Our head football coach has been relegated to an NIL recruiter. It had to eat Narduzzi alive to have to make this video. To think we were one of the first casualties of the NIL era is sad. I'm not sure how much longer coaches will want to put up with this.
This Is Actually Sad
- Thread starter Usuallyunusual-partdeux
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His endorsement was like a hostage clip showing proof of life. He said the words that were given to him. You hook him up to truth serum and you know he hates this with a passion.
He skipped over the part where he apologized for being an ass to the fans who he needs money from.
That's something I've never seen. Certainly nothing different than any other coach. Can you provide an example?
He was obviously reading from cue cards. I bet he only did it once and walked away.
Pitt should just require an A412 donation instead of PC to buy season tickets. What's the NCAA going to do to us?
Not sure the legality on this. I know when I renewed my football tix there was a tiny box with a one sentence "do you want more information about alliance 412" . That was it.
Oh how the world has changed, and not in a good way.
Wow as much as I've complained about him I don't want to see the list of candidates they have to replace him. I doubt he would go the NFL route though.
Suck it up Pat. You're making $5.8M as Pitt's coach. For that kind of coin most of us would read whatever they had to on the teleprompter. Hell for $5.8M I'd throw in a smile....no extra charge.
Cruzer
Cruzer
Put up with making $5 mill a year versus….?
I think they might stick it out.
I doubt he would go the NFL route though.
I don’t think he would either. That usually requires an invitation.
He didn't sign up to be a GM. He just wants to coach football. None of these old school guys want to do this. I have a feeling that this is his last year and he will reach some agreement with Heather that if he gets a DC job, that amount will come off his annual buyout salary.
Ummm if Taquan Underwood can snag an NFL gig Pat can too. Did you forget how many of his assistants have landed NFL gigs. I get the anti Pat sentiment, but realistically speaking he'd get an invite pretty easily.
I think he's going to the prestige coordinator route at a really good program. $2 million+. He's probably so jealous of Chip Kelly. Duzz just want to coach ball, not negotiate player contracts.
The only type of people who would like to do this are those that will lie, misrepresent etc., full blown narcissist types. The whole recruiting process before NIL was somewhat sordid, holding out a carrot to #2 or #3 while #1 target makes a decision etc.,, like many on here I have a friend (HS Teammate) coaching at this level for years, he hated it then, have not conversed with him since probably 2018...I am sure he hates it worse now.
RUFKM? He’ll stick around and collect his $6 mill/year as long as someone’s dumb enough to give it to him.
I think a deal will be worked out where he can go be a DC somewhere for $2 million/year and then we pay him $2 million/year. So he's getting $4 million/year to be the DC at Notre Dame or whatever and is much happier than making $6 million/year to be the GM and Chief Player Salary Negotiator at Pitt.
You’re once again out of your mind. This ranks up there with your theories of coaches agreeing to reduced salaries/buyout because they’re “honorable”.
The Vikings literally ran his scheme last year. I could see him as a DC.
Or maybe he just wants to be a DB coach and be done with college ball?
In any event, there are several ways for him to get an NFL job. He's definitely qualified.
Chip Kelly
And his buyout wont exactly be $6 million/year. Making $4 million and being happy aint a bad gig
Oh "any" NFL job? Sure. But why would he even consider that?
Sure, any major college HC can get a position coach job if they're willing to take a 90% pay cut.
Coordinator? Iffy. Nobody has ever offered him one of those jobs. There is zero demand for him in the NFL. Even if they did, and he took it, he'd be making no more than 20-30% what he makes at Pitt on his first contract, if he was successful and in demand after a few years he could get up to about 50% of what he makes now.
So circling back to the original point, he's not on anybody's wish lists for an NFL job worth taking, and he would never voluntarily leave this cushy ass 6 mill/year job where he's the boss to go be a schlepper in the NFL. He may be dumb, but he's not stupid.
He's made between $36 and $54 million in the last 9 years. It's pretty easy to agree to "only" make $800,000 per year in exchange for avoiding practically all of the job that you really hate when you have $20 million in the bank.
Just to be clear my response was to your statement
"I doubt he would go the NFL route though.
I don’t think he would either. That usually requires an invitation."
It can be debated what he would or wouldn't do. You very casually dismiss him getting a coordinator job. The dude from BC Hafely just did the same thing (I already know he had prior NFL experience) but if Matt Freakin Canada could land a NFL coordinator job I wouldn't just completely dismiss a widely respected defensive mind with decades of coaching experience to get an offer. You have absolutely no idea what his opportunities look like unless your his wife or agent (this isn't you is it Mrs. Narduzzi?). The point is we responded to your post saying he has to be wanted for. You came back and added. Elaboration to your statement, but the post itself did not reflect your actual meaning. Finally, your statement that he isn't on any NFL team's radar is an opinion yet you presented it as a fact insinuating you're in the know ( I seriously doubt that) so I think you are probably right that he won't jump ship, but everyone has their breaking point and reading the tea leaves seems to suggest he may be approaching his.
Well then I guess more guys who aren't ecstatic about changes and new challenges in their profession would be in line to take that pay cut--but that never seems to happen, does it? Nobody voluntarily leaves a 6 mill/year job to take a 1.5-2 mill/year job, no matter how much money they may have previously accumulated. That's just not human nature.
And let's face it, Narduzzi may not like these new challenges and hardships of the profession, but it's not like he's working for a living. He has had to work for a living in the past, so he knows this better than anybody. Not many people are going to complain about making 6 mill a year to work with college kids and coach a sport. It's still a top .0001% job in the fun and rewarding category especially when your employer isn't putting pressure on you to do better than 7-8 wins a year. It's still a job you enjoy waking up to do every day, and appreciate your good fortune to have.
So this nonsense about Duzz being soooo disgruntled and pout out about the challenges posed by NIL, transfers, etc etc. that he might just up and quit is......nonsense.
I don't need to have Mrs. Narduzzi's insights into her husband's mind to know that Duzz would never VOLUNTARILY leave 6 million/year at Pitt to work for 20-30% of that in the NFL because he felt the changes in his chosen profession are too onerous to tolerate.
I just need to have a brain and some common sense to understand that.
Narduzzi, like all college football head coaches, has in the course of his working life had to work a lot harder than he does now for a lot less money than he makes now. He has also had wto work for a variety of differnet bosses and ut up with an untold amount of $hit. He's the boss now, the captain of his own ship. He isn't about to bail on one of the best jobs in the world because it just got a bit harder and more challenging for him and everyone else who does it, including a whole bunch of guys that earn a fraction of what he makes.
Does he dislike the changes in his sport? Of course he does. Does he let that show? Of course. Is he gonna quit his job for a lesser one in his coaching prime because of those changes? Only if he's really stupid, or batshit crazy.
The NIL process is basically 3 years old. Maybe only 2 since it started in the Summer of 2021 and relevant parties weren't quite ready for it yet. And yet several guys who were in college forever - Hafley, Partridge - already left for the NFL. Hafley for sure took a pay cut and will never be a college HC again. Partidge has literally been in college football for 3 decades and has never been in the NFL but all of the sudden darts to go coach Indianapolis. Saban, the undisputed GOAT of college football, retired early and probably left at least $10 million if not $30 million on the table. Why do you think that is?
Plus, as I said, Narduzzi likely has $30-$40 milion in the bank if he invested wisely. He doesn't need to keep doing this if he truly finds NIL and the transfer portal that loathsome. Not saying he feels that way but if he does, it won't surprise me if he leaves.
So I don't think the evidence supports your position that college football coaches can't give up the gravy train if they hate the job. That also hasn't proven true in my profession (the law). Me and tons of my peers have left 7 figure annual career paths because of severe negative downsides associated with those jobs.
Its not going from $6 million to $2 million. Its going from $6 million to $4 million to $5 million if a deal can be reached where his DC salary can offset his Pitt HC buyout salary. If he can make $4 million/year instead of $6 million/year and just coach ball and be happy, you don't think he'd consider it?
Also, this may not be his decision. 3-9 again and he may be done.
I’m not sure how “sad” it is unless you’re referring to all of college sports?
I’m sure PITT isn’t by far the only school whose going to do promotions for NIL…
So if it’s sad it the entire sports world in college that’s sad.
I’m sure PITT isn’t by far the only school whose going to do promotions for NIL…
So if it’s sad it the entire sports world in college that’s sad.
I'm a lawyer as well, for 30 years as of this fall. There is literally no comparison between the professions of attorney and college head football coach, either from a stress or compensation standpoint. Those two things are about as apples and oranges as it gets.
Saban is 72. he didn't retire early and "give up the gravy train", he retired late and kept the gravy flowing. He made over 150 mill in his career. He will now make whatever he wants, certainly millions annually, in the media and advertising. he may even join a corporate board or two. Saban is in his own category as a college head coach.
Partridge was an assistant making 540k a year at Pitt, he's almost certainly making more now with less headaches. Hafley is young and was in a dead end HC job making 4 mill. He was not long for the chopping block, MAYBE one more year. He was vocal about how much he disliked NIL etc., but again, he knew he wasn't going to have that BC job for more than another season at best, and he had a great NFL job offer fallin his lap. The Packers reached out to him and offered him the DC job. he probably makes 50-60% of his BC salary, and he got out of Boston ahead of the hangman. He is 44 years old and if it goes well at GB, he will be the next hot commodity for an NFL HC job. So for those guys, it made sense to leave college football for the NFL. For Narduzzi, who is a lot older than Hafley, has a much better job, has more job security, has no future as a NFL head coach, and is paid much more, it does not.
Of course college head football coaches "can" leave a job they're unhappy with. But barring exigent circumstances that don't exist in Duzzi's case, they don't. Being frustrated and pissed with the new college football landscape is not going to cause him to bail.
I don't know what law firm you were at but there's a huge difference between being a lawyer at a $2b / year firm where you're billing 3,000 hours per year and being any other attorney. Every single female partner that I knew was single or divorced. I personally know a dude who died at his desk.
People opt out of BigLaw all the time because 7-8 figures and divoce/heart attacks aren't worth it if you can make mid-six figures working a fraction of the time. You don't know what you're talking about.
I left a firm and started my own firm 20 years ago and it was the best move I ever could have made personally, financially and professionally. My wife, who left Big Law after we had our second daughter, is also self-employed with a niche transactional practice working as much or as little as she likes from the comforts of her home office. We never miss a soccer game, a track meet, an opportunity to volunteer or chaperone, or anything else we really want to do.
I don't disagree with any of what you said in this post until your last sentence. The disagreement is that practicing at a Big Law firm is somehow akin to making 6 mill a year to coach a college football team. It isn't, from a stress, time, pressure or income perspective. Not even close. With very few exceptions, big law senior associates and partners make far less and work far harder and under far more stressful conditions than Pat Narduzzi does coaching football at Pitt. And there is no "fun" or rewarding element to what big firm lawyers do--none. Coaching football and mentoring college aged players is extremely fulfilling and there's a lot of joy in it. If you don't understand that, I'd say it's you that doesn't know what you're talking about.
Sorry counselor, you ain't winning this one. Clerk, call the next case.
That's a lot of words to say that your familiarity with the subject matter is entirely second hand and 20+ years old.
Think you can sit this one out.
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Chip Kelly.
But I agree with your point about Narduzzi. He isn't leaving Pitt due to NIL.
He can tank another season and get paid to get fired.
If I had a big buyout to get fired, there would be carnage at work on Monday. I'd be daring them to fire me. My work would go full on Pitt offense 2023. Uh....wait... maybe Duzz is actually a genius!
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