This! I was big on both as well, but I live in reality and both are doing below avg job and Duzz is a joke as well
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This! I was big on both as well, but I live in reality and both are doing below avg job and Duzz is a joke as well
Blawhahah... So those who question the AD who hired and extended, HCPN from good ole' Youngstown, who belittles the media for asking football questions? Who once responded after being questioned about unnecessary roughness penalties with "That was our goal, 60 minutes of unnecessary roughness ", the same AD who oversees a basketball program with non stop F-bombs and everything "Sucks" language, numerous technical fouls, complete with the criminal element (film at 11) have a toxic masculinity problem?
Go back to the camp fire, hold hands with your boyfriend and sing Kumbya, leave the defense of the AD up to her , she is more than capable without this BS.
PLEASE STOP DEFENDING NARDUZZI!! HE IS NOT A GOOD COACH!!
You should see the pay board. I swear I guess paying $9.95 a month turns you into an eternal optimist. I mean the whole team could transfer and you'd have the majority over there claiming Capel is on the right path.
No doubt, stop stop stop defending him. We lost to Boston College...football is a total train wreck.
We lost to wake forest in basketball. I expected that in year 2 of Forbes, but not one.
Poker, that may be true. Having said that, one must consider who can we get to coach football, or basketball for that matter, and recruit better than we are. Both programs seem to have a cap on the level of recruit we can get to come here. I am not sure we can get or afford to pay the type of coach it would take to change that.
Narduzzi is not a great coach, but at least he does get some really good defensive talent. Capel has found it much harder to recruit good players here than he ever thought he would. I doubt he takes this job if he knew ahead of time how tough recruiting has proven to be. There probably isn't a coach alive who can bring a top center here without having the proverbial bagman.
With our record of hiring coaches, I would simply offer a "be careful what you wish for".
Dejuan Blair, Chris Taft, Aaron Gray, and Steven Adams all say hi.
The football program is in a much better position at this point. 5th year QB, ton of defensive talent returning, coming off the best recruiting class in a long time. Plus, there are a lot of quality, desired coaches on the staff like Partridge, Marion, Sanders, and Collins. And the players love Narduzzi and it seems like they have minimal guys go into the portal each year.
Compare that with 0 commits, 3 year PG into the portal, and the general negative vibe around the basketball program right now...
The only difference is that Capel could change all of that with 2-3 good recruits where it takes so much more in football.
Compare that with 0 commits, 3 year PG into the portal, and the general negative vibe around the basketball program right now...
The only difference is that Capel could change all of that with 2-3 good recruits where it takes so much more in football.
I don't think I have ever seen a positive post about a single sport, player or person at Pitt other than yourself.
Life is too short to be that negative all the time.
I’ve started multiple threads about the season Justin is having, when X played well, when Capel was hired, etc. I’m sure you just chose to ignore them.
We’ve hit a giant iceberg. We’re sinking. I’m sorry I’m not happy about it like you.
On surface I agree that the timing of the extensions was headscratching, but do we know the actual terms of the extended contracts? She might have been able to negotiate favorable terms (locking in salaries for a number of years without raises, restructuring their salaries to be more performance based/bonus heavy as a way to demand more wins, lowering the buyouts, etc.) given that the two head coaches were coming off disappointing years. So the move could have been designed to give the appearance of stability but at the same time creating easier outs for the university.
Agreed. But I would guess since the football and basketball offices have taken omerta’s to not let anything leak we will never know and have to assume based on previous contracts.
It hurts to admit but I think this is true about the football team. I'm skeptical that it's possible to bring in anyone that would be a consistent 10 game winner. Narduzzi isn't an electrifying coach but we're never embarrassing and we usually compete for the ACC Coastal. We, like basically everyone in college football (even PSU at this point), have a hard ceiling that keeps us out of the BCS games. Time to accept reality. That's just the way it is.
Let me ask you this question. Where you against the Capel hire when it was announced? Or did you think it was a good hire? If so, why? Be honest.
14 of those games were against Clemson, Notre Dame, Penn State, Oklahoma State, and UCF. Those teams averaged like 10 wins per year among them. What's his record against the ACC Coastal, you know, our actual peers?
Not speaking for anyone but myself, but I loved the Capel hire. Was at opening press conference. Had me excited about Pitt basketball again. Then I saw the staff. And everything since has soured me on the hire.
This is where I have to hand it to Heather (and Pat) in regards to the football program. The financial commitment to retain top assistants (partridge) and be able to hire guys like Marion, Beatty, etc who were coveted guys and seem like home runs has kept me interested. We know it’s a long shot for us to get to a certain level in football but as long as they’re doing those things and recruiting goes up we can hopefully incrementally get better. And viewing future pros is at least enjoyable for me.
Losing X is not hitting a giant iceberg. The team stopped progressing with him at the PG - it was time for a change.
I am not happy about it, but we are still in a better place than we were 3 years ago. Obviously like most people a bit concerned, but still willing to give the staff a chance to right the ship. I liked X, but I think the first class was thrown together at the last minute and weren't really the types of players Capel wanted to bring here.
I think guys like Femi/AKC/Jeffress are more the type he wanted to recruit, but Trey/X were definitely me first not team first guys. Capel still needs to increase the talent level but a core next year of Femi/Horton/Jeffress/AKC/Toney/Nike and/or Champ is a pretty solid 6-7 man rotation - we really need a big that can rebound and a back up PG for next year.
I never thought (i Hoped it would be) this would be a 3 year turnaround, I always felt it was a 4-6 year turnaround. Pitt is a tough place to recruit to especially in the ACC. What happens in this offseason will dictate a lot for next year and each year since Capel has been here he has secured recruits from March -June and I Don't think this year will be any different. Virtual recruiting makes it even more difficult for the so-called experts to know what schools are interested and in on different kids.
Maybe I will be wrong in my thoughts but would rather look to the positives than the negatives and as for the majority of your posts around Justin -- it is stating that we are wrong that he will be back next year and I could be wrong about that as well but I don't think he will be drafted next year. I see the assessments and mock drafts and lots of guys show up on mocks higher than they get picked just ask Vernon Carey and Jordan Nwora last year they were both consensus first round picks on most mocks, Carey was projected on many as a lottery pick and they both went in the second round. He is a good player but I don't believe he is next level good -- if he is and gets drafted, I will be thrilled for him and follow his career there like I do for the rest of our Pitt guys in the NBA but I just don't see it yet.
You are looking at things in the same vacuum, i.e. looking at 4 and 5 star players.
The biggest few mistakes in Capel's years here imo is over confidence in getting the top of the line players and not securing really good underrated 3 star players we could / "should" have secured.
Had this program fully pressed for Julian Champagnie and Posh Alexander and to a lesser extent a player like Dylan Wusu, we would have had a team to do substantial damage right now both in the ACC and the NCAA. All that bs about how Julian Champagnie cant shoot and he's shooting 40% from 3 this year. All that bs about how Posh Alexander cant play at the NCAA level after that horrific broken arm injury he suffered and all those school pulling his offer. Now look at him.
I said this before and Ill say it again. Start recruiting the tough rugged mother f'ckrs from New York that play with an edge and players that go after you on defense. Uconn was built from New York players, their Final 4's come from a NY superstar guard.
2022 is going to be very interesting because there is a ton of talent and the class overall is deep. There is a lot of talent in recruiting territory that we generally recruit well and especially from New York where there are a number of kids I have names under wraps that are way underrated just like the Champ brothers and Posh, there is zero excuse not to land a major class in 2022 stock filled with talent, none.
Step 1 for Jeff Capel imho is stop swinging for the fences on everyone and get 1 legit piece of talent that can instant help. There is a ton of it in 2022.
This is a quote from a NY player in 2022. We should be doing more than just looking at him. We have to get someone on board early and close the deal and stop with the "monitor" bs. Monitoring burned us with Posh Alexander.
Pittsburgh: “Their message is that they are still looking at me. They like how I play for their style of play. Their campus is great and big. They make pros like Steven Adams and others. I feel like if i go there and do what I have to do, I can make it to the league. A lot of toughness,
Narduzzi’s team plays in the ACC Coastal, which is at or near the worst conference in P5 football every single year. Cherry picking a few tough games on the schedule doesn’t make Narduzzi look better, it only makes his record look weaker.
After all the talk about how tough the schedule Pitt played year was it ended up ranked somewhere between 60-65th in the country, which isn’t much different from most years. Let’s not try and make it like Narduzzi is trying to navigate through Murderers Row every year.
I’m not talking about losing X. I’m talking about bringing in the 5th ranked class in the ACC in 2018 and 2/3 of them being deemed problems and now gone. I’m talking about bringing in the 11th ranked class in the ACC with the only upper echelon piece most likely gone after this year. I’m talking about your star recruit in the 2020 class facing multiple felonies and the rest looking like mediocre ACC players at best. I’m talking about having to fill up to 6 scholarships and having zero on board going into March. I’m talking about 3 late season collapses. I’m talking about telling the media you can’t reach a player. I’m talking about rumors of your brother being lazy, talking crap on players and generally being a zero.
Those are all MAJOR red flags. This isn’t some isolated incident or one off of a successful program. These are a ton of red flags 3 years into a rebuild that now will just be restarting a rebuild again in year 4. major concerns
I’m not talking about 4 or 5 star players only. I’m talking about the cumulative effect of where the program has gone over the last 3 years. See my response above.
Playing every 5th game against a 10 win team and/or National Championship team isn't "cherry picking." He's been here for 6 seasons so he's averaging 2.33 games against legit national powerhouses per year. Nobody in the PAC-12, Big-12, or Big Ten West is playing Clemson and Notre Dame in the same season. As far as overall Strength of Schedule goes, Pitt was 17th in 2018, 21st in 2016, and 34th in 2015, and in the top 50 every other year of Narduzzi's tenure except 1. It's absurd to pretend like Narduzzi's had it easy here because of the ACC Coastal. He hasn't.
Perception is everything in college football. If we played Delaware and Albany instead of PSU and OSU in 2018 we'd have a 10 win season and Narduzzi would be everyone's favorite coach. I'm not a huge Narduzzi fan but given the context of Pitt's last 30 years of program history and college football disparity across the board, there's no way you can't give him some credit for what he's done here.
Give me that toy, mom!!!
I want it , want it , want it!!!
Hey don't sell her short- she also hired a terrible coach in the 3rd biggest sport, women's basketball!
Reality of the Situation
If your average record as the Pitt football coach is 8-5, then you are doing a good job. If Narduzzi goes 9-4 next year, then only a fool would be looking to get rid of him. Yes he has flaws, but so does the program.
I don’t think it is asking too much to make the NCAA tournament 2 or more times over a 5-year span. So basically Dixon and Pitt would have been better off if we had figured things out rather than parting ways. We are both in worse positions today.
If your average record as the Pitt football coach is 8-5, then you are doing a good job. If Narduzzi goes 9-4 next year, then only a fool would be looking to get rid of him. Yes he has flaws, but so does the program.
I don’t think it is asking too much to make the NCAA tournament 2 or more times over a 5-year span. So basically Dixon and Pitt would have been better off if we had figured things out rather than parting ways. We are both in worse positions today.
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He is AVERAGE at best , there are many coaches that could win at Pitt , good lord , we just said F it and accepted this crap, sad
This is a great point about not swinging for the fences so much. If we had a team of all the good players we were in the final cut for, we would probably be a final four contender. Unfortunately we didn’t land any of those big-time recruits and now are paying for it big time.
He's literally our best coach in 16 years by winning percentage and the only one to outright win the division or conference lol. And he is doing it against a tougher schedule than the others. I don't think it's accurate to say "he's average at best" when he's clearly the best coach we've had since Walt by on-field results. Compared to our other coaches, he is above average.
You can be mad that he's not better than your idealized version of a Pitt coach, but you can't say he's worse than Chryst, Graham, or Wanny while they were at Pitt.
and lost a hugely successful softball coach but hey, we're getting a volleyball arena. And no, she didn't hire the successful volleyball coach
Most every single reasonable person knew we’d fall hard when Dixon left - because he was a great coach
There aren’t many of those out there
stalling imploded the program - and despite his flaws Capel has made us competitive again .
We don’t win enough yet - but the program improved a lot in 3 years
Winningest coach in big east history
Made the ncaa 11 out of 13 years
#1 seed twice
you’re a fool I’d you don’t think that’s great considering this is Pitt
Comments like this make it understandable why the greatest coach in Pitt history was done with this place.
We have total idiots in this fanbase
Well, Blair was a homegrown talent that stayed. Chris Taft was not really a center although he played some 5. Aaron Gray was a good get and also from PA I think. We all know Steven Adams would never have come to Pitt withoiut Jamie's connection to the family.
So over the last so many years we really landed one kid that we didn't have a big advantage on. Since Steven Adams left, we haven't been able to land a good center. I doubt that changes. Just proof of how hard it is for us to get a real 5 here.
0 to 3, 6, 5, and then 2-3 next year. 👏 What a great improvement. Im positive Stallings would have matched that impressive feat
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