in Pitt Football 2,157 Words

How Was the Team Last Year at This Time?

Sometimes I like to go back a full year and see what Pitt fans were saying at that time – then look at it in relation to what transpired over the following season – in this case 2016.

So let’s do that and see if what we thought would happen – happened.  Here one from the Fall Camp days..

Reed wrote: I read that and all the other stuff Canada and Narduzzi have said about the QB2 position so far (meaning Manny Stocker) this month and don’t see Ben Dinucci getting anything but some off-hand and cursory discussion at all.  Sorry to all the ‘local boy does well’ fans but I think we have to put that hope about Dinucci breaking into some real playing time as a ‘wait until next year’ scenario.

Well, that looks pretty accurate as Dinucci is now the solid QB2 coming out of camp.  Let’s hope that he gets some playing time often and early, if we get big enough leads and that might only be the Youngstown State game.

And here is an exchange between myself and two commenters regarding the WR position:

NotRocket – IMO you can’t sacrifice talent for speed. Just because another WR may be faster – and remember Challingsworth ran another 4.5 just a couple of weeks ago – doesn’t necessarily mean they should start.

 You can have speed in the slot and as rotational resources also. But first you have to get open and catch the ball – which Challingsworth is good at. We’ll see – but in the passing game you go for route yards first then yards after the catch second.
Dr. Tom

Agree with Reed. Speed at WR means nothing, zero, big goose egg if you can’t catch the ball. (Think Jester Weah)

 

Well – obviously I was wrong about Challingsworth possibly starting – as a matter of fact he took off after last season.  But Dr. Tom’s point about ‘catching the ball’ rang true because as soon as Weah did that on a regular basis his speed was a major factor.

Here is a bit from an interview with Josh Conklin regarding his Defensive Backs going into 2016. Remember this is from Aug 17th…:

On what the cornerback position looks like opposite Avonte Maddox:

“Opposite of Avonte [Maddox], it’s Ryan Lewis right now. He had nice day again yesterday. He’s made some strides. You start to look at him and say, `Hey, we can rely on him.’ Phillipie Motley and Dane Jackson are in a heat right now, and I’m not sure that Dane Jackson isn’t ahead of him. Dane Jackson has really come on strong the last four or five days. Phillipie [Motley] is still there. Malik Henderson had maybe an average day yesterday, so he’s battling. They’re all battling out there.”

Reed: “It’s a mess and if Hamlin doesn’t pan out we are screwed.”

On if any of the freshman are battling for that second cornerback spot:

“A little bit. Damar [Hamlin] and Henry Miller are still going strong. Therran [Coleman] mentally is probably a little step behind them, but they’re all going to be great players.”

Reed: “If one on these kids doesn’t win the job and get some damn INTs Conklin’s ass will be on the unemployment line as fast as his head can spin. We sucked at Pass Defense last year and will again this year if someone doesn’t breakout chop-chop.  Conklin’s the one who wanted these little DB kids; I wanted some more decent defensive lineman,  so he’s going to live or die by them”

I think we can all say that whatever Conklin said or didn’t say our pass defense was absolutely horrid last season. I was serious then about Conklin being fired and I reiterate that again – if our defense holds the team back from double-digit wins Conklin should be out of the Southside before New Year’s day.

Here a bit from the same article that I’ll include because it makes me realize, again, how funny I am… this is an interview with Quadree Henderson:

On his chemistry with quarterback Nathan Peterman:

“Nate and I are like brothers. In the summer we would come out to the fields every day after workouts to make sure our timing was down perfectly. The chemistry with Nate is top-notch.”

Reed:  “He’s the man! Much better now that he has absolutely zero competition and doesn’t have to even think about losing the starting job.  We joke about that all the time.  Plus he can drink like a fish – I mean when we start putting a drunk on he goes right up until the beginning of practice the next day.  Wish I could do that.”

Hmmm – that ‘chemistry’ with Peterman didn’t really show up for QH last year as he only had 26 receptions for 286 yards (11.0 ypc).  However, he sure made up for that in other ways, didn’t he?  This season we need to see his ‘chemistry’ with Browne really kick in as he’s the solid #2 receiver behind Weah due to Tipton’s injury.

From an Aug 19th piece when I attended the fall camp Media Day – here I am discussing player discipline with Challingsworth…

But here is a great thing I learned from WR Zach Challingsworth (more on him later) and one I am proud Narduzzi instituted.  There is a prominent sign in a common player’s area (not sure just where) that lists the how many days since a player arrest.  Right now it is at 424 days and counting.

 

What a great thing to emphasize.  Challingsworth mentioned it to me when we were discussing the history of problems Pitt had in 2009-10 before he reported aboard.  He was very adamant that the teammates looked out for each other – and that this staff has a zero tolerance toward indiscretions.  Music to my ears.

Oops… spoke a little too soon on that one didn’t we? Pitt halved that with 221 days until Bookser’s arrest. Still – not too shabby especially compared to six years before that camp. We did have some in-house suspensions in that time period but no arrests until Bookser’s.

At the same meeting I sat with Dontez Ford and WR coach Kevin Sherman and discussed this:

One point Ford made to me was that while they learned a lot from Boyd… “Boyd learned a lot from us also.”  I won’t sit here and tell you that the players I talked with missed Boyd terribly because that wasn’t the sense I got at all – and it wasn’t shown in a catty or bitchy way either.

Here’s an example – at both table of receivers I talked with I mentioned ‘the elephant in the room‘ comparison to Boyd and his being gone and each one looked straight at me like that hit the nail exactly on the head and agreed.

Bottom line – after talking with Coach Sherman and those four receivers, and telling of my public beer bet to all that our passing game would beat the stats Palko put up in his ‘best’ year – which was his 2871 yards and 25 TDs,  they all smiled and agreed that could easily happen.  Except Sherman who said “That’s possible“.

You all may remember I was adamant in my belief that we’d be a better offense and have a better passing game without Tyler Boyd on the field – and boy, did those guys, and their position coach, agree on that.  Guys – Boyd wasn’t all that well liked and most felt pretty glad that he left early – at least that was the overwhelming impression I got last year and wrote about it.

Here is a bit from then about the guy we will most miss off the 2017 team – FB George Aston.

Aston didn’t necessarily care for the switch at first:

When George Aston arrived at Pitt last year, the previous coaching staff decided he was a fullback.  “I wasn’t happy at all about it,” he said, noting he played only running back and linebacker at Sherando (Va.) High School.

But he was a walk-on during his first year at Pitt, and he couldn’t say a lot about the move. “I had to take care of what I control,” he said. “I just worked hard, the coaches believed in me and gave me a chance.

“God’s been looking out for me big-time.”

At any rate God has also spoken and Aston is our FB and I have to say that after reviewing game films I can see exactly why the switch was made.  He’s 6’0″ and 245 so his body fits the role…

As to his blocking skills; he proved himself out there with flying colors. The one thing I know to be true in college football is that a RB never gets those big yards on his own. Look at #35 leading the way for Ollison in this highlight film. Keep your cursor on the pause button so you can watch some of them over again – he did that well.

We are going to miss him big-time my friends and I don’t care what Watson and Narduzzi have planned for Flanagan or whoever to mitigate this personnel loss – Browne needed Aston behind for many reasons.  Let’s hope it is an eight week injury – but my gut says we’ll not see him until next spring practices.

Even though we Pitt fans are lamenting the loss of Aston, along with Tipton being injured and out for the year – and with some serious suspension time in the start of the season, these things do happen to teams.  the question is does it happen to Pitt more than other programs or do we just feel like it does.

BTW – we are going to see a lot of yardage from Ollison this season – he’s actually stronger and faster than he was – which is pretty darn fast as he was clocked at 4.5 in the 40, tied with Moss, before the 2016 season. According to Narduzzi and Watson he’s the clear RB1 at this point and it will be his season to really shine.

At this time last year we read this:

Pitt defensive tackle (rsJR) Justin Moody and incoming freshman defensive back (FR) George Hill will no longer play football due to a non-football-related cervical spine condition and a preexisting cardiac condition, respectively, the school announced Friday.

Additionally, tight end (SO) Chris Clark and offensive lineman (rsSO) Mike Grimm will miss this season after undergoing knee and hip surgery, respectively, while freshman defensive lineman (FR) Zack Gilbert will miss the season due to a cardiac condition.

On a final note – toward the end of ’16’s fall camp Narduzzi was asked what defense he’d design to stop Pitt’s offense last season.  here is what he said:

But if Pat Narduzzi was forced to design a defense to stop the Panthers offense — in other words, if he hypothetically were thrust into the role Villanova will assume Saturday at Heinz Field — he knows what he would do.

“I would try to stop the run and load the box up (with an extra defender or two),” he said. “Make us beat you with the pass.”  But he amended that statement slightly, adding, “That’s scary, too, because you have Nathan Peterman sitting there. Pick your poison.”

Huh. That was every defense he’s designed for the last 15 years… and it sure as hell didn’t work against our opponent’s in the 2016 season did it?

I just hope to hell he and Conklin shake off the lethargic approach they have shown toward our defenses over the last two years.  We have done this over that period of time:

2015 – 37th in Total Defense at 362 ypg; 57th in Scoring Defense at 26.1

2016 -101st in Total Defense at 452 ypg; 106th in Scoring Defense at 35.2

When you have a drop of 90 yards allowed per game and also 9.1 ppg it means whatever you are doing absolutely…sucks.

For the life of me I don’t get how the fans are giving Conklin a pass for the last two years – especially when Paul Chryst’s last year of coaching here had a team that gave up 26.3 ppg and only 352 ypg total…  Maybe we Pitt fans are so jaundiced that eight wins covers up obvious gaps in team play… or we just love this staff so much the fingers point directly to the players.

That is my hope for 2017 – that if things remain the same on defense, or get worse – and don’t kid yourselves things sure can get worse – Conklin gets fired and either Narduzzi takes over the DC role or gives it to Charlie Partridge.

We’ll have the Sunday Podcast tomorrow and I’ll be introducing some new features on the POV – mainly POV apparel items for donations and some prediction polls.

 

113 thoughts on “How Was the Team Last Year at This Time?”

    1. If Narduzzi wins consistently at Pitt, or gasp makes the playoff, there is nothing that Pitt can do to keep a desperate SEC or B1G team from poaching him. How many times have we watched schools give a raise to a guy only to have him leave at the next best opportunity? (PSU and O’Brien, for example) … or only to have to eat that raise when he gets fired (FIU and Cristobal, and many names on the linked article.)

      When it is time for a coach to leave, he will leave. Did anyone really believe that Pitt could have done any more to keep Canada? They could have started him at double the salary – and he would still have left. Pitt should pay the HC in the upper half of the ACC range – if only to keep the job “legitimate” in the eyes of Narduzzi’s successor.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Charlie will be the next defensive coordinator at Pitt and Turd Grahams days are numbered, the clock at ASU will strike midnight this season.

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  7. Well, our record is the same as it was last year at this point. Undefeated!

    Seriously Reed, we are on the same page regarding Narduzzi. Towards the end of his first year, I was clamoring on here for him to be extended. Much to the dismay of others. Look, when you have someone you trust, you reward him or her. Narduzzi is not a bust. He does well, considering the confines of our athletic department and administration. Is he Bear Bryant, NO! I for one don’t want no stinkin Bear Bryant. I want a guy that has passion and will maximize his employee’s efforts with what he is given.

    Pitt gives him the support to run a C+ program. Currently, Narduzzi gives them a B to B- product. He outperforms in my book. Does that mean I am happy with a couple of 8-5’s, sure. Am I ecstatic, no. But, I am a realist. You do not have A programs on C budgets in any walk of life.

    Pitt needs to bump his salary to 2.6M TODAY. They can afford it now and it will pay off soon and here is why. If you look at STRATEGY, there will most certainly be an influx of money coming in from the ACC Channel next year and into 2019, Football is the economic driver. Invest now for the win later!

    For those that think that the Farmers High School were stupid for the big extension they just gave, it is the same premise. The Big TV deal is coming due and the money floating out there is really big. They can afford it and their head coach was stupid to take what he did, now. Shows you what a dumb coach he is. He can’t even do his own homework. I was there when they were discussing that a few weeks back. Pitt just needs to get smarter and proactive, but when the administration is a Cor D, the results certainly will follow. Wake Up!

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  8. Reed – Conklin gets a pass from fans cause his cupboard was full of Chryst players.

    The coaching staff has recruited better than Chryst with defensive players – Conklin must show improvement this year or the seat gets hot in my book.

    Looking at the potential starters on D and who is credited with their recruitment –

    DE’s Hendrix and A.Edwards – Duzz
    DT’s Watts and Carter – Duzz
    MLB Brightwell – Duzz
    OLB’s Idowu – walk-on and Zeise – switched by Duzz from WR -> draw
    CB’s Maddox – Chryst and Jackson – Duzz
    S’s Briggs – Chryst and Campbell or Stocker – Duzz

    Duzz – 7
    Chryst – 2
    Draw – 2

    I expect a significant improvement with the D in 2017 based on what fan perception were. Last season at this time.

    HTP!

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  9. There is no big TV deal coming for any conference. ESPN is losing millions of subscribers every year to the cord cutters and as a result is cutting expenses with a broad sword. The future is events distrubuted thru the Internet for a monthly and/or per event fee. No one knows if the future will generate more revenue than is lost to cord cutters. I am close to cutting the cord myself. Only not getting the pirates and penguin games on Root TV and maybe Game of Thrones has kept me from cutting the cord, but I will soon.

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  10. Love the picture at the beginning of the article Reed. That’s you! I saw 8-5 last year, but the team’s we beat amazed me and the loss to Northwestern was a bad way to end a successful season otherwise.

    Conklin isn’t the problem,,,,,,,yet. This year by the Miami game the handwriting will be on the wall. If Conklin hasn’t developed a competent defense by then with this herd of in coming young Turks with talent, then he’ll have a problem hanging on to his job.

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  11. I agree, Ray.
    Viewership is down and the crazy money from networks is going to collapse like the dot com bubble. It will be pay-per-view, which, while not a bad thing, will make the strong stronger and the weak weaker…if the money isnt doled out evenly.
    As for paying for success, i bitched about the $110K tab for camp hotels, only because i dont want to hear about Pitt tossing away money when they are too cheap to pay coaches. Sure, 100k is not the same as 1.3M but you need to save a few coupons if you ever want to buy a Lear.

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    1. MM – that same article said this about the FR QB – “Freshman Kenny Pickett, who’s also looked really good, will redshirt this season.”

      Good to hear the QB depth is gaining strength at Pitt, finally…

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  13. Majors, saw that consent from pgh sports report, kind of shocking, seemingly out of nowhere, I wonder how accurate that is?

    The 2 deep thread is interesting too. I sure hope some young high ceiling guys win a few jobs, ideally a cb and a safety

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  15. Nard Dog is not worth $4M a year. He’s proven very little so far. The direction is positive but until he wins the Division and ACC championship, he’s very replaceable.

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  16. You guys are funny. With regard to TV Revenue for big10 and SEC :

    “The rest of the Power Five are in nowhere near as strong of a position. The Pac-12 Networks haven’t caught on the same way and still face big distribution issues (especially with DirecTV, although they did add four million subscribers thanks to a Dish tier change), the ACC Network is digital-only until 2019”.

    “The SEC with $515 million total ($36.8 million per school) and the Big Ten with $431 million total ($30.8 per school) for 2015-16. Now that the Big Ten’s closer to the SEC, the gap to everyone else looks larger. The Big 12 made the next largest per school over that timeframe ($302 million, $30.2 per school), while the Pac-12 had $351 million (29.8 per school) and the ACC had $328 million ($21.9 per school). ACC revenues are going to rise with their new digital network

    That is why you give Narduzzi the money now. Good grief guys! Viewership issues are being addressed by ESPN, but not how most think. Viewership decrease is because of volume. There are too many games from conferences that touch viewership (i.e. I go to Cal Tech State and that game is on ESPN. I watch that game because it’s on. It takes away from me watching the bigger games). We will see a shrinkage of smaller conference games, just like bowls.

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  17. And Pitt will need to raise the pay on assistants as well. But Pitt is fine being mediocre and cheap so we shall never see that day.

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  18. @ Tx – That is the problem with Pitt thinking. Everyone is replaceable. Correct. You are either pro-active or reactive. Pitt is reactive and loses guys which disrupts continuity. Pitt should have re-upped Canada at mid-season and increased his buyout to make it more difficult to go. Doesn’t stop the LSU money but gives us a fighting chance.

    Same with Narduzzi. If he does something unexpected and wins 9 games this year, it will be too late. We will saunter up to the table and plead for him to give us a final chance. If you believe in what he is doing, you take care of him now and trust that you have garnered enough goodwill for him to stay when others call. Negotiation 101. You have a better opportunity to control your result, by thinking proactively.

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    1. What program wants Narduzzi besides Pitt? MSU wouldnt go after him at this point. His D is atrocious. His recruiting is a C- and he is a reactive HC. He is good on twitter. Hasn’t won a bowl game and won with Potato Sacks Players. 6-6 and lose bowl game to a MAC Team in Detroit at the DogShaat Pizza Bowl.

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  19. If you turn on the Solheim Cup match, you’ll see that the European women are dressed like the Pitt golf team, if we had one.

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  20. So, looking forward, would you rather have this team or last year’s team?
    I go with this year’s squad.

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    1. This year for sure – last year’s team cannot do what this year’s FB players possibly could. Win a championship.

      Pitt will be very good by the end of the year. We may be better at every position despite losing James “the beast” Conner and two O-linemen to the NFL. Mad Max Browne could be better than Nate Peterman and Hendrix could have a better year than Price because A.Edwards is better than last year’s other DE’s.

      HTP!

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  22. you can increase his salary now by a bit but potential alone isnt worth $4 million a year. he has not proven a damn thing except he cannot win bowl games, his defense which he is a supposed guru is no better than Gannon, his recruiting is lackluster, and suspends kids over pot where most schools turn a blind eye. i like the man but you’d be over-paying at this point. lets see what he does this year. 9 wins plus another in a bowl would deserve a discussion.

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    1. I am totally with @Huff on this one, sometimes you need to take a chance to be great, otherwise Pitt will be out of the running unless HCPN has some weird infatuation with the Cathedral or whatever.

      I think they did that with JD and as for me it paid off for nearly a decade of great basketball. If HCPN could get us to that level, I’d welcome it and definitely spend more discretionary dollars at Pitt. I’d prefer the basketball team getting back to respectable, but that looks like a pipe dream for the next few years.

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  23. Anon @ 2:37 — you can do that BUT the only way to get Pirate and Penguin games is with a cable package that includes AT&TSports (fka RootSorts).

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  24. James Franklin, recruiter of rapists — this, from today’s NY Times:

    It was in today’s sports section, next to a blurb about the dominator’s new extension.

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  25. I got blocked from posting the reply above on 2 attempts but fortunately had copied it and reposted on the 3rd try. Could it be a problem with “Ghostery” or what?

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  26. Everything is a gamble. Has Narduzzi produced enough to warrant 4 mil a year, no. But I believe he has produced enough to take a gamble by paying him $10 million over 3 years and get him to sign before ND, MSU, or ASU comes a knocking.

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  27. I believe Pitt can and should this now. It would be illegitimate to wait for ND to offer 15 million and then offer 10 million. We’ve seen that act already.

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  29. we may not know about Pitt, but here is preview of our opening opponents, just 2 weeks away

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  30. Unless the ACC was dumb enough to sign a one way contract with Disney, espn would have to obligate their contract, regardless if they have the money and desire to backout.

    I’m not sure when it became acceptable to expect a 50% raise at any profession. That is rather ludicrous.

    Here’s hoping touchdown Browne goes downtown and Weah win a championship this year.

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  31. Matt Smith‏ @MattSmithCFB 9h9 hours ago

    There is no college football today. The next Saturday occurrence of this comes in 2018.

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  32. Biggest scrimmage of the the fall camp this morning and we have to wait till Mon to get any news?

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  33. Bernie, nice round at the OBX course. Cant wait to play a round with you. @Erie, the Solheim Cup Euro uniforms are close to Pitt except their yellow is more fuorescent radioactive urine yellowish…haha.

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  36. Youngstown State lost plenty of really good players from last years squad that PITT would have beat fairly easy. I do worry about Narduzzi fiddling around with the playbook and players. Remember though. He has strong ties to that program and he sure as heck does not want to lose to them.

    Maybe he comes out and shows everything against YSU including the kitchen sink and psu will become bewildered trying to game plan? I really don’t think franklin is a good coach at all.

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  37. If Duzz and staff perform well this year salaries should in the upper 1/3 of the ACC..

    Anyone have a list of ACC coaching salaries….

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  38. Quick cut and paste of some of last year’s salaries…

    31 Virginia ACC Bronco Mendenhall $3,275,000 $2,445,000
    32 Virginia Tech ACC Justin Fuente $3,200,000 $400,000

    The rest of the ACC coaches:
    RK SCHOOL CONF HEAD COACH TOTAL PAY BONUSES PAID
    40 Georgia Tech ACC Paul Johnson $2,886,361 $235,000
    48 Boston College ACC Steve Addazio $2,333,628 —
    49 Duke ACC David Cutcliffe $2,320,773 —
    52 NC State ACC Dave Doeren $2,200,000 $125,000
    54 Wake Forest ACC Dave Clawson $2,113,166 —
    59 North Carolina ACC Larry Fedora $1,986,265 $348,444
    65 Notre Dame Indep. Brian Kelly $1,624,730

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  39. I don’t think I mentioned $4M for Narduzzi now. What I said was take him from $2M to $2.5M to build the goodwill and have a chance to save him if he hits a homerun this year or next and goes 9-3. If we wait and he has that year, he is gone…..and angry enough not to even consider staying.He will say all the right things on the way out. 8-5 is worthy of 2.5M guys. That is the landscape in P5.

    You have to play the game and be ahead of the curb in your thought processes, or you lose.

    Under Upitt’s theory he would keep him at $2M because he hasn’t done anything. That is incorrect. He has won more games in his first 2 years at Pitt, since whom? You need to understand the landscape fellas. You guys want ….i mean demand, an A program with C support. Hilarious!. My plan is about getting a B+ program with a C support system and manipulating salaries to keep continuity.

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    1. I agree with you 99% of the time. Chryst easily goes 8-5 with that roster. This wasn’t anything Narduzzi did or didn’t. Judge Narduzzi 100% on this season. It has his fingerprints. Huff – I think Narduzzi is an avg. coach and a below avg. recruiter. He does use Twitter well and his catch phrases have been weak. 412 Crew died on the vine. 6-6 and a bowl loss is coming. If that is worth 2.5M then pay the man.

      I agree on the admin given C effort. For Chryst and Graham and Wanny they gave F+ effort.

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      1. Chryst should have gone 8-5 the year before and he went 6-6. Paul was not a good game day coach at Pitt – he was a good person and helped clean up the program, including ridding Pitt of Smug Stevie.

        Duzz is a better game day coach.

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  40. Let’s not cherry pick PittFan. You missed a lot of ACC Coaches salaries above. If Reed is accurate that Narduzzi makes around $1.8M – $2M, our guy comes in at….at least 12th in the ACC. Kelly gets more than 1.6m. This is why I say bump him to 2.5 now. It puts him in the middle of the ACC.

    ACC Head football coaches 2016

    RK SCHOOL CONF HEAD COACH TOTAL PAY BONUSES PAID

    5 Florida St. Jimbo Fisher $5,250,000 $1,475,000
    12 Clemson Dabo Swinney $4,422,700 $1,725,000
    21 Louisville Bobby Petrino $3,910,434 $ 794,667
    31 Virginia Bronco Mendenhall$3,275,000 $2,445,000
    32 Virginia Tech Justin Fuente $3,200,000 $400,000
    40 Georgia Tech Paul Johnson $2,886,361 $235,000
    48 Boston College Steve Addazio $2,333,628 —
    49 Duke David Cutcliffe $2,320,773 —
    52 NC State Dave Doeren $2,200,000 $125,000
    54 Wake Forest Dave Clawson $2,113,166 —
    59 North Carolina Larry Fedora $1,986,265 $348,444
    65 Notre Dame Indep. Brian Kelly $1,624,730 BOGUS

    You guys are a tough crowd today. Maybe we all start realizing what a piece of crap administration we have. Our record over the last two years is worthy of a $2.5M salary and I am not even his agent. If I looked closer, I could easily argue he should be at $3M based on what i see in the chart above.

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  41. Kelly at #65 Notre Dame Independent. Brian Kelly $1,624,730 ??????

    What a joke that is. So we are to think that Narduzzi will be offered less to go coach at that high and mighty school than PITT would offer?

    Who is the Notre Dame athletic director Bob Kraft? New England players get their hidden bonus paychecks dropped off at the back door in a brown paper bag. I guess irish Kelly does as well.

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  43. Pitt administration is a joke and an embarrassment in what they pay our head football coach … sad… PITTiful

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  46. About bumping up Narduzzi salary? He should already be making more money than 1.6 mil. I’m not so sure he’s not BUT if not, why?

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  47. $2.5M sounds about right with bonuses but $4M is crazy. And remember you need to have money for good assistants. And remember money dont grow on trees and our AD needs to raise it. So either Pitt is cheap or Pitt doesnt have a good fundraiser in Heather. I think its actually both.

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  49. I love how some of you are so proud that Pitt won’t pay a coach $3-$4 million, even if one is worthy of it. This administration better pony up if Narduzzi wins 10- plus games. Better hire Wanny back if Narduzzi leaves after this season since that way Pitt can pay him $900,000 and not feel like it is jeapordizing its academic integrity and stay out of the CF arms race. The chancellor must hate that he had to spend $$$ on upgrading facilities, which Narduzzi requested.

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  50. Pitt BoT should figure out they are in the entertainment business and there is money to be made in this business…. but our BoT and administration has done a great job of pissing off and alienating the people who give a damn and would GIVE… can you say Nordy..Peterson and Big Beige

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    1. I’d write a big check if they built a stadium and didn’t act like reactive yinzers and excuses makers about where to put it. Near Hot Metal Bridge all day. Could of bought that land for a song 15 years ago. Dorks.

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  51. Had something special going with Johnnie Majors I and Jackie Sherrill and let it go by ” the bye n bye.”
    Winning cosistently starts with great management.. we haven’t seen that since a young KOHBERGER was dating POSVAR’S daughter…remember Wesley P .. the red-head with the heavy eye-brows and an opera singing wife???

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  52. Pitt’s BoT wont pay $4M for a coach particularly for one that can easily leave and hasnt proven anything. If Pitt sold out 70k Heinz consistently and made it to New Years Bowl games it may be a different story. Pitt needs Heather to raise the money for that to happen. Thats what an AD does. And if Pitt pays top dollar then Pitt is all in. Pitt doesnt gamble like that. The front porch is a mirage.

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        1. Since it is Pitt. You said Chryst got 8-5 with that roster. Moose couldn’t even go 8-5 with those )(&^ schedules he had in his first two seasons. He wasn’t beating PSU or Clemson in 2016. Go back to 2015 and Moose may not have won versus YSU and on the road versus Akron.

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  53. College football should pay the bills if it’s properly managed in a professional way. PITT hasn’t understood this for years but I think they may be coming around. MAYBE!

    Priorities and continuity is the key here.

    If not this year look out for PITT football next year. AND… I am not giving up on the coastal championship this year!

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  54. Replay of the Pitt Clemson game will air on ESPNU from 5-7 pm on Sunday, August 20. Record it while watching the Steelers game — worth watching again!

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  55. I agree with you 99% of the time. Chryst easily goes 8-5 with that roster. This wasn’t anything Narduzzi did or didn’t. Judge Narduzzi 100% on this season. It has his fingerprints. Huff – I think Narduzzi is an avg. coach and a below avg. recruiter. He does use Twitter well and his catch phrases have been weak. 412 Crew died on the vine. 6-6 and a bowl loss is coming. If that is worth 2.5M then pay the man.

    I agree on the admin given C effort. For Chryst and Graham and Wanny they gave F+ effort.

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    1. for one… Chryst doesn’t bring in Petermna

      for two … Chryst doesn’t bring in Canada

      and for the present … Chryst certainly doesn’t bring in Partridge (considering he eschewed Todd Orlando for Matt House).

      Fact is that Chryst did many things well at Pitt, but the House hiring was inexcusable. It should be noted that the Wisconsin DC left 2 years ago but PC didn’t even interview House. Pretty sure his AD wouldn’t allow it.

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  57. Dorkus…lol…i haven’t heard that term for a long time. Thanks upitt. I would write a check too. Pitt stadium is where I got my first turf toe injury. Hurt like heck for nearly a year.

    Ike – Kelly got extended and makes well over $4M per annum.

    @Austin – IF Narduzzi wins 10 games, it will be too late to keep him. The sharks will circle. Heck, at 9 wins he is out unless we pay now. It’s a strategy. Paul Chryst brings in a cool $3.2M. Another query: Who would you rather have, Chryst or Narduzzi.

    Do we have any insight on our head coaches salary? I sure hope the number floated on here is short by about 400K.

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    1. I think Narduzzi wants to be at Pitt and will allow the school the chance to pay him fairly. I think he is comfortable with the area since he grew up close to it. If Pitt doesn’t then it tells us Gallagher is a fraud and Lyke is in over her head. I’d rather have Narduzzi for sure. Moose coasted when at Pitt while Narduzzi turns over every stone to make the roster stronger. Sadly, some lauded Moose for his slow-moving pace, as if he so meticulous at his craft. He and his staff will always be known as the 6-6-ers.

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  58. i didn’t say he was a great coach either. I just value him at 2.5 when looking at the other coaches in the ACC and if we have a 9-3 year, which is possible, but not probable, he is gone.

    It’s too early to tell if he is a great coach or an average one for everything (recruiting, wins/losses, decisioning, discipline, fund raising, etc.). Time will tell…..it’s just we don’t seem to keep em that long around these parts! Heck, drunk and gambling Holgurson is pulling in 3M.

    It’s all administration commitment. We got C program support for football, D for all other sports.

    Build a stadium.

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    1. Agree 1000%. 50k stadium on river with dorms and business and tech and restaurants along it.

      Or use that shathole golf course for something good. I also got hurt on that cement turf at old stadium.

      That stadium could of easily been remodeled for only like 50M. in 2003 money.

      Huff – email me sometime. I agree with you a lot and your mindselt is the same as mine business wise or reach out to me on linked in. mehalovich@hotmail.com

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  59. Best thing that happened for Pitt football last year was Georgia hiring our 2015 offensive coordinator. With the defense Pitt put on the field last year we would have been lucky to have won 5 games absent Canada making the offensive calls.—–I believe Pitt will be weaker at QB, the DT’s and the offensive line versus last year. I expect us to be equal to slightly better at all the others positions. Because the QB position is so key I’m sticking by my 6 win prediction for 2017

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  60. UPitt… if we can buy it for a song today do it with ” Sweet Caroline” and replace that downer song with…

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  61. Upitt, 3 comments you made above, “Chryst easily goes 8-5 with that roster”, “This wasn’t anything Narduzzi did or didn’t”, and “Judge Narduzzi 100% on this season”- all off the rails. Lay of the strong drink amigo. The last/3rd comment may have been the most bizarre of all.

    Ike, I agree with you, I don’t think Franklin is a very good coach, but I’m not sure he has to be right now, his role is recruiter and he seems to be very good at it, and he also seems to have a really good OC in place. The question is, what happens when their OC leaves?

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  63. BigB, love the link/music, the only thing I don’t get is why the LSU fans surrounding the performance lookslike they’re watching CSPAN 2?

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  67. BigB – I’m not against the secretive practices if the wins start to increase. I haven’t predicted the win total for this season yet – waiting for Reed to ask…

    But I’ll start with week one vs YSU. Pitt will show the whole playbook from Air Canada of last year and trounce the mighty Penguins. Look for as many as 3-deep at every position to see playing time in a 48-3 victory. Browne looks sharp and takes a seat to allow little Ben and MacPitt to gain more experience – each is involved in a TD drive.

    On to creepy valley with the new playbook “surprises” secretly packed away for the nitters to wonder about.

    HTP!

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  69. Pitt AD Dept gives zero reason to even know Football is going on. Narduzzi isn’t creating some secret drug. It is football. He is part of the problem there is little to no interest minus us guys on here and 2/3’s of carrick and Carnegie.

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    1. Wait,, but if Pitt starts the season 3 – 0, you will be screaming for him to be paid 5M immediately….I can’t wait to see it!!! I’d be satisfied with 2 – 0 and give him the 5M.

      H2P!!!

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      1. Amen – as a Pennsylvania taxpayer, I’d much rather my money go to Duzz’s salary than James ” the dominator” Franklin who has losses to both Temple & Pitt.

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  70. Upitt, Naw, you’re wrong on that one. Press coverage has been much, much better this year. Kids and adults around town are sporting Pitt gear at parks and public places. Stores for the first time in forever have Pitt gear out front before Nitter stuff. This is quantitiive not subjective. If Duzzer practices in secret so what. Articles about practice and x and o have been replaced by fluff. Average or new fans could care less about the subject matter, only that there is and article or apperal to buy. We are the only ones who want and care about in depth stuff, and we are not the fans they need to attract, we will be there anyhow.
    BTW, what are you doing posting, thought you were preparing Carrick Elks for the reception,lol.

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    1. Carrick Elks!!! Haha

      PittPT – There is no wedding party. Just she and I man. Easy and fast. Notjing worse than aitting theough a 25 min ceremony. I’m hoping for 10 mins. Haha

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  72. If we lose PN and do not replace him with an upper echelon HC the program is doomed. This alumnus will choose something else to care about just like I chose to stop playing golf when it ceased to fulfill me. The football program can’t be successful without BoT support. You can run up hill just so much before you just give up.

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  73. Why do yinz waste your time lamenting an OC stadium? Ain’t never gonna happen. There’s a better chance of Kate Upton showing up at my front door.
    And while i have no problem increasing HCPN’s salary at the end of the season, what happens if we take a step backwards?
    Max is unlikely to equall Nate’s performance and until proven otherwise, our pass defense is still down there with Fraud’s.

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  77. Gasman… agree with you about the pass D… still a huuuuge ?????
    Call me if Kate Upton shows up at your door… would love to see the girl(s) in person….

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  78. UPitt re..posts disappearing… I thought that was happening but realized I was looking for them in ” older comments.”

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  79. Paris Ford reportedly is working out with NFL holdout and stud Aaron Donald while waiting for the NCAA clearinghouse. Per PSN…

    If anything, if & when he is cleared, he will be in great playing shape. Need to get the playbook into his head quickly for Paris to see the field this season.

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  80. 6&34… great comment … the older I became my sports interests dwindled. Basketball was the first sport I stopped watching next went baseball and in the last 2 years I quit wasting my Sundays watching the NFL. I love the PITT Panthers, our team, but the management of our organization has been poor to say the least, alienating so many -fans and recruits included..
    What I see in Duzz is a man who is passionate about his role. He and his crew are active and out their working their butts off casting a wide net to get good ball players. He needs the full support of the administration, alumni and local fans.. if he and his staff hold their own with a winning record this year with a very young squad then the framework is in place for another run at PITT football greatness.. something most have never seen and a wonderful memory to many POVerts… and this will unravel due to management if they don’t up their game and show commitment..
    BTW… ran into 2 different people wearing PITT hats while having breakfast this morning at The Dunes Restaurant in Nags Head NC… gave them each a Pitt Script magnet ( original Mustard and Blueof course)

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  81. The Pitt admin will never throw their full support behind any coach or program. You need to restructure how athletics is done and leave the BoT out of it.

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  82. UpittBB, you want to know why HCPN may have not reached 8 wins is he stayed here

    or one… Chryst doesn’t bring in Peterman

    for two … Chryst doesn’t bring in Canada

    and for the present … Chryst certainly doesn’t bring in Partridge (considering he eschewed Todd Orlando for Matt House).

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  83. as far as coverage of the Pitt scrimmage …. the very same thing happened a week ago. We didn’t find out anything about the scrimmage until HCPN’s Monday am press conference — go back and look.

    I’m not saying that makes it right .. just saying why there is no media coverage

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  84. Michigan currently has 3 WPIAL players listed as starters, wvcc has 2, Alabama has 1 and psu has none.

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  85. Chryst – nice guy and good O coach. He lost either his O or D coordinator at Wisky after the season and recently hired a guy with one year of coaching experience to replace him. One year. To be fair, the new coordinator played in the NFL for a bunch of years… But, one year of experience?

    On the scrimmage – there’s some photos (6-7) and a video (3 or 4 highlight plays) out on Twitter. One of the running backs had a nice long run. It wasn’t Ollison. The kid was on the shorter side and was fast. Actually it might have been Whitehead running the ball on that play…

    Keep PN. Pay him more.

    Any word on if K Pugh is doing well in camp?

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  86. Regarding Narduzzi, NONE of us know how good of a coach he is or isn’t yet, he’s completely unproven. I’m a little shocked that he won 8 games each of his first 2 seasons, so the needle is pointing up for him which is obvious to (almost) everyone. Contrary to Upitt’s contention, this year will prove absolutely nothing about PN’s ability to build a program unless he has an astronomically huge season, or the opposite (both unlikely scenarios). So… if the powers that be have made their judgment based on the clues left behind thus far, then I’d be proactive and pay him. I’ve got no problem with that.

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  88. Needle pointing up is a good way to put it I guess. For a first time head coach though I think it may be a little more than that. He got a litle screwed last year with the local recruiting. Many of those the kids that moved on weren’t the least bit interested in PITT in the least, sans D Jeter. Sanders and Wade were not allowed to attend PITT by their mommies and daddies.

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