I cannot put my finger on anything, and have no facts, or trends, or numbers to back up my opinions??? I just have a sense or hunch that Coach Pat is going to be to Pitt what Patterson is to TCU, Dantonio to MSU, and Briles is to Baylor. I have nothing to point to, nothing, just how Coach Pat seems to handle himself with a display of quiet confidence of taking time to rebuild Pitt football one brick a time.
Foge lacked that Head Coaching Style and just was very comfortable as an Assistant when he followed Jackie. The same with Hackett that followed Gottfried. Majors second tenure was just too old to get it all back and Pitt would not put the resources in to help him anyway.
Harris & Chryst were QB & OC Thinkers as far as I am concern. They could create pretty good darn Offensive Teams with just a few Stars and Talent. Yet, it was clear they lacked the Right Stuff to create a Total Program of O, D, & Special Teams?
Haywood and Graham were just shams to save Pederson's faceless mistakes and picks at coaching just like he did at Nebraska? Wannstedt was here to stay but for whatever reason, he was dismissed, and it took time to fire Pederson.
Pitt Gallagher did not waste time, made the call without an Athletic Director, and now we all will see how Coach Pat does the next few years. I feel very calm and comfortable about Coach Pat and I can't explain either!
I just really liked how he moved so fast on getting his Staff together. Unlike Chryst, that slumbered through his own selections and poor Walt that never had the resources to keep a Staff together over the years?
All I can say is the last Quiet Listener to go through Pittsburgh was Chuck Noll, that was also a fine Teacher from all that listening. A Man of few words, but when did speak, he taught volumes!
Rossi, seems to capture it better than most below and good to see some Pittsburgh Media thinks about Pitt Football, more than that PPG, that just thinks about everything else?
ARTICLE, HIGHLIGHTS, & LINK:
The new football coach at Pittsburgh's university has to win games, certainly more than he loses. Definitely more than for just one season. And probably, eventually, at least one in January. But even if he pushes Pitt to prominence, Pat Narduzzi won't automatically qualify as The Right Guy.
He must do more than win games. The Right Guy will convince Pittsburgh to embrace Pitt football. If this has happened before, it feels like it's been forever. It's been decades of the same, lame excuses as to why Pitt football doesn't capture Pittsburgh's attention.
Pittsburgh is a pro sports town. Pittsburgh has too many Penn State (if not West Virginia and Ohio State) alumni. Pittsburgh has too much else going on.
Those excuses fail to acknowledge that Pittsburgh's claim to being a “great” sports town includes the affection our pro sports fans show Pitt men's basketball. Yet many of those are not alumni. Besides, when over the past 50 years have Pittsburghers chosen anything over quality football?
The Pitt football coaches haven't won enough games. And there have been far too many coaches. As a result, they have all become faceless. The latest new guy needs to win. Then he needs to win some more. Then win big (within reason). Then stay and continue to win big (maybe beyond reason). Along the way, he needs to become the face, voice and conscience of a program that has lacked those elements for about 30 years. Did you catch all of that, Pat?
From Foge Fazio to Paul Chryst, with more than a few embarrassments in between, Pittsburgh's university has been looking for The Right Guy to guide its football program since Jackie Sherrill left in 1981. And Narduzzi's task, above all else, is to convince Pittsburghers why Pitt football matters. “It's an avenue for people in their life, period,” Narduzzi said.
As evidence, he pointed to all of the former Pitt football players who had become dentists, doctors, lawyers, etc. He met a few of those former players at a golf tournament. He may have mentioned them to a current player making a bad habit of not attending summer-session classes. He also may have mentioned to that current player how scholarships actually work. (They're not guaranteed.) As taglines go, Pitt could do worse than to promote its football program as “an avenue for people in life.”
Neither taglines nor developing contributors for the greater community will mean much for Narduzzi if he cannot win football games. But if he does, those taglines and those contributors will certainly help transform Narduzzi into the character Pitt football needs to change the sports appetite of Pittsburghers.
All the other big teams around here have larger-than-life characters who connect with a larger audience. They're people with real names, sure. But Ben Roethlisberger, Sidney Crosby and Andrew McCutchen are simply “Big Ben,” “The Captain” and “Cutch” to a majority of Pittsburghers.
Even Pitt men's basketball has Jamie Dixon, whose character “Coach Dixon” is the top commodity for that program. For college teams, the coach is singularly burdened with becoming a main character because players quickly come and go. Most people, even in Pittsburgh, are merely casual sports fans. They're drawn to the teams by the characters. They stick with the characters who deliver.
Recruiting and coaching excellence isn't enough for Narduzzi. If he doesn't also develop a magnetic character, he won't attract football-loving Pittsburghers to Pitt football. So how's that going?
Two weeks ago, Narduzzi did not shrink in the company of a couple of coaches adept at the art of commanding a crowd. He stood real close — as in, invasion-of-personal-space close — to Penn State's James Franklin while they checked out the Steelers on the South Side.
Later, while posing for a photo with Franklin and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, Narduzzi managed to position his head slightly in front of his peers, his smile seeming more sincere, his looseness not forced.
While with Franklin, whose Penn State assistants stood about 10 yards from the entrance to Pitt's side of the practice facility, Narduzzi was noticeably animated and audible. He also wore an unmistakably pink golf shirt. The next day, Narduzzi laughed when I brought up the shirt. “What, a man can't wear pink?” Narduzzi describes himself as a listener because “listening is how you learn about people.”
After our half-hour chat, I couldn't help but wonder whether Narduzzi, who listened closely to head coaches in his 23 years as an assistant, was already creating a character who courts color from a head coaching job that often turns men gray. I've since become convinced he was displaying that character as the Pittsburgh media observed his interaction with Franklin and Tomlin.
Is he The Right Guy for Pitt football? The answer will come only with time, and the opportunity for wins. So far, though, Narduzzi looks like the right fit for Pittsburgh's university. And, let's hope, for Pittsburgh as a sports town.
Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/robrossi/8540236-74/narduzzi-football-pitt#ixzz3d5ePYgvz
Foge lacked that Head Coaching Style and just was very comfortable as an Assistant when he followed Jackie. The same with Hackett that followed Gottfried. Majors second tenure was just too old to get it all back and Pitt would not put the resources in to help him anyway.
Harris & Chryst were QB & OC Thinkers as far as I am concern. They could create pretty good darn Offensive Teams with just a few Stars and Talent. Yet, it was clear they lacked the Right Stuff to create a Total Program of O, D, & Special Teams?
Haywood and Graham were just shams to save Pederson's faceless mistakes and picks at coaching just like he did at Nebraska? Wannstedt was here to stay but for whatever reason, he was dismissed, and it took time to fire Pederson.
Pitt Gallagher did not waste time, made the call without an Athletic Director, and now we all will see how Coach Pat does the next few years. I feel very calm and comfortable about Coach Pat and I can't explain either!
I just really liked how he moved so fast on getting his Staff together. Unlike Chryst, that slumbered through his own selections and poor Walt that never had the resources to keep a Staff together over the years?
All I can say is the last Quiet Listener to go through Pittsburgh was Chuck Noll, that was also a fine Teacher from all that listening. A Man of few words, but when did speak, he taught volumes!
Rossi, seems to capture it better than most below and good to see some Pittsburgh Media thinks about Pitt Football, more than that PPG, that just thinks about everything else?
ARTICLE, HIGHLIGHTS, & LINK:
The new football coach at Pittsburgh's university has to win games, certainly more than he loses. Definitely more than for just one season. And probably, eventually, at least one in January. But even if he pushes Pitt to prominence, Pat Narduzzi won't automatically qualify as The Right Guy.
He must do more than win games. The Right Guy will convince Pittsburgh to embrace Pitt football. If this has happened before, it feels like it's been forever. It's been decades of the same, lame excuses as to why Pitt football doesn't capture Pittsburgh's attention.
Pittsburgh is a pro sports town. Pittsburgh has too many Penn State (if not West Virginia and Ohio State) alumni. Pittsburgh has too much else going on.
Those excuses fail to acknowledge that Pittsburgh's claim to being a “great” sports town includes the affection our pro sports fans show Pitt men's basketball. Yet many of those are not alumni. Besides, when over the past 50 years have Pittsburghers chosen anything over quality football?
The Pitt football coaches haven't won enough games. And there have been far too many coaches. As a result, they have all become faceless. The latest new guy needs to win. Then he needs to win some more. Then win big (within reason). Then stay and continue to win big (maybe beyond reason). Along the way, he needs to become the face, voice and conscience of a program that has lacked those elements for about 30 years. Did you catch all of that, Pat?
From Foge Fazio to Paul Chryst, with more than a few embarrassments in between, Pittsburgh's university has been looking for The Right Guy to guide its football program since Jackie Sherrill left in 1981. And Narduzzi's task, above all else, is to convince Pittsburghers why Pitt football matters. “It's an avenue for people in their life, period,” Narduzzi said.
As evidence, he pointed to all of the former Pitt football players who had become dentists, doctors, lawyers, etc. He met a few of those former players at a golf tournament. He may have mentioned them to a current player making a bad habit of not attending summer-session classes. He also may have mentioned to that current player how scholarships actually work. (They're not guaranteed.) As taglines go, Pitt could do worse than to promote its football program as “an avenue for people in life.”
Neither taglines nor developing contributors for the greater community will mean much for Narduzzi if he cannot win football games. But if he does, those taglines and those contributors will certainly help transform Narduzzi into the character Pitt football needs to change the sports appetite of Pittsburghers.
All the other big teams around here have larger-than-life characters who connect with a larger audience. They're people with real names, sure. But Ben Roethlisberger, Sidney Crosby and Andrew McCutchen are simply “Big Ben,” “The Captain” and “Cutch” to a majority of Pittsburghers.
Even Pitt men's basketball has Jamie Dixon, whose character “Coach Dixon” is the top commodity for that program. For college teams, the coach is singularly burdened with becoming a main character because players quickly come and go. Most people, even in Pittsburgh, are merely casual sports fans. They're drawn to the teams by the characters. They stick with the characters who deliver.
Recruiting and coaching excellence isn't enough for Narduzzi. If he doesn't also develop a magnetic character, he won't attract football-loving Pittsburghers to Pitt football. So how's that going?
Two weeks ago, Narduzzi did not shrink in the company of a couple of coaches adept at the art of commanding a crowd. He stood real close — as in, invasion-of-personal-space close — to Penn State's James Franklin while they checked out the Steelers on the South Side.
Later, while posing for a photo with Franklin and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, Narduzzi managed to position his head slightly in front of his peers, his smile seeming more sincere, his looseness not forced.
While with Franklin, whose Penn State assistants stood about 10 yards from the entrance to Pitt's side of the practice facility, Narduzzi was noticeably animated and audible. He also wore an unmistakably pink golf shirt. The next day, Narduzzi laughed when I brought up the shirt. “What, a man can't wear pink?” Narduzzi describes himself as a listener because “listening is how you learn about people.”
After our half-hour chat, I couldn't help but wonder whether Narduzzi, who listened closely to head coaches in his 23 years as an assistant, was already creating a character who courts color from a head coaching job that often turns men gray. I've since become convinced he was displaying that character as the Pittsburgh media observed his interaction with Franklin and Tomlin.
Is he The Right Guy for Pitt football? The answer will come only with time, and the opportunity for wins. So far, though, Narduzzi looks like the right fit for Pittsburgh's university. And, let's hope, for Pittsburgh as a sports town.
Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/robrossi/8540236-74/narduzzi-football-pitt#ixzz3d5ePYgvz
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