I copied and pasted the article for those who don't want to click. I highlighted what I thought was an important point.
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It appears Pitt’s administration finally has in its football program what it has spent literally decades chasing — stability and consistency. It was close to this point in 2009 and 2010 under Dave Wannstedt but the athletic director at the time, Steve Pederson, got impatient and fired Wannstedt. It took a decade in the wilderness to get back to this point.
Now, Pitt is riding high again — mostly because the administration learned its lesson and stayed the course with Pat Narduzzi.
It doesn’t matter what happens Saturday night, the Pitt football program is poised to become an annual contender in the ACC Coastal Division. The team might take a slight step back next season with so many players graduating but it won’t be that way for long.
I’ve often said that Pitt’s “next level” is a establishing program that wins eight games in its down years and occasionally has a season like this one, where 12 wins are still very much in play.
There are some who might think that’s good enough but I would suggest they don’t understand the college football landscape. Pitt isn’t an elite program — but it can become, and is on the path to be, a very good program.
Narduzzi and his staff deserve the credit for developing the program but the Pitt administration deserves credit for giving Narduzzi time. That isn’t something Panthers fans should overlook or take for granted as patience is not a virtue when it comes to college athletics.
Far too often athletics directors and school presidents want to pull the plug on coaches before they really get a chance to get built things correctly. These processes take time, in some cases, and that concept is missed far too often.
Narduzzi didn’t take shortcuts, he didn’t lose his vision for how he wanted it built and he didn’t let setbacks deter him or knock him off course. And he learned from his mistakes — be them on the recruiting front or the personnel front. He didn’t let mistakes or setbacks snowball into giant issues, he just kept grinding.
Many wanted Pitt’s success to come more quickly — but the length of the journey isn’t important, just the fact that the Panthers under Narduzzi have finally arrived.
On Saturday, Pitt plays Wake Forest in the ACC championship game. It will be the Panthers’ second time in the game but, unlike their first time in 2018, this time the team is favored. A win would mean the program’s first outright conference title as well as a berth in a major bowl game.
In other words, it has been a magical season but there are still some important milestones out there for the Panthers to achieve. The season is already special but these next two games will determine just how special.
The thing that is more important is that regardless of what happens in the next month, the program is on stable footing and isn’t likely to be a one-hit wonder. Narduzzi has a lot of good young football players ready to step into larger roles next year, has recruited well and has a lot of momentum and support to keep building the program.
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It appears Pitt’s administration finally has in its football program what it has spent literally decades chasing — stability and consistency. It was close to this point in 2009 and 2010 under Dave Wannstedt but the athletic director at the time, Steve Pederson, got impatient and fired Wannstedt. It took a decade in the wilderness to get back to this point.
Now, Pitt is riding high again — mostly because the administration learned its lesson and stayed the course with Pat Narduzzi.
It doesn’t matter what happens Saturday night, the Pitt football program is poised to become an annual contender in the ACC Coastal Division. The team might take a slight step back next season with so many players graduating but it won’t be that way for long.
I’ve often said that Pitt’s “next level” is a establishing program that wins eight games in its down years and occasionally has a season like this one, where 12 wins are still very much in play.
There are some who might think that’s good enough but I would suggest they don’t understand the college football landscape. Pitt isn’t an elite program — but it can become, and is on the path to be, a very good program.
Narduzzi and his staff deserve the credit for developing the program but the Pitt administration deserves credit for giving Narduzzi time. That isn’t something Panthers fans should overlook or take for granted as patience is not a virtue when it comes to college athletics.
Far too often athletics directors and school presidents want to pull the plug on coaches before they really get a chance to get built things correctly. These processes take time, in some cases, and that concept is missed far too often.
Narduzzi didn’t take shortcuts, he didn’t lose his vision for how he wanted it built and he didn’t let setbacks deter him or knock him off course. And he learned from his mistakes — be them on the recruiting front or the personnel front. He didn’t let mistakes or setbacks snowball into giant issues, he just kept grinding.
Many wanted Pitt’s success to come more quickly — but the length of the journey isn’t important, just the fact that the Panthers under Narduzzi have finally arrived.
On Saturday, Pitt plays Wake Forest in the ACC championship game. It will be the Panthers’ second time in the game but, unlike their first time in 2018, this time the team is favored. A win would mean the program’s first outright conference title as well as a berth in a major bowl game.
In other words, it has been a magical season but there are still some important milestones out there for the Panthers to achieve. The season is already special but these next two games will determine just how special.
The thing that is more important is that regardless of what happens in the next month, the program is on stable footing and isn’t likely to be a one-hit wonder. Narduzzi has a lot of good young football players ready to step into larger roles next year, has recruited well and has a lot of momentum and support to keep building the program.
