Wouldn’t be any different than when we were 11-2 and acc champs.
I’m ok with a change in the next year or two if things don’t improve, but the aforementioned 12 people at games is why Pitt can’t just cut a huge check and move on.
The HOT seat
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I’m ok with a change in the next year or two if things don’t improve, but the aforementioned 12 people at games is why Pitt can’t just cut a huge check and move on.
What ASU and IU did is no different from what Pitt did the year they won the ACC. They just benefited from the expanded playoffs.
I would like to give it a shot instead of assuming that it can't get better. That's a defeatist scared arse attitude.
I get where you’re coming from, but I disagree. IU, who had never even won 10 games in its history, won 11 games in year one. It took us seven years under Coach Narduzzi to reach that.
IMO, if he had the capability to perform a “quick rebuild” like that, it would’ve happened already. I thought we had it this year, but it fell apart in the second half of the season.
However, to your point, Pitt is no different than Arizona State or IU; it *can* happen here. I think you just need the *right* person here. Again, that’s no disrespect to Pat, but we might need someone with a slightly different skillset in this new era of college football.
Yes, Pitt can probably do better than Narduzzi. But Pitt has a history of doing things half-ass.
First of all, I’m a realist. I base my conclusions on facts, history, and current events. My mind is trained that way. I’m also an optimist. I believe it’s never as bad as it seems compared to other schools in our lane.
However, there are things going on in the college football world that’s out of Pitt’s control, conference realignment, NIL deals going through the roof, etc....
The only thing that Pitt can control is what Pitt is doing.
Right now, you have BOT’s fighting among themselves (egotistical eggheads vs realist). We’re behind in NIL fund raising. There seems to be a lack of vision. A coach wants to win at their next destination. If you’re a successful coach, you’d probably pass and wait for the next opportunity.
It all still comes down to money. You have to pay for Narduzzi’s contract and then have to pay even more to draw the interest of a successful coach. Then you need players. That'll cost you more. That is a fact,
Having said that, in order for a good coach to come in and change the dynamics, Pitt needs to get their ducks in a row and quacking. If they don’t, it will be another long line of failure.
I have no idea what will happen at iu but if it happened in year 1 and then fell off a cliff or went back to consistent 6-6 records, then it’s no different. I think you have to look at a larger sample size. There’s a lot of examples where year 1 was a success and then nothing. There’s examples of year 1 sucking then over time success.
Jets, raiders, browns are “give it a shot” type organizations. Sometimes it’s plain dumb.
Status quo isn’t always the right answer but sometimes it isn’t wrong either.
Okay...I'll play. Commanders, Texans, Chargers..."gave it a shot" and are in the playoffs. So...if you're scared...Call the Law or Get a Dawg!
Right now, firing Narduzzi without a plan and money is the worse thing Pitt can do. The best is to get more NIL money and get better players. Then Pitt needs to form a plan and a vision that everyone agrees on and move forward.
Steelers ravens bills all are more status quo and are in the playoffs and contenders. Oh my!
No...that's not accurate. The Ravens and Bills changed their offense and personnel quite a few times over the last few years. The Steelers offensive philosophy hasn't changed since the Obama administration. Lastly, if you think the Steelers are contenders you must think Moby Dick was a minnow.
But you let the same village idiot change it! That's my point.
Got a chuckle out of your point about Narduzzi hiring a special team coach…he has overseen some of the worst special teams play I have ever seen…..scads of penalties, lousy punting …the game at Heinz against PSU he had a punter who couldn’t”t even catch the snap and who was largely responsible for a blowout loss. He had a captain who didn’t understand the coin toss rules and as a result Pitt kicked off twice in the same game. Narduzzi’s lack of attention to derail is a huge weakness.which has plagued his tenure.One extra thing I’ll add that’s relatively small but still counts for something: the student section was dreadful before he arrived, routinely leaving at the end of the third quarter to catch the bus for most games. It’s done a 180 since he arrived, both with participation and getting it back behind the endzone. I’m not sure he was *the* driving force behind this, but I’ll give him some credit for getting the student body more energetic about the team.
- He showed it’s possible to win ACC Championships, which in today’s world means it’s possible to win national championships
- He helped get our facilities and support staff to a level that’s competitive with the rest of the P4; we didn’t even have a special teams coach before he arrived!
- He’s done a great job getting former players to come back and be more involved with the program, something I’m not sure could be said before
Have we slid back since 2022? Of course, but I’ll stand by my opinion that the program is in a much better position now than where it was in 2014.
Thank you for your even handed responses.One extra thing I’ll add that’s relatively small but still counts for something: the student section was dreadful before he arrived, routinely leaving at the end of the third quarter to catch the bus for most games. It’s done a 180 since he arrived, both with participation and getting it back behind the endzone. I’m not sure he was *the* driving force behind this, but I’ll give him some credit for getting the student body more energetic about the team.
- He showed it’s possible to win ACC Championships, which in today’s world means it’s possible to win national championships
- He helped get our facilities and support staff to a level that’s competitive with the rest of the P4; we didn’t even have a special teams coach before he arrived!
- He’s done a great job getting former players to come back and be more involved with the program, something I’m not sure could be said before
Have we slid back since 2022? Of course, but I’ll stand by my opinion that the program is in a much better position now than where it was in 2014.
He did fine work overall leading up to the ACC title. He started shooting himself in the foot after that and couldn't capitalize on it and at the same time the system devolved in ways that is crippling the way he was doing things in terms of recruiting and developing w good retention.
There is no getting around the sense that he is losing ground.
Not saying this as a rational to keep him if he can't make a meaningful turnaround, but agree w those that even more so than prior to unfettered transfers and NIL, it's highly unlikely who would replace him will be much of an improvement.
Same can be said for Baltimore. People wanted him fired a few years ago.
Point being, change for the sake of change isn’t always the right answers and not doing it isn’t defeatist.
Sometimes it’s the right choice sometimes it’s not
That’s fair. I’m not sure there are large enough sample sizes out there yet in the NIL era, so we’ll have to see how it turns out.
Now, to play devil’s advocate, I wouldn’t be surprised if these quick turnarounds turn out to be successful; once you get the ball rolling, it’s much easier to get better recruiting classes, more investments, etc.
It did, and then we went 3-9 within two years. IMO, that was a bigger indictment than it taking seven years to actually get there.
2021 and 2022 gave us an opportunity to create a “snowball effect” on the success we had; at a school like Pitt, cracking the “chicken or the egg” question was the hardest part. Instead, we took several steps back.
I’ve always liked Naduzzi, and I appreciate what he’s done here, but that’s when I began to wonder if he’s the guy to lead this program in an evolving CFB landscape. Even if we do it again, how can we have confidence in him sustaining it after what happened previously?
Don’t forget the pro sports turnaround story of a generation—the Lions “gave it a shot” with Brad Holmes as GM and Dan Campbell as coach. When healthy, which they’re far from-they are missing at least 7-8 key starters— 3 years later they’re arguably the best team in the NFL. Regardless of health, they are the best managed team in the NFL from the front office to the coaching staff for sure.
Before anyone says “Andy Reid”, imagine the Chiefs with Jared Goff at QB instead of Mahomes, and get back to me on that.
I think Narduzzi is very much a big part of the problem, and not the solution. But you’re right, it would be foolish to fire him for the reasons you state. Pitt is stuck with him for a while longer. But if those that make the decisions aren’t looking intensely for his replacement as we speak, they’re incompetent fools.
Pitt is in a perilous position in this new landscape of college football any way you want to cut it.
I think the vast majority of schools outside of a handful of giants will have a few pop up years and then go back to “reality” quickly.
Outside of maybe Oregon who got their Nike infusion do I know outside of the usual suspects maintained long term success. Hell I think there are more schools like Texas am that have all the advantages in the world and can’t crack the code vs the vast majority of schools like Pitt that did crack the code.
If Urban Meyer or Lou Saban say that they want to coach at Pitt, I'm just fine with replacing Duzz. However, until we have a better coach in hand, I'd exercise caution.
Think back to the disgusting jettison of Dixon in basketball when envisioning what changing horses can involve.
Think back to the disgusting jettison of Dixon in basketball when envisioning what changing horses can involve.
I think back to when Pederson fired Wannstedt. The plan was..... uh...…there was no plan. He just did it.
Yes, people were frustrated, but he wasn't solely the problem. It goes back to what I said before. Pitt needed to get their sh#t together. He wasn't given the support (budget), the finances (more money) or backing that he needed. Instead they thought the solution was just bring someone else in and it's business as usual. In stead of it getting better, it got worse.... A whole lot worse..... Now we have bigger challenges and instead of working together the administration is in a flux....
IU will be an interesting test case, because they have made a significant NIL commitment. They aren’t capable of gathering the kind of NIL money that the top handful generate, but they are well up the ladder with NIL already.
They just had their first taste of real success and a season of capacity home crowds. Obviously they will rely on a constantly roster turnover and will need the right kinds of transfers, especially at QB, to put a winning team on the field.
it would be very difficult to get Lou Saban back into coaching at this point. But hey money talks….
That’s also true. I just think that, since we’re not in the Big Ten or SEC and aren’t in direct completion with those types of spenders on an annual basis, we have the opportunity to do better than a few pop ups years. IMO, we missed a great opportunity the past two years with Clemson no longer the dynasty they once were.
With that being said, I absolutely agree with @pittmeister ’s post; I have no problem with keeping Narduzzi until we have a plan in place to take that next step as a program. Making a change for the sake of change would be disastrous.
Ya they can't cut a check but they also can't have this shit.
We're recruiting part time starters at Richmond for christs sake.
"Year after year..the same"...This was the first year that Pat Narduzzi changed thongs up and brought in an OC from the 21st century. Give Kade Bell some time to get the proper type of players into the Pitt program to run that offense and it will pay off in a big way. In case you haven't figured it out yet, Pat Narduzzi is not the problem with the Pitt football program.
If you could get one of the big named coaches (Ryan Day, Nick Saban, Kalen DeBoer, etc...) they will not do any better then Pat Narduzzi has. Until the University of Pittsburgh decides to make the football program the #1 priority of the Athletic Department, expect the same results.
This argument is extremely weak. Your argument is premised on the view that the only facet of this team’s play holding it back is offense. After ten years into the current HC’s tenure it’s clear this isn’t the case. And the last game this team played is illustrative of the many flaws this HC has. Where do you even start…,poor judgment/decisionmaking in key game situations; poor evaluation of personnel and personnel usage; mediocre recruiting and highly inconsistent and poorly schemed play on the area that is supposed to be this HC’s specialty, defense. In game situations where you’d expect Narduzzi’s D to have have opponents right where he wants them his defenses fail frequently. Add to that his teams are heavily penalized and play sloppy, undisciplined FB. His record against div 1 opposition, and in particular. out of conference division one opponents is average to below average. This HC has not produced the kind of resume that provides much in the way of confidence he will turn this mess of the last 2 seasons around. His 2 seasons of less than 5 losses look very much like outliers at this point, and to expect Kade Bell’s O to compensate for all of Narduzzi’s weaknesses is a pipe dream,
It is the only thing holding the program back. There are no elite college football programs that win on defense alone. In college football of this century, a team MUST score points. lots of them. Add to that, despite the fact Pitt plays a style of defense that has put several defensive players into the NFL, ir usually gets burned once or twice a game for the long TD. The offense has to be good enough to not only score when it has the ball but to help overcome the defensive miscues.
Also, the Pitt football program isn't even the #1 priority for the school's Athletic Department. When Pitt decides to make it the #1 priority, then we can worry about HC's. Until then, Pitt is lucky to have a well respected HC like Pat Narduzzi.
The Steelers are contenders like Butter Bean was a threat to defeat Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield.
It's tough to evaluate some of these transfers because some are truly for depth. However, with Pitt, I'm starting to see fans shrug every single one of them off as a depth add. At positions where we have no one to begin with.
Did you really say that Nick Saban wouldn’t do any better than Narduzzi?
It’s only January 4th, and you may have already locked up the dumbest comment of the year.
If you could get one of the big named coaches (Ryan Day, Nick Saban, Kalen DeBoer, etc...) they will not do any better then Pat Narduzzi has.
Just astonishing that anyone could/would actually believe this kind of nonsense to be true. How exactly do you think the “big name coaches” became “big name coaches” to begin with?
That said I don’t count DeBoer in the same company as the other 2 you mentioned. But he’s still light years better at his job than Darnuzzi.
There are times, and this is one of them, that I’m not sure I believe the poster believes what they say. There are a handful-ish here who are the Baghdad Bobs of the University of Pittsburgh.
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