You know, in my relief over Shawn Watson’s dismissal, I forgot to mention one other aspect of the firing. The timing.
In prior years, when staff has turned over, it hasn’t been filled quickly and/or the change happened later.
Obviously with the early signing period, these days that alleviates some of that. Yet, that didn’t seem to matter last year when changes were made to the coaching staff. They came later in the cycle and took a while to fill.
So, why make the announcement last Friday? It wasn’t like a news dump to try to bury a bad story.
No, the timing most likely had to do with the fact that Sunday kicked off the biggest networking/job interview event for college coaches. The American Football Coaches Association Convention.
Not only is it a place for recently fired coaches to try and find a gig to help them move on to the next one. It is a chance for head coaches with vacancies to talk to potential hires. Feel out some people directly.
I’m very happy at this thought, because it means Head Coach Pat Narduzzi would appear to be looking beyond his immediate network of connections for a new Offensive Coordinator and Wide Receivers Coach.
This definitely not to say that there will be a hire made this week. Or even that he won’t still make a hire that is connected to him or one of his other coaches if things fall a certain way. It does mean that, unlike the past couple years, Narduzzi is going back to more of what he did when he took the Pitt job. He looked around for the coaches to fill his staff. He hired some guys he didn’t meet at a previous stop.
At the very least it suggests he understands how much the offense needs to get back to where it was in his first two years, and that he can’t just hope the defense becomes a juggernaut.
End of story.
Narduzzi has had 5 recruiting classes under his belt. It was his job to recruit offensive lineman. We have no good offensive lineman. How in the hell can you blame Chryst???? The truth is that most of the Duzzi recruits have not panned out. This coming season will really show how bad of a program this really is. The man will be gone after next years season. His recruits continue to be busts. They will not beat one quality team next season. If you thought Heinz Field was empty this year, just wait until you see it this year. That is the real sign of how things will be going. Season tickets sales will drop off big time. I am not renewing , this program is a farce. If you want to go, just pick you tickets up outside the stadium for $5.00.
We lost 2 starting running backs (who will replace them), offensive line loses some ( this is the line that could not protect a QB). No good receivers or tight ends. The line was so bad we had to have tight ends mostly as blockers. And people think we will have a good season. This is what happens when you can’t recruit well and show no signs of being a good head coach. These kids see the mess we have and just run away. The number of coaching (assistant) changes in 4 years tells the story.
Please don’t anyone bring up the “Coastal Division Champ” garbage. As it turns out, it is meaningless to say the least. In fact its a joke to even talk about it. You will see this crap be repeated by the ticket marketing department over and over in their feeble attempt to package this program as a winner.
Pitt has the 3rd most wins out of 14 teams in the ACC since Narduzzi’s arrival.
To you and every sad sack, self loathing Pitt fan who loves to downplay the Coastal title: Pitt was also the undisputed 2nd best team overall in the conference this year. They would have finished 2nd in the Atlantic, behind the National Champion.
Stop rooting for Pitt, stop commenting here.
Lol
Think about it- what’s the worst case scenario for any power 5 conference these days? To get frozen out of the Playoff. The best case scenario is to have at least one team ride quasi-uncontested into the circle of four. Better to have two – one in each division – ride it down to a conference championship. Then at least one gets in. These days every conference needs a certain number of easy wins for it’s “contenders”. Look at what happened to the Big-10- infighting killed them. It was great football – fun to watch and talk about – but ultimately it cost them a lot of money. Fans love upsets. Accountants don’t. Even the big bowl games are largely meaningless anymore – if you’re not in the field of four, no one really cares all that much. They’ve lost much of their national significance. I actually miss the days when, even though finding a “true” champion was largely subjective, the games were fun to watch and no one ever thought about sitting out for the draft. To summarized based on this and previous posts:
1) The national title is all that matters anymore – at least that’s what we’ve all been programmed to believe.
2) Only a handful of schools can afford to compete for the best recruits nationwide.
3) The rest get what’s left over and are left competing for increasingly irrelevant rewards.
4) Those less competitive schools still get big checks from their respective conferences to fund their athletic departments.
5) There’s not a lot of incentive for anyone to improve the situation.
It’s funny – the pundits on ESPN (or wherever, but it’s easy tp pick on ESPN…) don’t want to talk about it. I don’t think it’s because they’re ignorant. Bowl games becoming less relevant is bad for their business. The money coming in lines their pockets. I heard very little on the national stage about a select few dominating the conversation repeatedly, but people other than die hard fans can only be so stupid for so long. What happens when the Orange Bowl ceases to have any real meaning other than a consolation prize for the teams that just missed out? The Rose bowl? The Fiesta? If more and more players aren’t willing to “risk” playing in these games, it only stands to reason that fewer and fewer fans will be willing to watch/attend them.
The money changed everything. I watched a lot of HS football and DII football this year. Increasingly, I vote with my wallet. As much as I love Pitt, I don’t see anything really changing. You can keep the coaching carousel going for as long as you like, but the NCAA allowed it to become a money game and now we’re stuck with it. Narduzzi may or may not be a good head coach – I’m not sure it matters. Pitt can’t afford to spend the kind of money to become a top level contender. Who’s going to come to Pitt and restructure the economics of the game? I’m all for holding our coaches to higher expectations, but he can’t work miracles. Perhaps that’s apathetic – I accept that – but it’s been 30+ years and I feel like it’s time to accept the realities of the game as it is, and I don’t like it that much anymore.
Just a realist my friend, you can state all the BS about being 2nd if we were a part of the Atlantic Division etc. The truth is we only won 7 out of 14 games, never ranked in any poll and looked like hell the last 3 games. Next year could potentially be a bust. Tell me just one bright spot on this team for the coming year and I will cross over to the “Kool-Aid drinkers side”. Who will be the running backs, Quarter back, linemen, tight ends(in our case extra blockers) etc. We don’t even have a offensive co-Ordinator yet.
Winning the Coastal division is equal to high school teams giving out “participation trophies” to the losers. It doesn’t hold much meaning. Narduzzi has been here 4 years and just finished his 5th recruiting class. The poor play of the offensive line is on his shoulders period. Just look at the champion ship game ( the real one). Clemson’s QB had all the time in the world to throw the ball, Pickett ran for his life in almost every play. Like I said, see who shows up to watch this crap in the coming season. Remember the truth shall set you free.
Perhaps Jeff George, Jr. but if he couldn’t unseat Pickett last year statistically the worst D1 QB last year he must also be a bust.
Only option is to hit the fertile QB transfer group for 2019.
Pitt went 5-1 at home last year, 4-0 in ACC games. That includes a massacre of Virginia Tech, and a win over Syracuse, everyone’s darling because they finished in the Top 15 thanks to a non-existent non-con schedule.
Actual Pitt fans will be there next year. You’ll continue to post nonsense on the internet and not support the program.
Are you for real guy, their record was 7-7. What the hell is there to write home about.
I will continue to post my opinions if need be and you will continue to read them.
I have been a season ticket holder and financially supported Pitt football and basketball for over 35 years. I have been to more away games than you can imagine. Pitt needs to be a consistent winner and I just don’t see that happening next year. Just give me some names of players coming up the ranks who will start this year? Who the hell will be the running backs this season. Offensive line is terrible and hardly ever protected the quarterback, who will replace them? I really hope I am wrong, I stopped hoping a long time ago.
