It is a risky thing to say that hiring an assistant coach for a team is ever a true slam dunk. There’s the learning curve. The expectations. Yet, in the case of Pat Narduzzi, the national media seems to be falling over themselves to praise Pitt’s hire of Pat Narduzzi. Especially in terms of “fit.”
Like the fit of Narduzzi at #Pitt. Good evaluator/recruiter/motivator. He helped build #MichSt back into a tough team. Can do that w/ Pitt.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 26, 2014
“@ajollybengali: what do you think of Pitt hiring Pat Narduzzi?”What a great coach. Knows the area well-Will hit western Pa/Ohio Valley hard
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) December 24, 2014
I really like the Pitt/Narduzzi hire. Feels like a great fit for that city/program, and Narduzzi is someone who'd actually stay a while.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 26, 2014
Reports in that Pitt has hired Mich St DC Pat Narduzzi. Very good hire, good program fit. Will be fun to see him install his D there
— Chris B. Brown (@smartfootball) December 23, 2014
Yes, it was a theme.
There is a specific approach that works at Pitt, a blue-collar mentality that has come to define some of its very best teams and players.
That is why Pat Narduzzi seems like such a perfect fit. He is Pittsburgh personified, from his background as a tough-as-nails defensive coordinator, to his demeanor to his approach. He has an edge, too, something Pitt could use now that it has the pieces in place to start winning more regularly.
Beyond his sterling qualifications, what has to feel especially good today for Pittsburgh administrators is the way this hiring process went down. Narduzzi expressed an interest in Pitt from the start, a refreshing change consideration all the turnover the Panthers have had in the head office the last five years.
What’s more, Narduzzi has been a top commodity as a future head coach, so give the Panthers credit for targeting their top candidate and then bringing him – without an athletic director to boot. The message seems pretty clear. Narduzzi believes in Pitt as a program that can win; Pitt believes Narduzzi can finally be the coach to bring some long-needed stability.
…
Narduzzi just wanted the right opportunity at a Power-5 school.Pitt just feels right.
He’s not coming in to change the culture. He’s not coming to fix things. He is not coming to Pitt to restore stability. He is coming to Pitt to coach — and hopefully win.
In that respect it is fair to say there is a debt of gratitude to former Head Coach Paul Chryst. His tenure was briefer than desired and perfectly mediocre. Yet, I cannot conceive of the hyperbole needed to declare it a “miserable failure.” The stability is in place. There is talent. There is a reason for higher expectations going forward.
I’ve never been a big fan of the whole “fit” issue. That seems to be a wishy-washy term that people use to explain success or failure for a coach when there is nothing that can quite be pin-pointed.
Yet, as I watch a team like UNC that inexplicably flops repeatedly and is still blaming the culture after 3 years of the same coach has been there. A good coach that seemed like a slam dunk hire at the time. Now seems like a bad marriage for some reason.
Narduzzi does seem to check the boxes that fans in Pittsburgh want in a coach. He’s passionate, appears to wear his emotions on his sleeve. Believes in a strong defense. No one disputes that he knows and Xs-and-Os. Yet he doesn’t minimize the need to recruit talent.
And while he is still coaching the Michigan State defense in the Cotton Bowl, he is not simply focused on that.
He’s met briefly with the present players for Pitt. He is also making contact with Pitt recruits — phone calls are allowed — even as he is preparing the MSU defense. Hell, he’s even offering scholarships for 2016.
He’s not putting all the stuff for Pitt to the side (as Paul Chryst did for the Rose Bowl). He’s talking to assistants for the staff (and even forcing his soon to be old boss to act quickly).
His presser was a winner.
“A ton of energy, passion and discipline. We’re going to have knowledge,” Narduzzi said of how his team will play. “We’ve got to have a ton of knowledge. We’re going to play fast and physical. It’s hard to play fast if you don’t know what you’re doing. Probably the best compliment we’ve gotten at Michigan State is, ‘You guys play fast.’… Our kids can play fast because they know what they’re doing.”
Narduzzi explained how, exactly, he does that at during a talk at the Angelo Football Clinic over the summer. FootballScoop was fortunate enough to sit in for that talk.
“We’ll play with a tough, blue collar mentality. And how else would you want it in the city of Pittsburgh?” he continued. “When someone plays the University of Pittsburgh, they’re going to know they were in a brawl.”
While many a hot-shot coordinator has taken that first head job and failed, Narduzzi comes in with a different set of tools than most. He’s the rare first-time head coach that’s not really a first-time head coach.
“I’ve been assistant head coach for the past two or three years, I feel like I’ve had had coaching duties. Coach Dantonio does not have a staff that’s a bunch of yes men,” Narduzzi said. “We’re going to speak up. I really feel like everybody’s had a role in the building of that program. I really feel like there’s nothing missing here.”
Full of energy would be a good way to describe things.
Final notes.
Favorite “local flavor” headline was what was slapped on the AP story from the Sharon, PA paper: Ursuline grad named head football coach at Pitt
A rarity, but I can agree with part of Rob Rossi’s column on Narduzzi’s presser. That Pitt needs to spend some money on the coaching staff. But, then, we already knew that was the case. It was the whole subtext that Narduzzi will bail for a bigger, higher paying job soon enough that created the damn buzzing in my ear.
No one should be surprised that he didn’t see much of Pitt last year. Coaches are in their own world during a season. If a team isn’t on their schedule, they don’t have time to look at games or tapes from other places. Which is what makes the Coach’s Poll such a joke. Might as well call it the SID/Athletic Dept. Intern’s Poll.
Don’t read too much into Narduzzi and Jamie Dixon’s role in helping choose the next Athletic Director. They will be able to voice their opinion and thoughts, but they don’t get to choose their boss.
Hail To Pitt!
I guess we’ll see how much good schemes and coaching can mitigate a shortfall of talent.
Narduzzi’s D schemes attack first and blow up the offensive play before it develops. Our personnel may adept well to that. DE’s Blair and Price with good speed to create pressure, and KK, Jarrett & Talani clogging the middle. The LB’s with Bam, Freeze, Wirginis & Galambos attacking relentlessly on every down fits their personalities. And the secondary seems to be ok with more depth and experience coming back.
I’m ready for the change.
I hope we see some of the younger guys on D this Friday – go with numerous rotations to keep the guys fresh against the Houston spread offense.
HTP!
1. Gratitude and props to Chryst for the work done.
2. Realization that Chryst leaving is a good thing to finalize the key changes needed here.
3. Seeing Chryst leaving now as an opportunity to get better.
4. Feeling Narduzzi is a home run for all of the tangible and intangible reasons… that warm and fuzzy feeling we have on Draft Day when everyone player is going to the pro bowl…
…. now we will see!
– Clearly the guys is multitasking and working on Pitt.
– I bet by 1/3/2015 most assistant coaches are in place.
– current recruiting class secured… a few new studs sign… and bump up the D side.
Best sentence by Chas states it all…
“He’s not coming in to change the culture. He’s not coming to fix things. He is not coming to Pitt to restore stability. He is coming to Pitt to coach — and hopefully win.”
also picked up on another nick name for Narduzzi used by a few players.
“Coach Duze”
^^ Agree 100% and isn’t it nice that he doesn’t have that burden on him because of what prior work accomplished? He can get righ down to work without worrying about who he has to get rid of off the roster.
I don’t know much about the current candidates to be the coordinators and staff coaches but it is the offseason and there will be ample time to get the best for the various positions.
He may have to strike while the iron’s hot with the Coordinators but I say take some time for the staff coaches and get the best we can – starting with keeping Settle as RB coach.
I searched for it because it was being bandied about that he was making $900+K as DC at MSU and in other conversations I heard it was. Looks like it was about $560K or a bit more last year.
Plus there is no buyout from PITT required because Narduzzi left for a HC job.
Settle for sure.
WR coach, DB Coach??
I assume being offered same position as Whisky right now considered more ‘higher’ level program but who knows? With new $$ perhaps not…
link to cbssports.com
Any insight right now is welcomed – trying to stay positive and optimistic. This guy was not on my list of five good candidates – all with P5 DC experience except Oslavsky.
Settle I like at RB coach. He’s done a great job while he’s been here. We had a 5.3 ypc average in his first year here so I think he’s been good – especially getting the max effort out of Bennett, Ibrahim and James. Then again MSU wasn’t too shabby running the ball either at 244 ypg and Jeremy Langford was a good RB with 1300+ yards rushing.
You could argue for Lewis as the WR coach but really, what has he done with the individual players? Boyd was already AA level when he got to PITT, Street was a SR and experienced and we didn’t see anyone but Manasseh Garner catch passes over the last two years with any regularity and he wasn’t polished at all.
Really though, if I were a new HC coming in with an well-expanded budget I’d most probably look elsewhere for my staff as none of the PITT coaches are indispensable.
But it would be nice – they loved Austin down here in DC.
Daoust was a graduate assistant at the University of Cincinnati in 2005 when Narduzzi was the defensive coordinator for the Bearcats.
In 2013, Syracuse’s defensive line — commanded by Daoust — was a force and paramount in leading an Orange defense that was the lone Division I school in the country to not allow a 100-yard rusher in any game.
I was hoping HCPN would be targeting those with existing coordinator experience, not just some position coach. With PN being a first time HC, we’ve already learned from X HCPC that experienced hires are needed while the new HC is learning on the job. In time, HCPN can make those hires, but not to start with.
Am I wrong with my thinking?
Another thought on Daoust, Syracuse has beat us on many recruits the past two years – if HCPN is focused on his staff being good recruiters, just maybe Daoust is the reason Cuse is beating us on the recruiting trail…
Now it will be a different story on offense. Your OC list might be of value. H2P!
1. Todd Orlando is always welcome in Pittsburgh.
2. Jerry Olsalvsky – Steeler D coach
3. Missouri DC
4. Former USC DC under Lane Kiffin
Actions do.
Baylor HC Briles hired his son as the new OC this week because Baylor’s former OC accepted the Tulsa HC job and left the team to begin his new assignment. So, Tulsa’s new HC & former Baylor OC won’t be coaching (Baylor) in the Cotton Bowl, but Pitt HCPN will be coaching for MSU…
Tulsa, man we’re talk in’ Tulsa
C’mon man
Comment by Erie Express 12.28.14 @ 11:02 am
That’s incredible that Tulsa has now superceded Pitt in terms of football.
I am so glad to hear you say how ridiculous Joe Starkey’s “miserable failure” comment was. I had a back and forth with someone on Dokish’s board about this, and I just finally threw up my hands. It turns out the guy I was going back and forth with started a FirePaulChyrst website as soon as he was hired. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your sanity on this issue.
no one is bashing him. i believe the loyalty thing goes both ways. what about his loyalty to the players he is being paid to coach?
I think he mentioned Pitt maybe twice in his presser.
Whereas I got tired of hearing …this and that…about Michigan State in Narduzzi’s.
F*ck Michigan State.
If ppl are ok with that….fine. I’m not.
The now former OC at Nebraska Tim Beck is likely to be OC for Narduzzi. I think Treadwell is also likely to join the staff, but as an Assistant HC and RB/WR coach. It doesn’t seem like from what I’m reading that Treadwell will not be OC. He really took a beating after his disastrous tenure as Miami’s HC. Even with a year to find another gig after being fired mid season he only ended up as RB coach at Kent State.
I keep seeing people make that same comment that “pitt is paying him to coach.” He isn’t being paid. He is the head coach starting after our bowl game. He only draws a salary after the current season ends, which is when the clock hits 0:00 in the 4th quarter Friday.
Hueber was with UW before Chryst, and will 100% be rejoining him there. I can’t see anyone from the current staff staying. If anyone does, it’s Settle. But even then, I can’t see it.
The less leftover from that pathetic staff the better.
Settle is ok, as he was only influenced for 1 year by Paulie. Same thing with Douglas.
And you still can only manage to go 6-6 each season, with 2 of those 6 wins each year over rent-a-wins. So in effect against say a real schedule of all D1 teams, like it was back in the day…you’d go 4-8.
Doesn’t show me much at all in terms of coaching.
…. so the DC and much of the first D staff I believe will be people who played/coached in this system…
hence people like Daoust Syracuse and Nick Siatras from Ball state.
chuck Bullough the DC at Syracuse was being talked about as Narduzzi’s replacement at MSU… not that is gone who knows?
Luke Fickell DC at OSU was talked about as another Narduzzi replacement at MSU… slim to none he moves ‘down’ to get to Pitt…
yet the vibe you get is there is tight world around this defensive tree so would think will see from there.
can read these two articles on this defense and its developments… alraedy posted in other threads if you missed them.
Steckel just got a job as head coach at Missouri State and Gary Pinkel has hired a coach from Memphis who knows his system to be the new dc at Mizzou.
Also, from watching Steckel-coached teams a lot now, I’d advise caution: the majority of the time he did well, but there were plenty of games where his guesses what the opposing offense would do were way off and the defense struggled.
I believe if you look through your Wannstedt shrine and find the record for his first three years it was worse than Paul Chrysts. Lighten up Francis, the man is long gone.
Also, for all of you bashing him, what are you going to say if he wins 9 or 10 games next year?
The class is not as awful as you believe. It is currently rated low mainly because of the small number of commits (only 12). However it is solid, but not spectacular, in terms of average stars. Per Rivals there are 2 4-stars (Hall & Whiteheade) 9 3 stars and only 1 2-star commit. That averages 3.08 stars/recruit. If that were a class of 25 it would be a low to mid 30’s class rank.
The point is that it would be truly dumb to blow this class up since at this late date you would never replace it with better quality. The rational thing–which I am sure Narduzzi will do is to hold onto the 12 we currently have and fill the class out with the best available additional recruits. I don’t know how many that will be since there aren’t 25 ships available for this class without going over the 85 NCAA roster limit rule. I have heard numbers ranging from 15-19 in terms of maximum class size. So, that means Narduzsi can add 7 at most; but, maybe only 3 additional kids to the class. If he does that and keeps the average stars over 3.00 he will have a solid class quality wise( as can be expected for 2015.
Bottom line–quality is not the main problem with this current class–quantity is the main issue. And the quantity issue can’t go away while the quality issue can only be improved slightly also given numbers constraints.
Comment by notrocketscience 12.29.14 @ 7:29 am
That he walked in to a more talented roster and a place with more recent success. I have no doubt Paul Chryst can maintain a program, I have and had no faith that Paul Chryst could build one. They are two different skills. But, I’d be more surprised if Chryst won 10 games in year 3 than if he only won 7.
Comment by Emel 12.28.14 @ 11:01 pm
Emel, let me serve as your ghost writer on this one.
“It can’t be a psu blog cause there are no pics of little boys being posted by the cult of little pricks”! There, that’s even better.
– I bet by 1/3/2015 most assistant coaches are in place.
I must remember to wear a pair of Depends under my tighty whities on 1/3/15, because if that news actually transpires, I’ll $hit myself.
After the earth shaking dismissal of Smilie Steve at the perfect moment by Gallagher, Narduzzi has a pretty big challenge ahead of him to follow that prime time act of Gallagher’s.
Show me sompin Nard Dog?!
The longer answer is, he’s a Pitt guy with a future plan, who gets a Pitt payday for accepting the DC spot with his foot now in the door for serious consideration for Pitt’s next HC spot in a few years. (That you know isn’t that far off, again)
I would also love to see Larry Fitzgerald enroll for his masters degree at Pitt, and use his final 2 years of eligibility.
While the 2nd is probably impossible (really no eligibility left since he went Pro), I think both have about an equal chance of happening. Austin has a chance to be a NFL HC soon if not next year…no reason to become a college DC, or even a college HC at this point.
Prior to returning to his alma mater, Treadwell spent four years as the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Michigan State where he engineered one of the most explosive offenses in the Big Ten.
Nominated for the Broyles Award in 2010, given to the nation’s top assistant coach, Treadwell led the day-to-day team activities during Coach Mark Dantonio’s absence with an illness.