Lets say we go 7-5 and 6-6 without much improvement in recruiting. At what point do you pull the plug? I think Narduzzi is a decent coach, good enough to win with but just isnt getting good enough players. Not sure anyone can but at what point do you have to try to find that out?
The next 2 seasons
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Got to love the troll threads here.
Good question. I do agree that PN gets at least two more seasons. It would not surprise me if the results are similar to your projections.
My guess (just a guess) is that PN gets to coach 4 more seasons for a total of 8 seasons. Not sure what happens then but that is long enough term thinking for now.
My guess (just a guess) is that PN gets to coach 4 more seasons for a total of 8 seasons. Not sure what happens then but that is long enough term thinking for now.
Troll??
It’s a legitimate question. PN’s record the last two years is 12-14. He just finished a bad recruiting class. He’s a good coach, not a great coach. He’s somewhere between a bad and below average recruiter.
Sorry, I guess I haven’t resigned myself yet to 8-5 being a dream season.
The schedules have been downright brutal. Lombardi would have had a hard time the past two seasons.
I'll be the first to say it but I think the best recruiting job nards did since getting Peterman was getting Whipple to be OC. Watch the interview with him. When he was at umass they were going against sec teams and moving the ball and being very competitive while being vastly undermanned.
This guy knows offense and he knows how to move the ball with what he has. The defense will be good enough to keep Pitt in every game this year, it will be up to him to get the offense to the point where they can start winning these games.
I think the next two years are big for sure. I think they can go 9-3 this year for sure. That should keep the natives happy and should spark recruiting. Time will tell.
SMF is on fire with them the past couple of weeks. He needs a time-out.
“Bad recruiting class”?
It might be that but let’s wait a few years and see this kids play a few downs before we brand them.
If we maintain .500 or better the job is his for as long as he wants it, imo. My belief would be going VT's Frank Beamer route. Stay the course and pray for a magical season. Getting the next "up and comer" or playing musical coaching chairs will get us another 35 years of obscurity.
Not hard spotting the trolls in this thread, including the op. 
You’re right, I shouldn’t have said bad recruiting class, and I hope we’re pleasantly surprised. But if next years is ranked low, and we go say 7-5. I don’t think it’s crazy for PN’s seat to start getting hot.
If we go 7-5 and 6-6 the next 2 he is GONEEEEEE!
100% without a doubt and everyone should be fine with it.
IMO we are winning 9 or 10 this year and next. It's do or die time for Pat these next two years.
This isn't true... 6 or 7 wins doesnt cut it in years 5-6 and would get Pat canned.
8 wins he's safe... but I think we will do better than 8.
I think the offense is going to be better than last year with Whippple in charge, and the defense will be too. The schedule is going to lighten up a little bit. I am going to predict we go 8-5, possibly 9-4 next year.
I dont know because we could certainly hire a guy who can tank the program. If Narduzzi maintains a 6 or 7 win program, do we keep him just because we can (and probably will) do worse. I think a lot depends on the next 2 recruiting classes. He has to do better.
No... people will put up with 6 or 7 wins early in a coaching tenure, but years 5 or 6 is a different story.
I doubt Heather hires a guy who tanks... I bet she will look for someone who can recruit.
Bring in a great recruiter... and give him a nice budget to hire a good staff.
Whoever it may be, I would hire the best recruiter available. Whether he could coach or not wouldnt be that important to me. Just need a guy that can bring in talent. No, not blue blood talent, but Top 25-30 talent with maybe a class where everything breaks right and you finish 17th.
We need to do a better job of recruiting in OH and PA. We did not land any recruits from OH this year and only 4 from our own state.
I agree, Narduzzi gets many more seasons unless internal player troubles surface in the program.
Looking at our schedules the next two seasons and trying to project who will be improved and who will regress.
Ignoring the weaker OOC games,
Duke. Regress with loss of QB Jones
Cuse: about same. Lose Dungey but Babers is building
Miami. Progressing. I think they got it right with Diaz and this years class ended up pretty decent with the addition of Martell and jeff Thomas staying
PSU. dont see how they cant regress some but still far more talent than Pitt
VA Tech. Terrible season but pretty good recruiting class. Still a team in disarray.
UNC. can only go one way with Mack Brown and they will be better.
FSU. Wish we played them this year instead of 2020 in Tallahassee. They will be much better than today. My wife's 92 year old grandmother in a home in Beaver County could land some 4 stars there.
ND.....is ND
VA, Ga Tech BC, ....guessing they all stay about the same.
How does this translate to a won/loss prediction?
Dont know if it does, but if Whipple finds a QB and he can make plays our floor is 8 wins.
Ignoring the weaker OOC games,
Duke. Regress with loss of QB Jones
Cuse: about same. Lose Dungey but Babers is building
Miami. Progressing. I think they got it right with Diaz and this years class ended up pretty decent with the addition of Martell and jeff Thomas staying
PSU. dont see how they cant regress some but still far more talent than Pitt
VA Tech. Terrible season but pretty good recruiting class. Still a team in disarray.
UNC. can only go one way with Mack Brown and they will be better.
FSU. Wish we played them this year instead of 2020 in Tallahassee. They will be much better than today. My wife's 92 year old grandmother in a home in Beaver County could land some 4 stars there.
ND.....is ND
VA, Ga Tech BC, ....guessing they all stay about the same.
How does this translate to a won/loss prediction?
Dont know if it does, but if Whipple finds a QB and he can make plays our floor is 8 wins.
That will happen in front of 20g, I think many fans are on the fence now, coming back or throwing in towel, long term fans. I know 8 that are not renewing next season. Maybe they do not care but it is what it is.
The next two years will be the litmus test on HCPN. He now has 4 yrs experience as a head coach so no more excuses for being green to the job.
It will be his kids playing his system. The last two years have brought an increase in the quality of his assistants so hopefully he has learned his lesson there as a lack of a balanced offense really held this team back.
With the schedule a little easier, 8 wins must this year.
It will be his kids playing his system. The last two years have brought an increase in the quality of his assistants so hopefully he has learned his lesson there as a lack of a balanced offense really held this team back.
With the schedule a little easier, 8 wins must this year.
Sure, hire a new guy next year. Hire one every year for that matter.
The problem is, the attributes that make a good recruiter are marked by tactics and characteristics that are anathema to the squeamish Pitt brass.
Even allowing Lyke to bring in Capel, he seems to have hit a wall already in recruiting. Despite being a lot of things that people here say that Narduzzi isn't. Perhaps it's not him but the institution?
Lyke's job depends on what happens in FB. She's too smart to act rashly. The Stallings call was easy....the $$ impact had to be handled.
I'd guess a losing season this fall....unlikely, IMO...puts Duzz on the griddle. A total collapse would probably mean tossing him out the door....I can't see that happening.
Agree I think 8 wins is realistically the programs point on average, sprinkle I'm 6-6 or 7-5 every now and then , but 8 should be the point we say okay he's safe. And as long as he makes bowl games yearly basically. Now he starts going 6-6 regular season wise just sneaking into bowls 4 or 5 years in a row, no.
If he goes 6-6 or better in 2019 he will be back in 2020. 6 or 7 wins in 2019 and I think he has to win 8 in 2020 to stick around in 2021. Win 8 next year and he will be back in 2021 barring a disaster in 2020. Recruiting rankings wont matter as to whether or not he is fired.
I think he's back in 2020 unless there is an utter collapse. 3-9 or better gets him 2020.
In a vacuum, just based on rumblings on this board I think storm clouds are forming now for him, and another 500 year would end it.
But remember that they just ate that mammoth contract of Stallings and had to fire Watson. We proudly, stubbornly don't hit up big pocket types to pay these things, since we don't want to give "influence" (at least not since we were desperate to hire Graham out of the Haywood debacle, as I recall) ... so money HAS to be an object to some degree, wouldn't it? Are we in position to eat another big contract so soon? I say that alone gets him a couple more years with a bad record than it might otherwise.
But remember that they just ate that mammoth contract of Stallings and had to fire Watson. We proudly, stubbornly don't hit up big pocket types to pay these things, since we don't want to give "influence" (at least not since we were desperate to hire Graham out of the Haywood debacle, as I recall) ... so money HAS to be an object to some degree, wouldn't it? Are we in position to eat another big contract so soon? I say that alone gets him a couple more years with a bad record than it might otherwise.
Assistant coach contracts are 1 year deals. And no way does Narduzzi gets canned if he goes 6-6. I mean yea he did go 7-7 last year but 4 of those 7 were to some of the best teams in the country.
Maybe. I never knew the way that assistant coach contracts are structured. And maybe Duz has a reasonable buyout. Maybe it'll actually get intolerable for HIM and he'll be pliant about it. So possibly not as expensive to part ways if it came to that.
That said, i agree, I personally think he'll be here a while longer.
But looking around at these boards and newspaper story comments etc.... sentiment is turning. Just the thread above with multiple people nitpicking on an innocuous comment at a press conference nobody is paying any attention to. Two, three years back, nobody would start such a thread on Duz. It's trending down for him in the trenches. Eventually like even with Dixon, it builds enough that the brass has to deal with the rabble.
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I don’t think the kids were being criticized the coach was.
Exactly. Comments like this absolutely drive me crazy. Do I wish Pitt ranked in the Top 10 in the recruiting rankings? Sure, but that wouldn’t matter any more than where they shake out now.
