the case, it would leave Bell and Yurcich as the top two candidates.
Overall, I think all of these guys - Bell, Leftwich and Yurcich, as well as the other targets we’ve mentioned in the last two weeks - are quite a departure from Cignetti and, really, most of the coordinators Narduzzi has hired. So I think it’s a positive that he appears to be branching out after two seasons in which the offense was to blame for pretty much every loss. The timeline may not be what most have been hoping for, but there does seem to be a pattern and intention in how Narduzzi has conducted this search.
As always, things can change. But as we sit here on Friday morning, I believe those are the three finalists and a hire will be made next week (which means you can expect an announcement this afternoon that Narduzzi has hired someone who has not been named yet).
From what we’ve been told, there are three primary candidates that Pat Narduzzi has focused on right now (in alphabetical order):
Kade Bell - Western Carolina offensive coordinator
Mack Leftwich - Texas State offensive coordinator
Mike Yurcich - former Penn State offensive coordinator
As best as I can piece it together, the timeline has more or less gone like this over the last two weeks:
On Sunday, Nov. 26, Narduzzi fired Frank Cignetti. Over the course of the next week, he identified candidates and conducted preliminary calls with at least a half-dozen (probably more) potential targets.
From there, Narduzzi moved on to the first round of interviews. These interviews were probably all virtual, and I think the three coaches mentioned above plus others such as Georgia pass game coordinator/receivers coach Bryan McClendon, Boise State offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan and likely more took part in those interviews.
EDIT: I was reminded that there is some indication Bell was in town last weekend. So his interview may have happened in-person. I'm still hearing that he is expected to come back for a final in-person interview.
(Memphis offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey was involved here as well; whether that was a preliminary call or a virtual interview, I can’t say. But I’ve heard from more people than I can count that he declined the opportunity because he wants to stay in Memphis for family reasons.)
Now it appears that Narduzzi has narrowed the list to the three listed above and will look to bring them to Pittsburgh next week for in-person interviews.
I know what stands out the most here:
In-person interviews next week
That puts the overall timeline for the search and hire into mid or even late next week, which would be closing in on the three-week mark since Cignetti was fired. I have to say, I believed a hire would be made sooner than that. I said it would be done by Signing Day on Dec. 20, but I didn’t think it would get close to that deadline. Now it looks like it might end up being less than a week before Signing Day.
That still allows Narduzzi to have his new offensive coordinator on campus next weekend for official visits with transfers and potential recruits (quarterback commit Julian Dugger, among others, is scheduled to visit that weekend). So the new coordinator doesn’t necessarily have to miss the pre-Signing Day recruiting period. But still, it would probably have been ideal to get it done sooner.
We can talk another time about the mechanics of transfer portal evaluation and recruiting, and we discussed previously about college teams moving more and more toward an NFL model with GM’s and personnel people handling most of the roster construction - that takes a little bit of the urgency off rushing the hire.
But it doesn’t take all the urgency out of the equation, and while there might not be quite as much downside in waiting, there’s also no upside. And beyond recruiting and transfers, there’s also the matter of current players; I have to believe there are at least a few guys on the offensive side of the ball who are waiting to see who gets hired before they decide on whether or not to return to Pitt next season.
So it would be in everybody’s best interest to get the hire made sooner rather than later, but that’s the timeline things seem to be on.
Still, I think everyone would agree that Narduzzi absolutely has to get this hire right; it’s the most important hire of his career, so if he feels like he needs some extra time to get the right guy, then I suppose he should be afforded that.
As for the three candidates who appear to be finalists…
Bell has been the offensive coordinator on his father’s staff at Western Carolina for the last three years, and the Catamounts sported the top offense, statistically, in FCS last year.
Leftwich just finished his first year as offensive coordinator at Texas State, where he was hired after GJ Kinne took the head coaching job there last offseason. Leftwich and Kinne worked together at Incarnate Word prior to Texas State, and at both stops, they put together a very prolific offense.
Yurcich is probably the name we’ve talked about least on the board (particularly in the last two days), but he’s a very real candidate at this time, from what I’m told. We all know that things didn’t end well for him at Penn State this year (he was fired midseason, which was a fate some were hoping would be replicated in Pitt’s situation), but prior to 2023, he was considered among the better coordinators in college football. I don’t think the last season took all the shine off of that reputation.
Yurcich is different from Bell and Leftwich in a few ways - most notably his age and experience. Whereas Leftwich and Bell graduated from college in the last decade, Yurcich has been a college coach for a quarter-century and an offensive coordinator for nearly 20 years. He called plays at Texas and Oklahoma State in addition to being on staff at Ohio State prior to getting hired in State College, and he’s even got some local ties in that he went to Cal (Pa.) for undergrad.
He was also the coordinator at Oklahoma State when the Cowboys used RPO’s to perfection in lighting up Pitt’s defense in 2016 and 2017, if you want some idea of his offense.
So who will Narduzzi hire among that group? That remains to be seen. I believe he wants to bring in all three of those guys for interviews next week, but I’ve been told that Leftwich is not interested in leaving Texas at this point, so he could decline that next step. If that’s the case, it would leave Bell and Yurcich as the top two candidates.
Overall, I think all of these guys - Bell, Leftwich and Yurcich, as well as the other targets we’ve mentioned in the last two weeks - are quite a departure from Cignetti and, really, most of the coordinators Narduzzi has hired. So I think it’s a positive that he appears to be branching out after two seasons in which the offense was to blame for pretty much every loss. The timeline may not be what most have been hoping for, but there does seem to be a pattern and intention in how Narduzzi has conducted this search.
As always, things can change. But as we sit here on Friday morning, I believe those are the three finalists and a hire will be made next week (which means you can expect an announcement this afternoon that Narduzzi has hired someone who has not been named yet).
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