As I sat back and reflected on Narduzzi's and Bell's hiring strategy, it was very clear to me that the goal was to hire the coaches who have consistently produced top units in the country over the past few years. While Pitt does not have the resources to hire those people from the P4 level (most schools don't), Narduzzi targeted the FCS (Bell) and G5 (Bronowski) level to bring those guys up.
Bell was the OC of the #1 offense in FCS in 2023 (with a history of similar success in previous years) and Bronowski led one of the best ST units in FBS (there is no direct ranking for this that I could find but Miami (OH) was top 5-15 in pretty much every major stat).
In the past, Narduzzi would have valued P4 experience over recent proven success. But I think he finally asked himself: "Who are the absolute best at what they do in the country - that we can afford - and what do we need to do to get them here? I can lean on my other experienced assistants to teach them the rest." I also think he was so stuck in the mindset that he needs experience on offense that he finally realized after 9 years that he doesn't need the training wheels anymore.
And you know what - I absolutely respect and agree with this approach now. Would I have preferred to hire remaining assistants with P4 experience? Yes. But like I said, I think the plan is to lean on the other experienced assistants to make sure they get up to speed with this level. I think we all agree that at the very least Sanders, Partridge, Collins, Underwood, and maybe Manalac are more than capable recruiters and should be able to share the responsibility of teaching the new guys whatever they need to know.
So putting the value on recent proven success and hoping those guys can re-create that success here makes a ton of sense to me. Is this me coping? Possibly. Is it guaranteed to succeed? No.
OK. Go ahead and rip me to shreds lol.
Bell was the OC of the #1 offense in FCS in 2023 (with a history of similar success in previous years) and Bronowski led one of the best ST units in FBS (there is no direct ranking for this that I could find but Miami (OH) was top 5-15 in pretty much every major stat).
In the past, Narduzzi would have valued P4 experience over recent proven success. But I think he finally asked himself: "Who are the absolute best at what they do in the country - that we can afford - and what do we need to do to get them here? I can lean on my other experienced assistants to teach them the rest." I also think he was so stuck in the mindset that he needs experience on offense that he finally realized after 9 years that he doesn't need the training wheels anymore.
And you know what - I absolutely respect and agree with this approach now. Would I have preferred to hire remaining assistants with P4 experience? Yes. But like I said, I think the plan is to lean on the other experienced assistants to make sure they get up to speed with this level. I think we all agree that at the very least Sanders, Partridge, Collins, Underwood, and maybe Manalac are more than capable recruiters and should be able to share the responsibility of teaching the new guys whatever they need to know.
So putting the value on recent proven success and hoping those guys can re-create that success here makes a ton of sense to me. Is this me coping? Possibly. Is it guaranteed to succeed? No.
OK. Go ahead and rip me to shreds lol.
