That didn’t take long. On the heels of being the only new coach in a major conference to improve upon the previous season’s work, football Head Coach Pat Narduzzi has received a contract extension.
Two years will be added to Narduzzi’s original five-year agreement, ensuring he will remain the Panthers’ head coach through at least the 2021 season. Financial terms and other contractual details were not disclosed.
“Pat Narduzzi has adrenalized Pitt football on and off the field,” Barnes said. “We are proud of what our program has accomplished this season. Moreover, we’re excited about what our student-athletes can continue to achieve–on the field, in the classroom and in the community–under Pat’s long-term leadership.”
“I’m greatly appreciative and humbled by the support and faith that Scott Barnes and Chancellor Patrick Gallagher have shown me,” Narduzzi said. “The University of Pittsburgh is an incredible place with incredible people. My family and I plan to make Pittsburgh our home for a very long time and we’re glad the leadership at Pitt feels the same way. It is an honor to serve as Pitt’s head football coach and I’m continuously energized by what we can, and will, accomplish here.”
Yes, yes, we all know. These contracts mean nothing as far as really keeping a coach if a bigger school wants to unload the dump truck of cash. Yada, yada.
I keep beating this point into the ground, so I apologize if you are sick of me writing it. What Pitt has done this year has been amazing in light of the consistent treading of water for the last 5 years. At the same time, Pitt has done exactly what they should. Win games they should win.
They haven’t gone out and shocked the world. The Panthers haven’t staged huge upsets. They may have been slight underdogs in some games — GT, VT and even Louisville — but they weren’t shockers.
“Specifically, Barnes pointed to the hydrotherapy area, used by both teams, as being a part of the expansion. He also added that a common lobby space, as opposed to the current setup of two separate entrances, will make things more comfortable for the Pitt football players, who often eat their meals at the Steelers’ cafeteria.
“Just the little nuance of how our student-athletes won’t have to go outside to get into the cafeteria (Heaven forbid),” Barnes said. “They get to stay inside in the wintertime. Those are things we’ve been communicating and planning together here over the last couple of months plus.”
* Pitt and Notre Dame renew ties for the 70th time when the Panthers host their historic rival for a noon ABC national telecast at Heinz Field. Pitt owns a 6-2 mark, its best start since 2009. The Irish are 7-1 and ranked as high as No. 8 this week.
* The Panthers are looking to bounce back from a 26-19 loss to ACC foe North Carolina. The defeat halted a four-game winning streak for Pitt. Notre Dame visits Pittsburgh having won its last three games following a two-point loss at undefeated Clemson (Oct. 3).
* Close games and dramatic finishes have been the rule for Pitt and Notre Dame in recent years. The past six meetings have been decided by an average of 4.5 points. Two of those contests have gone to overtime.
* Pitt is 5-2 in games decided by single digits this year. The Panthers were 1-5 in single-digit contests last season.
* All-America candidate Tyler Boyd needs just 49 receiving yards to become Pitt’s all-time leader in that category. Boyd enters the Notre Dame game with 3,013 career yards, second only to Antonio Bryant (3,061 from 1999-2001) at Pitt.
* Tyler Boyd is already Pitt’s career receptions leader with 226. Boyd is the ACC’s active career leader and ranks second nationally with 6.85 catches per game.
* Quarterback Nate Peterman is completing 67.4% of his passes this season, the second-best percentage in the ACC and 15th nationally. Peterman has thrown 151 consecutive passes without an interception dating back to the first half at Iowa (Sept. 19).
* This season marks the 40-year anniversary of Tony Dorsett’s legendary 303-yard rushing game against Notre Dame in 1975. Dorsett’s incredible effort sparked the Panthers to a 34-20 win over the Irish at Pitt Stadium.
In a sign from Heaven this vision appeared on the building facing Notre Dame’s football field immediately after Dorsett broke the 300 yard mark. “It’s like God deserted us just because Pitt beat the crap out of our team” a scared undergrad said, “But He’ll make it right after next year’s game here at Notre Dame, I know He will. There’s no way we lose two in a row to them!!” But apparently God took the Panthers getting five points in 1976…
SERIES NOTES
Pitt and Notre Dame meet for the 70th time in a series that dates back to 1909…the Irish lead the all-time series by a 47-21-1 count…Pitt and Notre Dame have split the past eight meetings with each team winning four times since 2004…close contests have been the norm for most of the past decade…nine of the past 10 games have been decided by single digits…in the last meeting, Pitt edged the Irish, 28-21, at Heinz Field in 2013…
Pitt’s 2013 win snapped a three-game series losing streak and gained a measure of revenge for its 2012 loss, a 29-26 heartbreaker in three overtimes at Notre Dame…the Panthers are 11-26-1 at home and 10-21 on the road against Notre Dame…Pitt’s longest winning streak in the series is three games, achieved three separate times (1932-34; 1958-60; 1983, ‘86-87)…Notre Dame’s longest winning streak against Pitt is 11 games, which occurred from 1964-74…
…that streak was snapped in 1975 when Pitt defeated the Irish, 34-20 (page 36 of the Post Gazette), behind 303 rushing yards from Tony Dorsett…the 303 yards remain a Notre Dame opponent record…in four games against the Irish (1973-76), Dorsett rushed for 754 yards, an NCAA record for a player against a four-year opponent…
(Here is the recap of the 1976 ND game the season after the 303 yard performance… this game sticks in my mind more than the 303 game actually… sweet as hell! All the Pitt fans in ND stadium were looking at Hornung up in the press box and screaming “Jump! Jump!”)
…the Pitt-Notre Dame series is long on history and color…on Nov. 13, 1999, the Panthers defeated Notre Dame, 37-27, in the final game ever played at Pitt Stadium…Pittsburgh product Kevan Barlow scored two TDs, including the game’s final score on a two-yard run to close down the 74-year-old structure…
…the 2008 game at Notre Dame was an instant classic...the Panthers clawed back from a 17-3 halftime deficit to defeat the Irish, 36-33, in four overtimes…the four-overtime affair marked the longest game in both Pitt and Notre Dame history…the ‘08 game also marked the Panthers’ second consecutive victory at Notre Dame Stadium…
…in its prior visit to South Bend (2004), Pitt beat the Irish, 41-38, behind five touchdown passes from Tyler Palko, an unprecedented achievement against Notre Dame. Here’s another piece on Palko for your Pitt football pleasure, and to keep you from going back to doing what your supposed to be doing to earn that salary your getting…
Finally, because this cracked me up when I watched it and because it is very well done, here is “Naptown Funk” (Naptown is Annapolis). Call me a hopelessly sentimental guy but when I see young men and women in the Military enjoying themselves I get a big smile on my face – especially considering what tough times they’ll be facing in a few years.
Plus, this might be the first time in the history of the U.S. that all five Armed Forces worked successfully with each other on something:
There’s one glaring thing the offense is missing. I’m going to highlight some offensive stats and I want to see if you can find the one area this offense is missing as well. The thing that UNC had and Pitt didn’t on Thursday and the one problem that is holding them back from being good enough to have beaten UNC and Iowa. Let’s start the stats! (more…)
(This is one of a weekly series of articles entitled “Monday Morning Quarterback”. I will try to post them two days after the football games are played so as to have our wilder emotions under control by then. It will be my take on the positives and the negatives we saw happen and a chance for commenters to agree or disagree and to add their own thoughts.)
This is will a Friday morning edition of course and that’s good because I don’t want three days to think about that game before I can put it into the history books… and I don’t think you want to either.
We’ll get back to all that in a second… here is the obligatory highlights video:
Now lets get the hard part out of the way with Narduzzi’s post game press conference:
Here is the info dump on the game and the cumulative stats for the season:
OK, now is the hard part and it is a bit like looking into a ‘Way-Back’ mirror to the last week of camp where we talked about things that might bite us in the ass… sprinkled with some new problems that have shown themselves growing week-by-week.
One thing that I’ll keep first and foremost in my head for the next ten days is that a good, solid, football team came into Heinz Field and won the game. North Carolina is no stumble bum team that just happened to get luck breaks to win the game. That wasn’t the case, they came here and won the play on both sides of the ball and scored more than we did.
I said in my preview column that “Pitt’s offense will have to have their best game of the season OR the defense will have to hold UNC to their worst since their first game” and that UNC has only scored under 26 once. Well, lo and behold UNC scored 26. The defense stepped up in the second half but after spotting the Tarheels a 20-3 lead, the offense didn’t have enough firepower to finish the comeback. I’m sad that I was correct that assessment.
There are two key things I want to make clear. (more…)
No pressure, but this is the most important game any player on this roster has ever been in. It’s unquestionably the biggest game since for Pitt the 2010 Backyard Brawl. It may be even bigger than that. If Pitt wins, Narduzzi and company are in the driver’s seat for the ACC Coastal. Lose and Pitt will need a lot of help. If the goal is to be a nationally relevant program, these are the games you have to win.
UNC comes to town with similar pressure. Both teams were 6-6 last year and thanks to some coaching changes (UNC added DC Gene Chizik) have taken an obvious step forward. Like Pitt, a win for the Tarheels will put them in the driver’s seat for the ACC Coastal.
How $%&@ing awesome is it to have a nationally televised game with huge implications on the line in late October? Let’s take a look at what UNC brings to the table. (more…)
(This is one of a weekly series of articles entitled “Monday Morning Quarterback”. I will try to post them two days after the football games are played so as to have our wilder emotions under control by then. It will be my take on the positives and the negatives we saw happen and a chance for commenters to agree or disagree and to add their own thoughts.)
One thing I dislike is that I write these MMQB articles immediately after the game and then hold it off until Monday morning to post it for work-time reading. So – if it sounds like these MMQB articles parrot the media coverage after the game that doesn’t happen. I never read anything but stats and watch videos as I write these… unless I see something Monday morning I want to quote before posting.
It’s that time of year everyone. It’s time for Pitt’s annual beat down of the ARCHRIVAL ORANGE. If this game doesn’t fire you up then I suggest you look at the cold metal walls around you because you’re IN THE MORGUE. IT’S ARCHRIVAL ORANGEWEEK AND WE’RE GONNA PELT THEM WITH KIWIS UNTIL THE ENTIRE STATE OF NEW YORK RUNS OUT OF BENADRYL!!!!! THE STREETS OF SYRACUSE WILL FLOOD WITH PULP!! FLORIDA’S ECONOMY WILL TAKE A HIT SO SEVERE THAT MARCO RUBIO RESIGNS IN SHAME!!! AL CAPONE WILL RISE FROM HIS GRAVE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE EXCESSIVE ORANGES IN THE STREETS TO MAKE MANY OLD FASHIONEDS. Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy’s investment will be safe though.
Let’s take a look at the many ways Pat Narduzzi will send Scott Shafer to the ER. (more…)
In the euphoria over the season to this point, I’ve probably been as guilty as anyone in dismissing former head coach Paul Chryst as nothing more than a placeholder for Pitt. Maybe even holding Pitt back. It’s not really true. Especially when it comes to laying things out for recruiting.
The sins of Chryst are known and used frequently. I was never a big fan of the way he put together his staff — at least on the defensive side. He hardly distinguished himself, even by his 3d year, as a great tactician. His recruiting was passive. He was dry and boring as 3-day old toast with the media and public. There was little that seemed to inspire the players to play with belief in their ability to win in close games.
James Conner has missed most of the season. Chad Voytik isn’t starting. The offense is 113th in the country in yards per game. Tyler Boyd is…ok, still doing Boyd things. But, if I told you those first three things would be where Pitt stands after six games back in August, what would you expect Pitt’s record to be? If you said 5-1 you’re lying to yourself. The likely answer would be that Pitt is a two or three win team hoping to win six and get another bowl. (more…)
PITTSBURGH—First-year head coach Pat Narduzzi, who has Pitt back in the nation’s Top 25 for the first time in six seasons, has been named a candidate for the 2015 Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award.
Narduzzi is one of 22 head coaches revealed today as candidates for the prestigious recognition. The Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award honors excellence in college football coaching while raising funds to fight heart disease and stroke through its partnership with the American Heart Association.
It is the only college coaching honor determined after all bowl games are concluded and is voted on by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. This year’s winner will be honored on January 13 at the 30th Annual American Heart Association Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards presented by Marathon Oil Corporation in Houston, Texas.
Under Narduzzi, the Panthers are ranked No. 25 in this week’s Associated Press poll, their first in-season Top 25 appearance since 2009. Pitt owns a 5-1 overall record—its best start since the ’09 campaign—and is 3-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the first time. The Panthers have sole possession of first place in the ACC’s Coastal Division.
