The new AD

[pittdan77]

Yeah, I don't know where all this "Pitt can unequivocally do no better than Pat Narduzzi" talk is coming from. A lot of people cite Pitt basketball after Jamie Dixon. Well guess what? Don't hire Kevin Stallings and maybe it wouldn't have been an issue. Pitt football's baseline is 7-5. There is 25 years of statistical date to support that. Even in the most tumultuous of times, coaches have been able to come in here and achieve bowl eligibility.

3-9, 7-5, and then another disappointing season would absolutely be below the standard. Do I think it would get him fired? No, not here. Not with that contract. But I wouldn't call it a job well done.

People will manipulate the stats any way they see fit to suggest he has done a great job, a poor job, or anything in between. But if we finish outside the top 25 again this season, as seems likely, he will have produced:

1) 2 top 25 finishes in 10 years.

I'm not going to go through and tally it all up, but it looks like you'll be able to find about 65 other programs that have done that or better. It's not that impressive.

2) A high water mark of finishing #13.

Yes, we are all appreciative of that season. But in the grand scheme of things, is it really that impressive? Here are some non-powerhouse teams that have finished higher since he has been here:

Stanford, Michigan State, TCU, Houston, Iowa, Baylor, Washington, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, UCF, Auburn, Washington State, Kentucky, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa State, Indiana, Utah, Ole Miss, Tulane, etc. And then obviously you can add all the usual suspects to that list.

And many of them did it more than once. And you can add quite a few more (like 20-30 more) obscure schools to that list if you include finishes slightly below #13.

So, in ten years, Narduzzi has mostly kept us respectable and competitive in the ACC. That's good. But he hasn't really done anything special.

If I would have told you when we hired him in 2015 that he would have two top 25 finishes with #13 overall being the highest, in ten seasons, how many people would have signed up for that?

All factual and I'm not going to argue otherwise but all you're really saying is that Duzz is probably not returning well on what he costs as a coach who has been around a while. My comment had to do with what's next if the return on the funds spent is all that matters.

So hear me out. They could look around the city and ask themselves, what does it take to make a decent return for what we're spending? Does the ACC check really get that much smaller if we go cheap on football? Does it really matter if 40k people show up or is 25k fine? Is it worth throwing a ton of resources at NIL if Pitt can kind of half-ass it and go 6-6 when 8-4 really isn't moving the needle? Does the all-in model with basketball work better for a school that is Pitt's size? Most of the ACC worries more about basketball and their olympic sports (which Pitt really doesn't have to compete with anyone else in the city over) so why are we trying to be a football school when it's an uphill battle to be that? All I'm saying is, be careful what we're wishing for.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

All factual and I'm not going to argue otherwise but all you're really saying is that Duzz is probably not returning well on what he costs as a coach who has been around a while. My comment had to do with what's next if the return on the funds spent is all that matters.

So hear me out. They could look around the city and ask themselves, what does it take to make a decent return for what we're spending? Does the ACC check really get that much smaller if we go cheap on football? Does it really matter if 40k people show up or is 25k fine? Is it worth throwing a ton of resources at NIL if Pitt can kind of half-ass it and go 6-6 when 8-4 really isn't moving the needle? Does the all-in model with basketball work better for a school that is Pitt's size? Most of the ACC worries more about basketball and their olympic sports (which Pitt really doesn't have to compete with anyone else in the city over) so why are we trying to be a football school when it's an uphill battle to be that? All I'm saying is, be careful what we're wishing for.

Yeah, it's anybody's guess how this all shakes out. If we do move to the salary cap model and we're struggling to get to that $24M number, or whatever it was, then I'd be more than fine with a coach who is $2.5M cheaper if it means an additional $2.5M to be allocated to the roster.

I'm definitely not suggesting we can't do worse than Narduzzi, on the other hand. But when Fran Brown - who has only been a DB coach for the last 4 years - comes into Syracuse and has a program that has only been bowl eligible 6 times in the last 20 years bowl eligible after like 7 games, that tells me that talent matters so much more than anything else. It's not the only thing that matters, but I also don't think Narduzzi is some brilliant coach. He's solid. But I don't think he's the difference between 6-6 and 8-4. He's the guy who keeps the 7-5 program at 7-5.

 

[pittdan77]

Yeah, it's anybody's guess how this all shakes out. If we do move to the salary cap model and we're struggling to get to that $24M number, or whatever it was, then I'd be more than fine with a coach who is $2.5M cheaper if it means an additional $2.5M to be allocated to the roster.

I'm definitely not suggesting we can't do worse than Narduzzi, on the other hand. But when Fran Brown - who has only been a DB coach for the last 4 years - comes into Syracuse and has a program that has only been bowl eligible 6 times in the last 20 years bowl eligible after like 7 games, that tells me that talent matters so much more than anything else. It's not the only thing that matters, but I also don't think Narduzzi is some brilliant coach. He's solid. But I don't think he's the difference between 6-6 and 8-4. He's the guy who keeps the 7-5 program at 7-5.

What Syracuse did, or more accurately, has been doing, is probably what makes the most sense for a program that wants to be cost conscious. The only drawback is that Syracuse is playing an underwhelming OOC schedule with not big payday games. Conference schedule is pretty weak, too. Only thing close to a big game is Miami at the end of the season. Pitt doesn't schedule that way. Not with a fan base that clamors for WVU, PSU, and ND.

 

[Las Panteras]

A lot of posters here are convinced PN will be here and that 7-5 will be good enough.

Yet, none of us know the objectives / vision of both The Chancellor and the new AD

She canned Heather. Show of hands....how many here saw that coming?

 

[Upg bobcat]

I'm definitely not suggesting we can't do worse than Narduzzi, on the other hand. But when Fran Brown - who has only been a DB coach for the last 4 years - comes into Syracuse and has a program that has only been bowl eligible 6 times in the last 20 years bowl eligible after like 7 games, that tells me that talent matters so much more than anything else.

The only drawback is that Syracuse is playing an underwhelming OOC schedule with not big payday games.

What Syracuse is doing doesn't tell me that talent matters so much more than anything else -- its telling me that Pitt needs to schedule easy like Syracuse does. It's your talent level relative to your competition that means more than anything else.

Brown may have upgraded the talent slightly, although he took over a program that made bowl games the past two seasons, so this will be three in a row, and I am not sure the talent upgrade is that dramatic. Brown should get the Orange at least 1 more win this season with UConn on the schedule.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Yeah, I don't know where all this "Pitt can unequivocally do no better than Pat Narduzzi" talk is coming from. A lot of people cite Pitt basketball after Jamie Dixon. Well guess what? Don't hire Kevin Stallings and maybe it wouldn't have been an issue. Pitt football's baseline is 7-5. There is 25 years of statistical date to support that. Even in the most tumultuous of times, coaches have been able to come in here and achieve bowl eligibility.

3-9, 7-5, and then another disappointing season would absolutely be below the standard. Do I think it would get him fired? No, not here. Not with that contract. But I wouldn't call it a job well done.

People will manipulate the stats any way they see fit to suggest he has done a great job, a poor job, or anything in between. But if we finish outside the top 25 again this season, as seems likely, he will have produced:

1) 2 top 25 finishes in 10 years.

I'm not going to go through and tally it all up, but it looks like you'll be able to find about

Yeah, it's anybody's guess how this all shakes out. If we do move to the salary cap model and we're struggling to get to that $24M number, or whatever it was, then I'd be more than fine with a coach who is $2.5M cheaper if it means an additional $2.5M to be allocated to the roster.

I'm definitely not suggesting we can't do worse than Narduzzi, on the other hand. But when Fran Brown - who has only been a DB coach for the last 4 years - comes into Syracuse and has a program that has only been bowl eligible 6 times in the last 20 years bowl eligible after like 7 games, that tells me that talent matters so much more than anything else. It's not the only thing that matters, but I also don't think Narduzzi is some brilliant coach. He's solid. But I don't think he's the difference between 6-6 and 8-4. He's the guy who keeps the 7-5 program at 7-5.

If that $24 million salary cap gets passed, Pitt will absolutely pay their players up to the maximum. We will make cuts in other areas to make it happen.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

We are 1-2 since Greene was named AD. Is it the Curse of Heather Lyke?

 

[pittdan77]

What Syracuse is doing doesn't tell me that talent matters so much more than anything else -- its telling me that Pitt needs to schedule easy like Syracuse does. It's your talent level relative to your competition that means more than anything else.

Double edged sword. You miss the payday games and you don't generate as much excitement around the program because there's always that, "yeah, but" when people look at your resume. Only place you can get away with playing nobody and be treated like a title contender is the B1G.