You might be the most delusional person I have read post. She is 100% more likely to get an extension than she is to get run off. The same idiots who want to run her off wanted to run Dixon off as well.
2 sports matter at Pitt. I am simply saying if we go 0-20, she is gone. However, Pitt will NOT go 0-20.
Like investing in stocks /
He’s owed too much money and the boosters weren’t willing to pay it.
Amazes me how Gallagher and Lyke are measured by their hiring of a basketball coach. Remember there were several coaches considered and Capel wasn’t the first. It wasn’t the most desirable job and still isn’t, perhaps more so now. Who would they get if he is fired?
I’d say either way the optics are bad, but option two looks cheap and small time in addition to bad. The kind of move a resource-poor athletic department would make out of necessity.
I believe you and have no doubt the meeting took place.
Maybe Dixon was done at Pitt. But over a decade of success as an assistant and HC earned him a longer leash with fans and the admin to try to turn things around.
I don’t get why some Pitt fans are so insistent on diminishing a freaking ACC championship by talking about Pickett’s extra year. If they had changed the RS rule we’d have had Pickett. How is that any different. Was Pitt the only school allowed to grant an extra covid year?
Dixon always seemed too sensitive. He would take subtle shots at people who criticized his schedule or style of play. I'm sure he felt that how dare any Pitt fan or booster be concerned about the direction of the program after all he accomplished. I can see that point of view but he had to realize from a fan/booster standpoint the program was slipping. It wasnt slipping enough to warrant him getting fired but I think he felt so betrayed by Pitt and Pittsburgh that he wanted out.
I'm just saying that there was a good bit of luck there. You could say Narduzzi is a very average coach who got lucky due to the Covid rule. If he wins 10 again, that changes.
Everyone had the same rules. Every team that wins a championship has some kind of luck along the way.
Right now, that's what he is. He has a chance to disprove that. Many, many average coaches won due to a generational player. Chizik at Auburn with Cam Newton is an example.
Likewise calling him an outstanding coach based on one season that exceeded expectations isn’t the smartest position. He doesn’t need to win an ACC championship and 11 games every year, but if he’s able to sustain a reasonable level of success and finish as a top 20-25 team most years, he will have earned that designation.
My hope is that some day this idiotic fanbase will come to their senses and realize a good thing when they have it. I have little confidence in this though, and fully expect the pitch forks and torches if Narduzzi finishes 8-5. Then, we can go hire the football version of Jeff Capel.
You are absolutely correct! They give absurd extensions to coaches who haven’t proven themselves, but then aren’t satisfied when a coach is doing a good job. It should be the complete opposite. You should reward and reinvest in the coach and program when things are going well. Truly bizarre.
There was also the fact that it was a year where the alpha dog in the league was way down, and mighty Wake Forest was the biggest obstacle to a league championship. It was a one off year for the league and pretending it wasn’t is delusional. Let’s see what happens in the next few years. If Dooz can sustain solid success, which does not necessarily mean league championships, but does mean 9 wins (not including a bowl win) and a year-end ranking, he will put an end to the debate as to his abilities as a coach. The opposite is also true. He has the momentum right now, he has his program on solid ground, let’s see if he can ride it.
That's more than half the battle for a coach. He's built a good culture, a deep roster, and made Pitt a place good players want to come.
Narduzzi appears to be heading in the right direction but these next couple years are big. He needs to build off the momentum. If he starts going 8-4, 7-5, 6-6, he will be known as an average coach who got lucky due to the covid rule.
I wish I could see 6-8 wins, no ranking, some embarrassing losses, no bowls 3rd tier bowl games (and losses in them) and no national relevance in 6 out of a coaches 7 years as indicia of a good coaching job, but crazily enough, I can’t.
Too strong of a word, or perhaps it was just a "different time" , or pre-Howland/Dixon expectations.
Capel has been an unmitigated disaster by every measure, I thought we were talking about Narduzzi here.
You're awful dramatic. I said calling him average is idiotic. I never said he was outstanding.
His accomplishments prior to last season were decidedly average within the context of P5 football. The 2018 Coastal championship was a joke. That was a year where he went 7-7, lost to 2-9 UNC, did not beat a ranked team, got absolutely curb stomped at home by arch-enemy PSU, and was not even competitive in his last two conference games.
Chryst was below average. Below .500 conference records. Narduzzi was average until this year.This is the picture of average at Pitt, not Narduzzi
If you go 8-5 at Pitt, then you are doing well. It is a challenging job to win at Pitt.
$0
Bowl games, I don't really count. 8-4 or better most years. Above average. 7-5 most years - average. 6-6 below average
