It broke on twitter via Richie Walsh for KDKA-TV. And quickly confirmed by other outlets.
Defensive line coach Tom Sims is no longer with the team, according to a source.
Sims, a defensive tackle at Pitt who was a sixth-round draft pick in 1990 after his senior year, played in the NFL until 1996 with the Kansas City Chiefs and Indianapolis Colts.
Pat Narduzzi hired Sims, 49, back to his alma mater from Youngstown State in 2015 when Narduzzi took over as Pitt’s head coach.
With national signing day now in the rear-view mirror, and four defensive line recruits officially in the fold, Narduzzi will look for a new assistant to coach that position.
Narduzzi also said Friday morning on a conference call that when the NCAA approves a 10th assistant coach for Football Bowl Subdivision programs, which it’s expected to do in April, he will most likely add to the defensive staff.
From a coaching standpoint, this comes as a surprise. I thought Sims had been doing an excellent job considering injuries and lack of depth on the D-line.
His work with Shakir Soto from DE to DT in his senior year was excellent and Tyrique Jarrett was a force inside.
Add in the fact that he was the only member of the staff that was a Pitt alum, and there is a bit of extra pain in seeing him let go.
The bigger question is who does Coach Pat Narduzzi have in mind to take the spot. Immediate speculation turns to Charlie Partridge.
Charlie Partridge was D-line coach under Walt Harris and Dave Wannstedt before leaving to take the same position at Wisconsin under Bret Bielema. Partridge followed Bielema to Arkansas where he rose to co-DC and assistant head coach, before becoming head coach at Florida Atlantic in 2013.
While Partridge is a good position coach, he is an even better recruiter. Especially in Florida. That was part of the reason FAU hired him. He did recruit well considering it was FAU, but the wins did not follow and after three straight 3-9 season was fired after the 2016 season. Lane Kiffin is now the HC at FAU.
The speculation of Partridge being the guy, is partially fueled by the fact that shortly after news of Sims being out Partridge began following several Pitt coaches and members of the Pittsburgh sports media on Twitter.
If it is Partridge, then the move does make grudging sense. Narduzzi has openly said that Florida is an important area for recruiting. This past recruiting class had seven recruits from Florida as compared to four from Pennsylvania.
Recruting in Florida is tough and only about to get harder. In addtion to FSU, Florida, the entire SEC, ACC and lots of the Big Ten and other major schools. You have the second tier programs — FAU, FIU and USF — that have all made a big upgrade at head coach in terms of recruiting. USF now has Charlie Strong. FIU has pulled Butch Davis off the scrap heap and as mentioned, FAU has Kiffykins.
The sooner KS is gone the sooner the bleeding stops. Every year he is here means big bucks lost in revenue – empty seats at Pete, apparel sales etc. – and more and more fans lost that will take a lot of work to get back in a glutted pro sports city.
The cost of a HCKS buyout vs the cost of lost revenue and advertising bucks spent to get fans back due to the collapse of the program must be taken into account in the equation by any competent administration.
No – time to right the ship. Nothing Stallings can do will gain back the respect of the fans and now it seems the student body… the longer Pitt waits to start rebuilding it’s reputation with it’s BB fan base the worse the situation will get.
It’s been a while since we really had an athletic center; if Taft wouldn’t have left prematurely (or Adams of course) they could have made a big impact
The center is 6’10 that won’t see significant time until he’s a red shirt junior.
KS has a good solid base coming in. Disregard the rankings. Pitt isn’t a Duke or Kentucky where you reload in one class. This is a class that sets the tone for KS moving forward. The building blocks. If he gets two superstars in the 2018 class, this class will look much much better. It’s a very solid base for the program though.
Having said that, if you’re going to get rid of KS in 3 years, just do it now and get it over with so we don’t end up in another rebuild.
Run Stallings out now;
give him a couple years to win or else when the buyout won’t be so big and the new AD can put his stamp on the BB program;
or, just chill and get over it. He deserves time to develop his program with his recruits then decide.
Pretty much everyone is reconciled that the second or third scenarios are more likely to prevail. But the one thing we haven’s discussed much is where KS head is. Look, if he had a do over he probably would not have come here (unless it was the only option if Vandy canned his ass). But he can’t be enjoying this. Not just the losing but all the negativity on blogs, talk radio, press (including the Pitt News). And the one guy who was his security blanket who he could rely on presumably, Barnes, cut bait and ran home to Momma.
So, his life just has to be miserable right now. He just relocated here after living in the South for the past 17 years so that, in and of itself, makes for a challenging transition. Let’s face it, he’s persona-non-grata in many ways, fair or not. His relationship with the students is obviously not all peaches and cream (Narduzzi, not KS, is sending out emails asking for support for crying out loud).
Anyway, he has a contract and the gig at Pitt is his livelihood so there is no way he just pulls up stakes and says screw it. But, ou just wonder though if he might not fight back too bad if the BOT or new AD offers him a way out.
Maybe all of this is just wishful thinking on my part, lol.
Tossing – I think your projection of Peace’s contributions in the future are sensible, however it wouldn’t surprise me if he is an effective role player next year, or on the other end of the spectrum, if he never makes it at all. I do like his odds though.
