To be fair, he did address it, but declared the topic dead to him going forward.
There was a laughable attempt to link Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi to the vacant Purdue job early in the week. It wasn’t by the media. Their only reference to Purdue was that reportedly the powers that be at Purdue were looking to go big on the hire and willing to make a financial commitment.
Basically, boilerplate stuff from the Boilermakers.
No power conference school — no matter how bad or how cheap, and Purdue encompasses both parts — is going to talk about settling on the cheapest most convenient candidate. They want to talk up their plans so they can get agents for coaches putting feelers of their own out to Purdue to gauge interest.
Are coordinators at major conference schools interested? How about sitting head coaches at the Mountain West or American (and, man, that would be the most Tommy Tuberville move to jump to Purdue for one more payday as the discontent at Cinci rises)? Do they have to go down to the MAC or Conference USA (again)?
But I digress.
Penn State fans (but definitely not rivals to Pitt) got it going a bit with rumormongering on Pat Narduzzi going to Purdue.
Earlier this week, something of a joke surfaced on Twitter when various users began connecting Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi to the vacant coaching job at Purdue, a chain of commentary that even came with its own #Purduzzi hashtag.
When asked about it Thursday at his final press briefing before the Panthers’ game against Miami, Narduzzi took the joke in stride while affirming his commitment to his current employer.
It can be treated as a joke, because no one took it seriously. Not the media. Not Pitt fans. No one was buying this one. Though, the hashtag was solid.
That Narduzzi got asked about it strikes me as amusing. I’m sure Penn State partisans will take it as a victory that he was even asked. Narduzzi was fairly definitive.
One posting said a representative of Narduzzi met with Purdue officials at Midway Airport in Chicago.
“That’s funny,” Narduzzi said. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t know who makes up those rumors.
“We don’t need to talk about that, but I can just tell you it ain’t happening. You can take that to the bank.”
He added, “From now on, I’m not even going to comment on it.”
I’m betting he extends the ban on the topic to all coaching carousel stuff.
Meanwhile Penn State has been hit with the largest fine ever from the Department of Education.
The U.S. Department of Education is hitting Penn State with a record $2.4 million fine for violating a law that requires colleges and universities to report campus crimes and warn people if their safety is threatened.
The fine announced Thursday was the result of a five-year federal investigation into how Penn State officials handled complaints about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky before he was charged in 2011 with child molestation.
The agency says Penn State largely ignored many of its duties under the Clery Act.
And their list of attorneys to have at the ready.
But this is certainly one of the worst Pitt defenses in Pitt HISTORY. Even one of Dave Hart’s 1 win teams had a better D.
The 1992, Hackett’s last year was really bad as well.
35 or 36 ppg against.
This years team might break that mark.
Seemed like no matter how many points Alex Van Pelt and the boys put up, it mostly wasn’t enough.
And of course Paul Hackett wasn’t a defensive genius
Bottom Line… Pitt ends up with a LOSING Record in the ACC.
Tell me where this is anywhere near OK?
Having said that, this was a bad loss. The offense was not crisp. I was not a fan of the 2 games in 21 days that the bye week created. Football is about momentum and consistency both of which were hurt with the extended break(s) in the heart of the season.
I think you’ll see a more crisp team next week … unfortunately it will be against Clemson so who knows if it reflects on the scoreboard.
Anyone think of either of those ideas yet?
This is a list of coaches that Dokish just posted on Twitter, after two years on the job … and what I’ve been saying for two years …
Record after first 2 yrs:
MacIntyre 6-18
Dantonio 15-10
Swinney 15-12
Briles 8-16
Strong, Lou 14-12 Tex 11-18
Kelly 16-10
Petersen 15-12
Sometimes coaches go to places that have similar skill sets to the systems they run like Brian Kelly, Tom Herman and Paul Chryst. You can’t judge them on their success yet either because they are playing with other coaches kids. Years 3 and 4, when the coach is playing with his kids recruited for his system are the judgement years.
Narduzzi is still 10-1 in favored games. The one constant in the losses is talent. Pitt does not have the talent in the lineup yet.
********
What would people have said if Chryst came in and the Offense performed similarly to the way the Defense has for Narduzzi?
Just to put things into their PROPER Perspective.
********
Remember that Chryst IMMEDIATELY made a Quarterback out of Tino… DRAMATICALLY improving his Passing.
What Chryst did was build an Offense that Sunseri could operate in.
That’s what Coaches do… adapt to the Players you have.
Narduzzi has REFUSED to do that… which is IDIOTIC.
Like one VERY well known Coach once said… “You play to win the game.”
What do you do? How about we PASS?
No, what you do is GIVE the Ball to Conner… as many times as necessary to get into the End Zone.
This is NOT complicated. But to Narduzzi, it obviously is.
Clemscum 54 Syracuse 0
Dungy got hurt in 1st half never returned for Cuse. Pitt’s only hope to win that game.
Just like Narduzzi.
The problem with Chryst though is in year three there was no progress. It was the exact same three years running. I still thought Chryst deserved 4-5 years but he bolted before that and left Pitt in the same situation it was in when he came on board … another 4-5 year rebuild. Which is what is happening and Pitt fans are flipping out over.
Chryst did not adjust his system for the QB. He just shrank his playbook to run plays the QB could run competently. Sunseri was a pro-style QB so he fit the system. Chryst still ran a pro-style system with Voytik even though Voytik should have been running the option. He put in packages for Voytik but it was not his base offense.
Boo Boo – hoopies suck. Barnes didn’t even hire Narduzzi.
Sitting that Bench at Arksansas State… which by the way is something I predicted.
Your comment regarding Sunseri pretty much supports the argument I am making.
Again… SMART people adapt. Narduzzi REFUSES to do so.
Let that speak for itself.
In fact, he already has.
And when was the last time Pitt had the same QB for 2 Bowl Game wins.
Pitt is getting what it deserves. Letting a fat slob like him come in and just ruin a kid.
That’s as BIG as it gets.
Funny thing is… from the first time I watched him in High School on ESPN, I knew he was WAY overrated… and posted as much.
How could so many so-called “Experts” be wrong?
NOT a hard call.
Voytik had Tyler Boyd to throw to… the ACC “Player of the Year” in the Backfield… and a Coach willing to put the Football in both of their hands.
Be real.
Pitt WILL be in a bowl game this year and Narduzzi will be our coach in that game and he will be on the sidelines when we play New Year’s Day in ’19.
And you really do help keep it REAL… although sometimes a little too close to the edge.
Obviously got the memo.
There is HOPE!
And then didn’t play in another Bowl game for 4 years.
Until this administration seriously lays out some Large Coinage we will be, what we are.
No Pedo’s to buy 10,000 of them. Pitt either coming off a no bowl season or another Toilet Bowl appearance some Sun Belt or MAC team.
You also said Adam Bertke was special, he didn’t do so well at Pitt did he?
god love ya, but you are the biggest koolaid drinker ever! look around you my man, the program is nowhere. narduzzi should be able to stay as long as he wants, cause no one wants this crummy program.
Maybe not in order:
We try an unnecessary punter throw long into double coverage.
We have a fumble.
We have an interception.
Our interior line goes down on one play. One taking a helmet in the knee.
We have two major downpours.
We drop another interception.
We drop a fairly easy TD pass.
I am sure I forgot a few others.
I agree with POD, when you have the most prolific red zone guy in Pitt history, why is he on the bench, why are you passing on first down?
When Hall is gouging them for big yards, why do you stop until they stop you? Why do we never see him again.
Why do you try 5 jet sweeps with Henderson when they are blowing the plays up?
Hate to say it but we beat ourselves today, no way we beat Miami with that many mistakes.
Peterman was not sharp today, but a lot of it was because of poor protection. When we get behind by more than a touchdown it puts too much pressure on the passing game.
Both of our lines got outplayed today.
Overall, just not enough big plays for us, along with all the forced and unforced errors.
Heard two good things from Narduzzi in his postgame. He commended the refs for a great job (with sincerity) and he said he was trying to give the corners help (whoopee).
The Pitt defense is the problem, week in and week out. If the offense would have played perfectly by not turning it over today the score would have been closer but they still would have lost.
The defense is horrible and changes need to be made with maybe scheme, new coaches and much more talent because what they are doing does not work.
Aston had a really good game. Both Henderson’s and Weah’s great plays were offset by their poor ones.
Whitehead had 10 tackles, Taleni 8. Brightwell looked pretty good at times.
Worst news, Jarrett’s injury looked pretty severe.
It does seem unlucky that everyone seems to play their best games against us. (maybe not luck), but we rarely seem to benefit from the other team screwing up.
Like I’ve said many times “No One bats a thousand.”
However, I was DEAD ON with Voytik… despite all of his “Anonymous” Supporters on Dokish.
I like you and love your posts just gotta keep you honest.
Take care
I went to Pitt. I love Pitt. I watch them religiously from 3000 miles away. I didn’t say I hate Pitt. But I hate to be hurt by the endless disappointments I feel. I am frustrated to see them drop open field TD passes, fumble at the most in opportune times, etc. Every year, I harbor hope and every year it is the same BS.
I have to agree with you, in coach speak that would be termed he doesn’t pay attention to detail.
Steelers taking the week off too.
I have to choose my entertainment more carefully.
Next week will be tough with the clemscum 3:30pm start time and darkness setting in at 5pm.
Never give up cause HCPN and this FB don’t (usually)
