**** BREAKING RECRUITING NEWS ****

Well, not really, but interesting doings with the recruiting front lately.  Pitt just landed their QB of the future, possibly, perhaps, in local kid Jack Salopek from Norwin HS. A 3* recruit he grabbed the first actual offer that came along and will now be a Panther behind Pickett, Patti and 2019’s Davis Beville.

11041548_1132690643427165_7322152620158047212_nBeville’s mother, Cruella, said this about Salopek; “If he thinks he’s seeing the field as long as my son Davey is at Pitt he can crawl right back to that dirty, smelly steel mill his daddy probably works in.”  When the POV tried to explain that there were no more steel mills in Pittsburgh Cruella shouted “Of course not, it’s a loser town. I wanted Dangerous Dee to be a Gamecock at South Carolina but they didn’t offer him! Damn Muschamp to hell!”

Salopek has some pretty nice numbers after his sophomore year at Norwin so that’s all well and good – I just think committing yourself to a kid in 10th grade is premature but that’s the way of college ball these days.

So now Pitt fans can’t complain in June of next year that Narduzzi doesn’t have any commitments yet.  Hey, that maybe why we offered this kid!

In the “Duh” department 5* Paris Johnson Jr verballed to Ohio State.  You’ll remember Pitt signed his father on as a “FOP” (Friend of Pat’s) hire a while back.

The less cynical Pitt fans will point to his hire and say “Hey, he’s well qualified in his own right“.  Others will say it was an incentive for drawing his son to Pitt’s 2020 recruiting class.  Who knows really?  Doesn’t matter one bit because if you look at the kid’s offer sheet Pitt had virtually no shot at him anyway – new Director of Player Personnel or not.  But it does have a scent of ‘we swung and missed’ to it.

So what does Pitt do instead – jumps on the next bandwagon and is about to offer a kid from Imhotep Charter (I watched a bad movie about some dude named Imhotep a few years ago).  Here is a bit from PSN on the kid:

Pitt is still looking to add a big, athletic wide receiver for this recruiting class and Karam Cummings fits that profile.

The backstory to Cummings is an interesting one because he’s never played varsity football. 

Up until now he’s been a basketball player at Imhotep Charter in Philadelphia. However, a month ago, The 6-foot-4, 185 pound Cummings had a conversation with Imhotep Charter star safety Tykee Smith, who convinced him that he could be a star playing football.

Cummings has been working out with the team and opening some eyes. In fact, yesterday Cummings picked up a Power Five offer from Baylor.

Just like The Great Carnac I know what some Pitt fans are going to say even before they say it:  “But remember Sam Clancy – he didn’t play football in high school or Pitt and he was in the NFL!!”

Well, this kid hasn’t played a lick of football either or college BB so what does that mean…?  Maybe he’s not the best player to use an actual scholarship on?  Get him on the roster as a walk-on or something but if we offer this young man a football scholarship we’ll never hear the end of it. This smacks of desperation but its early days yet – let’s hope we find an actual WR to help us next season.

By the way – what happened to the last player who we talked about being so good even though he didn’t play much football in high school? Oh, that’s right – Thomas MacVitte.  How did that work out for us?

Pitt was pursuing 3* RB Brandon Wright but he chose PN’s old school rather than Pitt (and others).  Word is that Pitt was heavily recruiting Wright because 4* RB Daniel Carter took an official visit to Pitt last weekend then not only didn’t commit along with the bunch of other Florida recruits but went home and stated that ‘Pitt was in his Top 10’ after his visit.

That is a turn of events Pitt probably didn’t see coming.  Usually when a kid leaves his first official visit, and you know we rolled out the red carpet for him and his parents, then has less interest than before he arrived there is a problem – so Wright was Pitt’s second choice.  Next up!

The question burning through the Pitt Nation is when is Narduzzi going to get some offensive linemen committed in the ’19 class.  As of right now we have none.  Get on that Pat.  Last class we signed three of them – two of them from local areas.

Which is an interesting conundrum  – if Pitt fans keep saying there is no more talent in the WPIAL, then why are they jumping up and down about these 5.7 rated kids…from the WPIAL?

I’m confused. But you already knew that.

Michaelangelo holds a degree in Travel Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a former staff writer for InPittsburgh Newsweekly, and currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. He has been a Pitt fan since 1997 after he witnessed Pitt upset #22 Miami on Thursday night at Pitt Stadium.

205 thoughts on “Recruiting Bits and Pieces; June 29th 2019”

    1. Pitt’s present qb’s and recent recruited qb’s are equivalent to wannestat’s qb’s , which is why we never won the big east. Consider 4 high school coaches and 3 college coaches with unique styles Ricky Town got caught in the snare like savage and peterson did, as many other top H.S. QB’s who get misused by the revolving door college coach syndrome. Pitt made a smart move hiring a psychologist to help the athletes backgrounds and requirements often are different than their non-athletic peers. This said the only qb on the roster with the physical ability and quarterback underderstanding to be a real 4* QB is Ricky Town.
      In my opinion that’s what Nardizzi is gambling on not a group of MAC 3* QB’s.

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  2. Thanks for the new article Reed. Much food for thought (or maybe questions to ponder?).
    PM4

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  3. First off before I dig deeper into this fine article by the good Commander Reed, I’ll just say that Norwin has put out many great athletes over the years. I suggest we don’t poo poo this kid just yet but unfortunately for him Narduzzi has done such a great job recruiting QB’s since arriving at PITT he will have his work cut out for him moving down the road..

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    1. Great job?? Ike, you are joking right. As far as recruits go…

      Dinucci and MacVitte?

      We have Pickett and someone who we haven’t seen at all in 3* Patti.

      Not sure how you can say he’s recuited QBs all that well…because we are talking about recruiting here.

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  4. Talked to a good buddy today that has watch Beville play a little 7 on 7 action with a very respected pro QB who came away very impress with superlatives commenting on how good this kid is and is going to be.

    triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_635624.html

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  6. As far as QB recruits ….. if Pickett pans out as hoped, then Narduzzi is the best Pitt HC since Walt.

    Wanny … Stull, Bostik, Tino
    Graham … Voytik
    PC … Savage (transfer)
    PN … Peterman, DiNucci, Browne, Pickett

    The above is composed of QBs who played meaningful minutes

    wwb

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  7. —The problem with the WPIAL right now is not so much quality as quantity…

    —I’m reading that Coach Duzz doesn’t take risks – then he gets a commitment from a 10th grade QB…

    Go Pitt!

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    1. John, offering a high school sophomore is the exact opposite of taking a risk.

      Pitt has two years now to pull the offer if he doesn’t play well in high school. When you offer a kid in his senior year you’re pretty much committed to that kid right up to LOI day. But given two years if he doesn’t play well in his junior or senior year Pitt says goodbye, pulls the offer and has no problem looking elsewhere.

      Back in the day Pitt would honor an offer and a verbal commitment as long as the kid didn’t get hurt. Times have changed… now they pull offers as needed and will tell recruits ‘ sorry, things have changed’.

      It is much much safer than accepting a verbal just a few months before LOI Day when most decent recruits are off the board.

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  8. No Reed that wasn’t a joke at all. Still haven’t had a chance to read the article thoroughly yet, just slipped away to read the comments but I sensed at a quick glance you may have been joking though. This Norwin kid is good and in case you didn’t know that school is starting to starting to pump out D-1 players like the school up north.

    Pickett, Patti and now Beville who I understand is crazy good and hopefully PITT can hold on to him…….. An all pro QB says so.

    That’s not impressive recruiting? ok We don’t agree. ike

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    1. Ike, you do this every time with every recruit. Two of those QBs you mentioned haven’t even taken a snap in Heinz yet and one is still in high school. You said the same thing about Thomas MacVittie and he never took it snap at Pitt.

      This is what other readers think when we say you have crazy optimism … every single recruit you talk about is going to be a star and that is just too much.

      Quarterbacks is the hardest position to try to project how someone’s going to do in college. There’s too many variables going into it as opposed to a lot of the other positions on the field except for maybe middle linebacker.

      If all those QB’s are as good as you say then how are they going to get playing time when the other ones are so good?

      Liked by 1 person

  9. DiPaola ranks the ACC QBs and has Pickett 7th .. right in the middle of the pack.

    Also from same article, DiPaola has this gem ……

    • He said it: “One of the things, very frankly, that we’re trying to do better around here is to talk less and deliver more.” — Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson, more than a year before he fired Todd Graham. Those of you around Pitt in 2010 might get a chuckle from that

    wwb

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  10. Another area that is going to hurt Pitt is the new rules that go into play this year. For instance, the incoming freshman will be able to play four games without burning a redshirt. This allows the big schools to sell that to a 4 and 5 star recruit that they will play in 4 games of their true freshman season and use that as a redshirt year.

    Another example of why you schedule an easy out of conference slate. In order to play as a true freshman, the big team still needs to win. They can now promise playing time and mean it to incoming freshman and still go 4-0 in OOC games because they are just better than their weak opponents. Other AD’s planned for this by easing off the scheduling. Not Pitt. We schedule OOC hard so that we can’t afford to play a true freshman to see what they are all about or risk losing because of a critical mistake by someone not ready to play. The big schools schedule so easy that their worst true freshman players mistake won’t cause a loss.

    Pitt really could have used the rule change last year as we could have had Picket play in 4 games without burning the redshirt. Overall, I think this rule helps the factories and makes it even more difficult to get 4 and 5 stars by promising early playing time.

    Our AD and Administration should have fought this as early playing time has been a great selling point, but that is realistically going away.

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  15. There is a strong correlation between being drafted and playing early. Early playing time means time to develop techniques that are valuable at the NFL level. A useful comparison is Tyler Boyd with Robert Foster. Most people felt that Foster had more talent coming out of high school, but Boyd played early is earning an NFL paycheck.

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  16. A chip on the shoulder is better than sitting behind a boulder. One word I heard is that Pickett better be on his game this fall….. I mean that seriously. A big birdie told me so…. Beville is the real deal………..

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  18. Ike – Every year you have 4-5 people you say you hear are the real deal and rarely are they ever the real deal. Not busting your balls but you see the pattern of eternal hope you have wirh Narduzzi. If this goober was from South Carolina you wouldnt feel the same. Many have Yinzeritis and we make excuses because he grew up eating clark bars and watching the deer hunter and grandad worked in the coke ovens.

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    2. My grandfather was a machinist in a Westinghouse plant. I ate Clark bars. I’ve seen Deer Hunter, not one of my favorites. Yep. I’m a yinzer. You can take me out of Pittsburgh, but you can’t take Pittsburgh out of me. Also, signing off for a week or so. Going on vacation and going unplugged. Didn’t want people to think I was not commenting because I’m all pissed off or something. – Hobie

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      1. I grew up next to coke ovens whole family worked in them older generation. I think they still make Clark Bars somewhere in NY. Enjoy vacation Hobie

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  20. MacVittie was pure speculation on my part. My Davis Beville thought comes from someone who watched him play 7 on 7 in person along with an all pro QB who said Beville (the QB) looked as good as he has seen for a long while. Take that for what it is worth. PITT will be lucky to keep him.

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    1. His best offers other than us are NW and RU and RU was 4-8 last year.

      Other than that pretty much MAC and lower level school’s.

      I don’t think he’ll be in great demand for us to worry about losing him.

      Although he wanted to go to Clemson, Duke, South Carolina and Virginia Tech but they didn’t offer him…

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  21. To make Pitt ‘It’ again. Pitt needs talent. We all ask ourselves the question why don’t an abundance of 4 Stars visit our camps and sign with us. If I find the ‘It’, I’ll ship ‘it’ to PA.

    Tex

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  24. UPitt, I believe I have said this before. Iek represents the pinnacle of hope and pessimism here; you represent the epitome of doom and negativity. I don’t see one of you more realistic than the other.

    Yes, you were anti-Stallings but so was about 90% of us here. About his replacement, iek was one of the very few about that maintained hope right before Capel was hired.

    Your insistence that Pitt baseball can compete with the ACC powers who are well established and play year-around is unrealistic. Same goes for FB … your insistence that Pitt can recruit with teams that draw big crowds and are located in areas loaded with blue chips is as unrealistic as anything iek puts forward.

    The fact is that best recruiting year that Pitt ever had since the 80s was in 2006 … and still, Pitt was unable to crack the Rivals Top 20. Thus, if Pitt is somehow able to finish anywhere in the 20s this year (and I have my doubts), my hat goes off to the staff.

    Why Narduzzi seems to be held to a higher standard by many of you than most of the past HCs in the last 30 years is beyond me. This is my realism

    wwb

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    1. He’s held to a higher standard because Heather is giving him what he wants. He’s well compensated and he has a decent budget. Past coaches weren’t so lucky. They had an arse for a boss. And Pitt was even cheaper then.

      To me, he has until next year. If his team doesn’t win the division or achieve at least nine wins plus a bowl win, pitt needs to cut him lose. Five years of mediocrity is unacceptable.

      The standard should be 9-10 win seasons. Why should the standard be 6-7 wins?

      $3.3 million should buy 9 wins. And at least 4-6 four star recruits. Yes – I had to get that jab in. 🙂

      Tex

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  27. 3 different p5 coaches think Belville can play at the p5 level. Three schools out of about 65 schools. Pitt, NW and Rutgers. Not exactly football powerhouses. NW took their QB verbal commit about 2-3 weeks before Belville committed to Pitt. So, for him that left Pitt and Rutgers. And whatever Rutgers touches turns to crap.

    But yeah, some dude on a message board talked to another guy and the talk is this kid going to be big time. Yeah, ok….good luck with that.

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    1. BJ – I got the same report about Belville’s work at that 7 on 7 camp and it was very positive and direct from a NFL star QB who our friend was sitting with while watching the drills Belville took part in..

      So I put some solid stock in that report because I know the principals.

      Now – does that translate to being good in college? Who knows? But he was very impressive in at least one camp.

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  30. Ike is the Don Quixote of the POV and I love it. Does that make me Sancho Panza? Keep Dreaming the Impossible Dream” Iek!

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  31. Hope all is great Eric.

    Just got a package including two of my grand kids and looking to have a great time. You guys know how I love to report on my on goings.

    A NFL all pro QB watched Beville play and came away very impressed. Hardly some dude.

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  33. Yes, Tonto I’ll take it. Loved Johnny Depp as Tonto in the recent, highly underrated Lone Ranger movie!

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  34. Bj, I’m thinking that most coaches are afraid of Belville’s Mom! Couldn’t you see the sparks fly if she tried to interfere with Nick Saban or Brian Kelly at ND? As it is, Kelly can’t keep his QBs from transferring. I can see her going in to Kelly’s office to complain about her son’s playing time. There are too many coaching egos involved who won’t mess with this woman! 🙂

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  35. Again, Ike and I had a long talk this morning so I’ve changed my opinion on the OL for this season – it’s going to be great; Hendrix being just about average for a P5 DE average and Shane Roy being nothing but a lump and pushed around constantly.

    Not! But Ike’s still a good guy.

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  36. Here is an interesting list sent to me today. Total athletic finances for 2017…

    http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/

    Here is the methodology:

    http://sports.usatoday.com/2018/06/28/methodology-for-2017-ncaa-athletic-department-revenue-database/

    And here is why Pitt doesn’t release any financial info:

    “The Pennsylvania State University is surprisingly neither a public or private institution. PSU is actually categorized as a “state-related university” along with well-known institutions Temple University and University of Pittsburgh.

    According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education:

    The term “state-related” applies to universities in Pennsylvania which are statutorily established as an instrumentality of the commonwealth and receive an annual appropriation. Universities are granted “state-related status” either through their initial charters or subsequent legislation. Each university is responsible for setting its own tuition, fees and related costs of attendance. Costs vary from institution to institution.”

    I believe before the Sandusky scandal broke PSU wasn’t releasing financial details either but I may be mistaken on that.

    I think Pitt would be in the high 40s or low 50s along with VT, GT and NCS. I do know we are making more money now than we have ever before – hence the raise in Narduzzi’s salary.

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  37. “ike’s a good guy”. I’ve been downgraded a decimal point to a lowly 3*. Thanks pal. 🙂 Gameday thread on the swimming party. Finally got the rafts blown up and into the pool they all went.

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  38. I saw an ACC article this year stating budget was around $65 million. Not sure where they got that figure. But I think article stated pitt is spending in the middle of the ACC pack.

    Tex

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  40. BTW – I’ve been researching but can’t find how many recruits Pitt had that got bumped up a star during or after a recruit’s senior season of play.

    Anyone chip in with this ? I do know it is infrequent.

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  41. Here’s me dancing in your face when PITT has a great next couple of season’s. Keep the faith brothers We All We Got!

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  42. You’re going to be a lot older than that by the time Pitt strings together a couple of great seasons, my friend.
    In fact, we might all be in cryogenics mode when that happens.
    Remember what psychologists claim: the best determinant of future behavior is 35 years of mediocrity.

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  43. Gasman
    Good to hear from you!!!! It’s been a while buddy!
    Ike,
    I hate to tell you but WE look like that old guy dancing NOW!!
    :>) PM4

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  46. Reed — interesting info on the schools’ athletic revenues.

    With 50 schools at revenues greater than $80 mil; 40 schools at over $90 mil; and 30 schools at over $100 million, we seem to be doing somewhat better at recruiting and on the field than our revenues would predict…

    What I see are 30 to 40, or maybe even 50, schools with a better chance of luring in a 4-star than we have…

    So are the expectations of Pitt bringing in six 4-Stars every year realistic??

    Go Pitt!

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    1. BC already has two 4 stars

      Wanny was recruiting many elites each year in a crappy conference and under far worse budget constraints.

      This is a Narduzzi issue that isn’t going away. So after roughly 75 recruits in 4 years, pitt has landed maybe 8 elites. That’s a ten percent ratio. Something is wrong with that.

      He’s getting paid far too much money to blame Pitt or create lame excuses on why he can’t recruit.

      Tex

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    2. John – what do the overall athletic finances have to do with football recruiting – those weren’t just football numbers. However…

      Chryst, who was under a stricter budget than Narduzzi had one 5* and 12 4* kids commit to play for him during his time at Pitt – 13 blue chips total. Some of his 4* and 3* recruits include: Boyd, O’Neill, Conner, Johnson, Holtz, Orndoff, Weah, Winslow, Bookser…

      I’ll go on to say that not one HS recruit who committed to Pat Narduzzi has played anywhere near what those guys did no matter how many stars they have.

      So far during Narduzzi’s time he has had nine total 4*s (one over the last class and none this one so far) and that is with a bigger budget and coming off two 8 win seasons. It is pretty obvious to me that Narduzzi is having a hard time pulling in the blue chip kids.

      But someone please do show me any player who was actually recruited by and committed to Pat Narduzzi out of HS who has been anything but average at best so far – and he’s in his 3th year of recruiting. I mean the kids he worked for and got to come to Pitt out of HS.

      The only one who has shown even a glimmer of great play has been Pickett and that’s very early days yet.

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  47. Tex, that’s fake news. I’ve never heard or read Narduzzi making one excuse. If there is something out there please forward it to me.

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      1. Yes I agree he doens’t make excuses for hat but listen to a press conf after a loss and it is everyones fault except the kings.

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        1. Give me an example Mark. Seriously, I can’t remember him passing the buck all that much. I do remember many times the players muffed up and cost games. I haven’t been a big fan of his game day coaching as of yet and I’ll judge him after this year with a keen eye compared to the past three.

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          1. Ike – I would have to go back and listen and I don’t have the time. I have been on road and on a damn plane now. Good news is I have lots of miles to get you to UCF Game!!

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  48. Oh thank goodness Tex wasn’t talking about me. I’m sure not making any excuses after Narduzzi won 16 regular season games his first two years… Whew, what a relief! btw, When was the last time a new PIT head football coach won that many his first two years? I don’t remember?

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    1. With Someone Elses Players.

      Analogy Time

      Pat showed up to a Garden in Mid July and picked the corn and beets and onions and tomatos. He didn’t plant them or fertilinze them. He picked riped veggies.

      Now 2 years later he has to till the garden, plant the seeds. Pick the spot, seeds, watering time and weed and guess what ??? His garden is no where near Chrysts. The stuff is green just not bearing any good veggies.

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    2. At some point, Narduzzi will say something about the lack of 4 stars. He said that they dont look at stars a week or two ago. That was BS and an effort to deflect criticism of the lack of elite talent being brought in. If stars dont matter, then I guess player development doesnt matter either because his recruits haven’t changed any game yet besides Kenny against Miami.

      And we know some fans have already made excuses and will continue.

      Narduzzis job at coaching can be made easier with elites on both sides of the ball. Have to recruit them first.

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  50. Narduzzi won 8 games perseason because he recruited Nate pure and simple. Why didn’t the past coach win with those players?

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    1. The Narduzzi supporters would have to give Chryst the same benefit that his players and recruits were young and he coached after the 3 coaches – Wanny/Haywood/Graham has the job over a 6 week period.

      I agree Nate was a gamechanger for him but Nate didn’t exactly have suitors lined up after playing half a game vs UF in 4 full years.

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    2. I don’t think Chryst was a better game day coach than Narduzzi and the record bears that out.

      But even with .500 (or less) teams and a smaller budget Chryst recruited better, plus he got a bowl win.

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  51. ike, it is fair to grade Narduzzi on what he has done as head coach. He did coach those 8 win seasons, but with Chryst’s players, so that is an “incomplete” on his report card. Secondly, he has had significant coaching turnover, which limits recruiting and development, so he gets a C there. Third, he has made some questionable calls on the field but has won some big games, so give him a B on the coaching front. Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, he has not brought in any acknowledged star players, or at least players who can currently be labeled as future stars, except perhaps Pickett. Based on his recruiting success, I would give him a C there as well. So his QPA so far comes in at somewhere around a C+. Tell me where I’m wrong.

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  52. Nard recruited Paris Ford.

    Chryst’s recruiting benefitted by Psux being on probation by the NCAA.

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  53. Well VOR, defending Narduzzi on the side of caution and patience and praising him as being a good head coach for PITT right now are two different things in my mind. I will say he’s not a bad head coach in my mind but I’m just the type to hold off judgement until I know more about what I talk about. If some of the POVer’s would pay closer attention, this should be more obvious. This comes especially considering the impatience displayed by the PITT administration in the recent past. I’m just big on giving someone a fair chance to do their job. My union background kind of leads me in that direction.

    So PN wins more games than PC did with PC’s recruits?? hmm. Can you see how this works both ways? Throw in the biggest game changer PITT has had in many years that is a PN recruit (Nate)… That’s a false argument about who Narduzzi won games with. Peterman won many of those games. 16 regular season wins in two years. Check the record books for a head coach that did that last in his first two years. His name is Jackie Sherrill.

    Here’s one that really gets after me. I’m often chastised for bringing up Chryst. It ain’t me babe, no no, as soon as I mention two 8 win regular seasons Chryst is thrown back in my face. I thought we should let him out of the discussions? Two many one way streets.

    Because of my upbeat outlook people automatically think I love everything PITT football which is simply not true. I couldn’t stand steve and talked about it all the time. No one was more critical of that jo than me. Remember this though. I gave him a fair chance to succeed or fail as I do everyone who on their own merit. Narduzzi has nothing to do with this PITT football team more than 3 years ago going of 4 and he shouldn’t be held accountable because of frustrated PITT football fans have just about had enough. That’s our problems as fans and nothing he should be held accountable for at this very moment. Although his time of reckoning is coming around the corner.. ike

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  54. Narduzzi is only as good as his last season or game. Season was a disaster. Last game a success given the QB play and the fact that Miami’s QB couldnt hit the broad side of a barn.

    Last 2 recruiting classes are on him. Nobody to me really stands out besides the one 4 star from last year.

    So is it too early to judge. Yes and No. If after this year, Pitt wins another 5-6 and loses another bowl, I would say the future outlook is not promising. If Pitt surprises and wins more than 6 games and wins their bowl, then the future offers more hope. PN will be judged by his success and failures in 2019. He will be on the hot seat that year. To me, if he fails, he should be bought out.

    If Heather is true to her word of holding coaches accountable, it should be an easy decision.

    The goal once year 5 hits should be a team trending up, a division title, bowl wins.

    None of these things could materialize by year 5’s end.

    I will argue that Capel will win a tourney/bowl game before PN does.

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      2. yes – because that 1 four star is out of 3 recruits, a 33% ratio. Plus he brought in a 4 star transfer I believe. All in a matter of a few months…not a full year. And more importantly, 5 stars are talking with him

        Liked by 1 person

          1. I stand corrected
            But a 33% ratio is pretty good and I expect Capel to get 4 and 5 stars going forward
            Narduzzi cant land a 4 star to save his job and he will need 4 stars to do that

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  55. Isn’t it interesting that PITT beat the #2 team in the country because Miami sucked. This does not compute Tx, sorry. ike

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    1. Miami looked past Pitt
      Pitt had them at home
      Miami was very over-rated
      And Miami and Pitt didnt know Kenny

      It wasnt because Pitt had the better coach or the better players
      8 times out of 10, Miami wins that game

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  56. I’d have given PN a solid B- for QPA if he had at least gone 6-6 with a lower bowl win in 2017. But the 5-7 record cannot be overlooked with the poor OL play and QB situation. And going into year 4 with no real proven WR or TE is pretty bad. The OL coaching change was a result of poor hiring which I spoke about.

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  57. Look what they did during the year and if you honestly think they were the #2 Team in the land I have some land in Fayette county for you. They were destroyed in the bowl. They almost lost 3 games before us. Rozier is atrocious. Home is a different story. We won’t come close this year, sadly.

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  58. Prediction:

    HCPN will be gone in two years and we will look back and say: You know, he didn’t do much to generate enthusiasm in the fan base.
    Mediocre recruiting, mediocre winning percentage, closed door practices, etc.

    As an aside, put the boat into the lake in Maine,
    As I backed into the water, my wife, who refused to sit idly by, attempted to unhitch the trailer from the car instead of the boat from the trailer.
    Moral of the story: Where was a retired Coast Guard Officer when I needed him?

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  59. Won-Loss records:
    2-9
    3-8
    6-4-1
    6-5
    5-6
    2-8
    9-3
    8-4
    10-2
    10-2

    You have to wonder how Frank Beamer ever survived those first six years at VT…

    Go Pitt!

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    1. Frank did not have the Pitt fan base behind him in those 1st six years.

      Nor did he ever…

      I guess you are calling for some patience from the restless 😬

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  60. C’mon Majors, its a completely different era. Its not even close to comparing apples to apples.

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  61. I’m pretty tired of the old “We only got Holtz and Johnson because of PSU’s problems”.

    Pitt fans act like there was nowhere else for JP Holtz or Dorian Johnson to go after the Penn State Scandal. They had tons of other offers -many many other offers but they chose to come to Pitt so let’s not say that they weren’t recruited because they sure were.

    Holtz had 14 other P5 offers and 5* Johnson had 18 including Alabama, OSU, ND, Nebraska, etc… These kids could have gone anywhere they wanted to but chose Chryst and Pitt.

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  62. There’s no question that Coach Duzz has recruited poorly at a couple of positions -recruiting is a tough challenge at Pitt – and he had some assistant coaches that didn’t exactly shine. (He’s also recruited well at a couple of positions – this is the best overall set of DBs we’ve had in many moons. )

    But what I like about Coach Duzz is that when he does have a weakest in the roster, he takes an aggressive approach to addressing it. This approach can work great (Peterman), or be a disaster (Max), but I like the approach of exploring every option and taking risks…

    Certainly you want to recruit every position well – the present reality at Pitt makes that a challenge. Our favorite recruitinator, Wanny, while a wizard with running backs and DEs, could not find a QB to save his mustache.

    I do think that Coach Duzz is continuing to evolve as a HC and his fixes, like the coaching changes and the apparently better QB recruiting, seem to be leading to improvement to me…

    As Walt used to say — it’s a process, you have to appreciate and enjoy the process…

    Go Pitt!

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    1. John, how can you say we have “the best DBs in years”?

      We were 105th nationally in pass defense giving up 254 ypg, 7.80 ypp and 14.1 ypc with 24 TDs…we were horrendous.

      Now we lose the best DB we have had in years in Maddox. He had 4 out of our poor total of 9 INTs made. He’s being replaced by a guy who has yet to take a college snap.

      Sorry but have to strongly disagree with you here…

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      1. I agree that the results have not been there— yet. But I still content that we now can put at least six defensive backs out there who are bigger, faster, and better athletes than any overall group we’ve had in many years.

        We shall see who is correct.

        Go Pitt.

        PS: And I was one of Avonte’s biggest fans – in spite of his untimely stumbles…

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  63. Gasman makes an interesting point. While a coach is learning and developing the program, he needs to bring the fan base along with him. Convince us there is a plan so that we will be patient while it is being carried out, Narduzzi does not reach out to the fans much, and seems to be developing a siege mentality. It helps to buy some time and patience if a coach is a likeable personality.

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  64. Chryst gets credit for recruiting Boyd, Holtz and Johnson but they would have been Nitts if not for the sanctions brought against PSU.

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    1. So what? He stayed on them and got them away from a lot bigger and better programs than ours. Gee, wonder why Conner came to Pitt…was that a fluke also?

      If Narduzzi could have had just one or two recruits play exceptionally well maybe I’d think differently but of all the HS kids who committed to him there hasn’t been even one who has played above average.

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  65. show us some exciting football, a few upsets, a few exciting players, and give us hope
    but I need to see positive momentum
    That could buy him some time from heather
    Fans can always stop attending games…that tactic does work
    once the football program begins losing money, the coach is gone

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    1. Why wait? – get out your pitch forks and torches – burn his home to the ground – drag him out of town before the season even starts.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. you wait because Pitt extended the man. Pitt would have another costly buyout.

        I’m judging the man by last season and his last 2 recruiting classes

        Are you telling me he’s worth $3.3M for those results?

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  67. Just got back from an enjoyable cruise to the Martime Provence’s and Maine. Nice, cool, relaxing. First thing I did in airport when I got internet was to get on the POV and see what I missed. Sadly, not much. Guess it’s that time of year. I thought I saw the baseball coach got canned? Should make some say about time. Any replacement?

       Did meet some west coasters who were Stanford fans. Guy was a Pitt fan in the glory years!! First thing he said was Hughhhhhhh Green. Sadly, I just sighed and nodded. It’s starting to remind me of the old guys who opined the days of no face masks.We are as far removed now from our glory days as those guys of my youth were from the no face mask,and leather helmet days. Let that one set in!!

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  68. Chryst sure as heck hasn’t come close to recruiting defense the way Nards has. By that I mean we have on paper a legit two-deep at each position. No more converting an ex-Ohio State fullback and putting him at defensive end or recruiting the Luke McLean’s of the world.

    We never went into a season under Chryst thinking the unit has depth and has a chance to be pretty good.

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  69. On a sadder note, goodbye and fond wishes to Upitt! Now that the ambassadorship to Estonia is opened, I fear we have little chance of holding on to him. Maybe he can be our overseas scout!

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  70. I believe that was apples to apples above. M&M was just pointing out that it may be a good idea to actually give a head coach a half of a chance. Seriously, we need to put our personal thoughts on Narduzzi and his personality on hold and take a closer look between the vile and give him a chance. Well…. do we even have a choice? NO . . .ike

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    1. PN will get a chance this year and next
      But what would you do if this year turns out as expected – 5 or 6 wins and either no bowl or a bowl loss
      and then next year, 8 wins and a bowl

      what should be the goal for this program?
      PN is getting paid good money now after his extension and he has a decent budget for assistants and recruiting
      what should be the goal and how long do we give a coach to obtain it?

      thats where fans differ

      I believe the goal after 5 years should be 8-9 wins, a bowl win, competing for division titles and reeling in good recruiting classes with several 4 stars

      I just am less optimist than most that he is the guy to do it

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  71. I wonder how the off season training is going, good to see AD, Conner and Co. Hope they are providing some motivation and inspiration. We need to turn some fat into muscle. We need extreme cardio-fitness.
    We need some of our young kids to turn into hard men. We need to avoid injury. We need to be ready to win the fourth quarter.

    This is the time of year to improve strength, agility, and speed with hard work.

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  72. @VOR Narduzzi does a horrible job in creating fan enthusiasm going into the season.

    Reed, completely agree with your comments about Holtz and DJ and some other guys. Just like when someone says the ONLY reason we had a good offensive season was Nate Peterman, complete false narrative. We had a excellent OC that year and some really good offensive players.

    @Nate funny to hear you complain about PC and rave about Narduzzi’s D. His D has been pretty much garbage since the time he got here and were going into year four. Some of PC’s guys played from day one and were big time contributors. Nobody can say the same about Narduzzi’s own recruits. The fact of the matter is, talent doesn’t wait. When a coach recruits high end talent, it plays early and often. It doesn’t ride the pine for 2-3 years.

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  73. JOhn – re: PN taking risks with transfers…

    I agree that it is always a risk – some work out (Peterman) and some fail (Browne) and some are blah (Henrix and the others).

    But when you take a risk – and I know this very well – you get every single bit of info possible before making that decision.

    Regarding Browne – I found out in three 15-20 minute phone calls how Browne was going to as a QB starter at Pitt. When I called two SoCal sportswriters who covered USC for years and told them Pitt was getting Browne as a starter one of them literally laughed and asked if I was serious and said ‘Really, he’ll be a starter.? Good luck with that.”. The other, and a blogger I also spoke with, were also pretty negative about Browne’s chances of success in D1 ball. They all said great kid, will be good in the QB room but can’t play QB very well.

    Now – I wrote about that right away but this is what gets me when people say “Well, the coaches know better than fans do” because sometimes that just isn’t true. It was blatantly obvious to many others that Browne was a desperation shot.

    Maybe sometimes a coach should look for other opinions from people who aren’t invested in the player in the first place like the original staff is Talk with people who have no skin in the game as they say.

    But because PN didn’t give MacVitte one single snap at Pitt he had no way of knowing what he had there in game conditions play. So yeah, he had to get someone and took a risk, but I think he knew that he was going to have to do that a full year before Peterman left and so should have been beating the bushes from the end of 2015 on to find someone who would succeed in the job.

    Sometimes taking a risk is playing kids already on your roster and seeing what they will do under the gun then playing them instead of grabbing every transfer he can find.

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    1. Good points by you Reed.

      A risk by definition has the possibility of not working out – I’d say the probability of not working in most cases of looking for a QB. But there is the angle that coaches can think that they will have the ability to simplify things or otherwise get through where others haven’t… That said, I remember being big-time disappointed when I saw Max in the spring game.

      Again – good points by you, Reed.

      Go Pitt!

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  74. So during my morning coffee break (wishing I was on the golf course), I strolled through the current Pitt roster, which does not include the incoming FR.

    As someone mentioned within the past hour, our D has depth and “should” be very good this year. If not, the FB CEO will be gone (IMO).

    But the O seems to be the big concern, so I went through and listed the possible impact players. Of note, I discounted all JR’s and SR’s as “bad” players.

    K.Pickett – QB with the “IT” factor – SO
    M. Smith – WR (FL 8A All-state 1st Team) – RS FR -> HS SR year stats (66 rec / 1556 yards / 24 tds)
    P.Ford – 4 star Athlete (will play ST/D/O) – RS FR
    Shocky Jacques-Louis – WR who enrolled early 2018 – FR
    C.Reeves – big 4 star TE – RS FR (some thought he looked good in the Spring Game, some thought otherwise)
    AJ Davis – 4 star RB (6′ 215lbs) 25 P5 offers and rated the #14 RB prospect by Rivals & ESPN
    T.Sibley – 4 star (ESPN) RB [3 star Rivals] – 5’9″ 215lbs – RS FR
    M. Salahuddin – 4 star AP RB – FR
    N.Patti – QB – 5.7 rated on Rivals (Pickett was rated 5.5)

    O.Drexel – C – RS FR and J.Kradel – C – FR (enrolled early 2018) will push hard for playing time at Center
    J.Drake and C.Warren – OL – RS FR – both 4 star (ESPN) [3 star Rivals]

    These guys will all be vying for playing time in 2018 – if nothing else they will push the “bad” JR’s and SR’s that are projected as starters.

    OC S.Watson – 2nd year – this “should” be his offense and “should” show a marked improvement over last year stats.
    OL D.Borbely – 1st year – “hoping” this coach sees what previous coaches missed and the OL unit gets refreshed and improves over last seasons disappointing squad.

    From the above list, HC PN needs 4 to 6 “playmakers” to emerge or he follows Jordano out the door at season’s end.

    JMO –

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  75. I would be interested in seeing the stats on Matt Canada’s career, as far as I know he’s only been good one year at one place. Oh and he happened to be a Narduzzi crony as well.

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  76. So EE, sounds like you may be saying to give the young players half a chance as well?? Saying Micheal Smith and others have done nothing at PITT may be rushing to judgement.

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  77. I think Narduzzi gets at least two more years to prove he can get it done. Another coaching change and we start all over again. The schedule is ridiculously difficult, and may be again next year depending on who our crossover opponents are.

    Certainly, Narduzzi has to finish this recruiting class strongly, and he has to hope his young o-linemen pan out soon.

    The most important thing is that Pickett has to meet expectations. While he looked strong last year, there is something called the sophomore jinx. Let’s hope he can avoid it.

    Heather should dump PSU after this year and give Narduzzi a fighting chance.

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    1. Pickett played decent in 1 game. His stats were not wow in that game. We act like we have a sure thing in him. He gets hurt bad Oline and town plays good.

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  78. Ultimately, a coach success is based on his record, barring an off-field calamity . Narduzzi’s winning percentage is 55%,which is is pretty anemic, but the best of the post Wannstadt era. I’ll call it a C+. I think like most here that he has 2 years to get back to his early years success, but I am more optimistic than most here that he will achieve that. I’m less optimistic that he or Pitt can rise above the 9 win level.

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  79. If you can’t retain the coaches then they shouldnt be hired. This isn’t Lowes hiring Christmas Associate in December for the Xmas rush. Narduzzi can’t look ahead and I also bet his personality is why so many leave.

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  80. You folks will all get to post about Narduzzi and his recruits for a minimum of 5 more years. Pitt will have enough talent at the QB position to keep us winning over 50% of the games. And as such Narduzzi will NOT be fired anytime soon.

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    1. I believe he wil be back to a DC in 3 years. He isn’t a HC. He is a DC with a Strong HC who can recruit. Nothing wrong with that but not all assistants make good HC’s. He lacks the Chutzpa and Politicalness to be a HC. He also doesn’t have the sizzle. You can see this in recruiting misses.

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      1. Narduzzi reminds me of a top sirloin. Pitt needs a Porterhouse.

        I believe Pitt found a Porterhouse with Capel.

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        1. A Porterhouse certainly would never take the Pitt job with what it pays and playing in Heinz Field. The university as a whole with athletics are absolute idiots for not being on its second or third coach since 1986.

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  81. Reed – The pass defense is not nearly as bad as you frame it. Mostly because of OKST.

    Take out the OKSt game and how do those numbers look?

    Passing yards allowed goes from 3050 to 2478
    TD passes allowed goes from 24 to 19
    Opponent completion goes from 216 to 190
    Opponent passes goes from 391 to 354
    Yards per attempt go from 7.8 to 7
    YPC goes from 14.12 to 12.97
    Yards per game goes from 254 to 225

    225 yards per game moves them from #105 nationally to #67 nationally. Almost halving their ranking from the previous year. That is an excellent jump that is on par with the jump that Michigan St made. The next season they halved it again and were top 30 … Then top 10.

    2017 pass defense ranking … (https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/2018/team/695/p2)

    Stats are great but there has to be context. Pitt improved significantly on defense, and especially pass defense, throughout the season. That is MUCH more important than what the final stats may say.

    From day 1 to the last day, has the team improved? On a team with as much turnover as Pitt had, IMO, if you can say yes, the coaches did their jobs.

    This was, ultimately, Stallings nail in the coffin. He had other things working against him but this is the one thing he needed to even remotely be in the discussion to save his job. The team did not look better on the last day of the season than they did on the first day of the season.

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    1. Tossing so it took 4 years for a supposedly defemsive expert to get to 106 in country in Defense? The OK ST game told me everything I needed. They ran the same play and scored 3 times on it. 3. Mason could of thrown for 1000 yards if Gundy didn’t pull him in 3rd quarter.

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    3. It’s only okay to take out Hall’s long runs to show he is no good but we must include the OKSTstats to show Narduzzi is no defensive genius.

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    4. The entire first half was spent trying to stop the OKS run game, allowing them to pass for almost 500 yards. Hammering that square peg into the round hole didn’t work so well.
      Whether we had the horses to slow their passing game (we didn’t), is irrelevant to me as HCPN refused to change his stop-the-run-first game plan.

      That tells me he is either an obstinate blockhead or he gets a slice of Mason Rudolph’s signing bonus.

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    5. It doesn’t go to 67th unless you take the worst pass defense game out of the other 128 D1 teams results also…then, of course, Pitt goes down past 67th.

      So yeah, stats tell a part of the story as long as you look past the initial numbers.

      And our pass defense certainly did not get better toward the end of the season when you look at that ridiculous NC loss where we gave up 270 yards and 3 TDs passing…

      The Narduzzi can do no wrong crowd needs to look closely at that North Carolina game before you start putting him up on a pedestal…we went 1-2 over our last three games but son fans think we were on some sort of a winning streak.

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  82. What’s with this 4 year stuff Mark? Narduzzi has only coached at PITT for 3 years after he was left nothing on defense.

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  83. Sorry 3 years. He needs to go to a leadership training or learn how to act like a HC role. He isn’t running the Norwin knights.

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    1. I agree Mark, your point is well taken but unfortunately he’s learning on the job. Hopefully the emphasis on the learning part.

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  84. ^^ I agree with Tx above. I think this year and next, especially next year, will be a good barometer of where Narduzzi is leading this PITT football team. I’m not married to the guy. Just because I want to give him a fair chance doesn’t mean I accept 5 win seasons. Breaking news here though.. PITT hasn’t played a game yet this year… Although I feel like Narduzzi is off to an 0-7 start this season already before they take the field for the first time. ike

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  85. My being negative today as follows; HCPN has done quite well given our flaws – poor attendance, no OCS, busing game students, dumb OCC scheduling, weaker than usual WPIAL, tougher conference, Heinz decor, assistant turnover, poor local business and school district engagement, publicity, etc.

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  86. No Mark, I wasn’t being hard on you and sorry if that seemed harsh but Reed refers to this year in past tenths at times as well. I’ll say it again. I will be every bit as tough as the next guy on Narduzzi when I watch this coming season unfold, it’s time. I’ll also keep in mind that PITT will probably be starting a QB who is by all means, still a freshman. ike

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  87. Pickett was not a viable option to start season. Browne was the #1 high school recruit in country. Can’t blame Duzz for taking a flyer on him

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    1. Yes you can. That was 5 years ago. He was caifornia cool and over the next 4 years he was beaten out non stop. There arr one hit wonders that never make another hit. He peaked in highschool. Narduzzi was grasping at straws.

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    2. I thought he was just the #1 pro style QB in the country. Which would realistically make him about the #24 QB in the country out of HS.

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  88. Perhaps Narduzzi’s biggest failure is his choice of coaching staff over the past 3 years. His personality and abrasiveness must turn people off. Most of the coaches hired were vagabonds who move around a lot and were looking for a job (any job), or they were long time assistants such as Bates who took a last stab at advancing their career. Most likely, the assistants weren’t attracted by the big Pitt salaries. I don’t know how you build relationships with high school players over their high school careers that way.

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  90. Upitt – It took that long at Michigan St. too. It’s how long it takes to get your players in place. That’s what happens when you hire a system coach, which Pitt did. In year 3, Michigan State was only better than 6 teams in pass defense, but then consistently got better. The OK St really sucked on many levels, especially the impact it had on the season’s overall rankings.

    Pass Defense Ranking:

    -2007/2015
    MSU: 41st; Pitt: 55th
    -2008/2016
    MSU: 61st; Pitt 127th/130 teams
    -2009/2017
    MSU: 114th/120 teams; Pitt 103rd

    … but if you look at my Ok St stats it explains a lot … I know it happened and you can’t erase it but there is some context to it. Pitt played like the 60th best pass defense most of the season. That’s my main point.

    -2010 = MSU: 69th
    -2011 = MSU: 25th
    -2012 = MSU: 7th
    -2013 = MSU: 9th
    -2014 = MSU: 24th

    This is what happens the longer a system is installed. It’s a system that takes some time to get implemented and is really bad when they don’t have the right players in it.

    That’s who we hired … anyone expecting a quick fix did not go back and look at what he did at Michigan St. I did and it’s part of the reason I haven’t really cared too much about the defensive performance. I saw the long game … which Pitt fans hate.

    Erie – I said Stalling had other things working against him. Not improving was the one thing he couldn’t have, however.

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    1. … and this was done with the same recruiting level that Pitt had. Michigan St. turned two 2 star corners into first round picks, I believe.

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  92. Kind of repeating myself here and I’ll try and use different words this time. Love how bringing up Paul Chryst’s name is now considered taboo on the POV until someone says “what about the two years Narduzzi went 8-5” Then all we here is PN won with Paul Chryst players blah blah blah. Yes Paul Chyrst players on offense while he didn’t recruit for the defense. WTF? Gee whiz, I wonder why PITT had a decent offense and a defense that couldn’t defend worth a darn? Lest we forget NP who helped the PC players look good on offense. Can we get back on a two way street here people?

    I also want to remind some of you that Tyler Boyd came aboard with hardly any recruiting needing to be done. PITT is where he wanted to be at birth. Chryst’s recruits sucked in general. Look at the horrible offensive line for PITT last year who were made up of his recruits. The last coach seems to get better and better after they leave PITT. Think about that?

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  93. Can we all agree then that PC and PN are perfect fits for what Pitt’s BoT or Gallagher’s leadership team wants – getting to bowl games, graduating players, meeting GPA goals, staying out of trouble.

    Based on that criteria, both coaches have been successful.

    Now granted, I nearly puked typing that.

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  94. In an ironic kind of twist, if Pitt laid out $10 million, or even $5 million, to get rid of Stallings they would probably be willing to pay significantly less to rid themselves of Narduzzi if necessary. A program like Pitt that is lodged in the middle of the ACC doesn’t have much to lose if they dump a coach, any coach, and decide to roll the dice again. That said, we need to hope that PN is on the right track and we don’t need to start over. I’m with ike here that Narduzzi needs some additional time to show results.

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  95. Yep but if Capel is successful early and she gets confidence and support she won’t be afraid to can Narduzzi in the name of progress. Should of got Fleck and gave him 4M. Energy, recruiting, passion and energy.

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  96. PITT has learned from their mistakes with the football program indiscretions. Narduzzi is sturdy enough of a hire to keep around and understand where it is he is going and what he is going to do when he gets there. PITT fans are like cows with cataract’s. Keep looking over the fence looking for greener grass when they can’t see past their noses.

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  97. The feeling I get for Narduzzi is the feeling I have after eating some rich pasta with meatballs…makes me want to lay down and take a nap.

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  98. Tx, you’re eating too much Italian bread with your spaghetti. Dial it back a notch.. 🙂

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  100. Why when criticizing Paul Chris do we overlook the fact that his defense in 2014 against ACC teams was better than anything Pat narduzzi has put up.

    Total D -33rd nationally

    Rushing D – 55th

    Passing D – 24th

    And yes the schedule may have been harder but PN has come nowhere close to that…

    Que : wbb

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    1. That GTech loss in 2014 was one of the worst this decade. Five fumbles in the first quarter and allowed 615 yards to the Yellow Jackets. Which loss was worse: that one or to OK State?

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      1. I was there and it was utterly awful. Sandwiched into the days chaos was Conner running for an 79 yd TD and being stripped of the ball on the two yd line for a touchback. Everything that could go wrong….did! Plus it was homecoming.

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  101. Ike, absolutely not true about Boyd. He and Johnson were PSU bound until sanctions and Foster going to Bama. I believe if you go back you will see that is true.

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  102. I guess I should clarify the above. While Boyd did not formally commit like Johnson, it was pretty common knowledge among local coaches and ADs that Boyd was a very strong PSU lean. Also, pretty common knowledge that he and Foster would no way go to same school. Not sure of the problem between them, but it was out there.

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  103. OK Joe, I’ll believe that although I’m not sure that was set in stone. My point stands that PC had some outside help in getting the local players to jump on board and it wasn’t necessarily Paul’s recruiting charisma that persuaded him or some of them to come to PITT.

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  104. Honestly, I don’t care if they come here to get a free trip to Estonia, I just want them here. I guess what I really dislike is someone like Terry Smith who cheated his butt off as a high school coach to Bri g in talent now doing it legally and doing it so well. Wish we had just one superstar recruiter. Just one!! I’d settle for JUST ONE!

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    1. I’d just settle for one 4 star recruit right now.

      Capel found one in just 2 weeks on the job

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  105. Reed – I think you’re misunderstanding my argument. Maybe not, but I’m only saying there was real progress made last season (on defense) and it’s not unreasonable to expect more progress this season. Both, with the way Pitt was trending and Duzz’s track record at Michigan St.

    I would not be shocked to see a pass defense in the 30’s this season.

    You may disagree but it’s absolutely fair for some people to be optimistic in that regard.

    The stats were skewed by a complete fluke game compared to the rest of the season. It’s crazy how much one game affected the team statistics.

    I highly doubt Pitt would drop much if you took everyone’s worst game out. Pitt’s loss to OK St was such an outlier that I’d bet only a handful of teams would have their entire season’s worth of statistics impacted as much as Pitt’s was. Pitt’s difference taking one game out was almost 40 spots. Do you really believe many, if any teams, can say that? I find that very hard to believe.

    Since when is 270 yards and 3 TD’s something to be disgusted about? It was a bad game against a bad opponent but hardly embarrassing stats … especially, considering on the entire season they gave up 350 yards a game the previous year. They 100% improved.

    Plus, UNC’s starting QB only threw for 235 and 2 TD’s. They had a 35 yard trick play with a wide receiver throwing a touchdown.

    That game included a kick return TD, a trick play TD and Quadree Hendrson losing a fumble and was one of Duzz’s worst coaching performances at Pitt. I won’t disagree with that at all.

    Bad game, yes … and, yes, they went 1-2 down the stretch but they had a top 25 team (VT) on the ropes and beat the number 2 team. I still don’t know how a kid (Weah) who ran a 4.38 at the combine gets caught from behind. Smh.

    If Pitt has another season like last season, Duzz will be on thin ice. Again, I only said that they improved on defense. The offense was miserable most of the year but that usually happens when you play 3 QB’s in a season with a new offensive coordinator and several key departures from the previous season.

    I don’t think Duzz can do no wrong. He has not been perfect. Far from it.

    I’m just reserving judgement until this season. He has his flaws but I’ve seen what an OC can do with freedom under him and I’ve seen what his defenses have done and how long they’ve taken to get there at Michigan St. I always expected a 4-5 year arc so Pitt is right where they should be in my opinion. I did not expect a rookie head coach to be a miracle worker.

    I did think he took over a talented team and that’s why I said the expectations should be higher when he first came on board … And they ended up with back to back 8 win seasons. Last season’s team was not very talented and the record showed it.

    This season’s team, I see as much more experience and talent … and my expectations are back up.

    Regarding Chryst, Pitt’s #5 time of possession had more to do with Pitt’s defensive stats than anything in 2014… and it was never about the ranking, it was about the 4th quarter collapses. The final statistics don’t tell the whole story … that the offense was Pitt’s best defense.

    By the way, I never thought Chryst was a bad coach. I found him boring and uninspiring and just prefer a different style of play. I was also willing to give him 4-5 years and only jumped on him when he announced he was leaving. I bit my lip a lot in his tenure.

    Jackagain – Whether they were good NFL corners doesn’t matter. He got them there and they made MSU a top 10 pass defense in college.

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    1. I only mentioned that because you mentioned they were 1st round picks. MY point is they were not worthy. Maybe that’s an argument for Narduzzi’s defense….

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  106. Talking about misery, I’m still thinking about Nov 29, 1981: 48-14. Need I say more? I doesn’t get worse than this, but at least the game meant something in the rankings.

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  107. Tossing, I think we’ll be a better defense also.

    I only wonder if we can overcome all of the offensive ills which I think is going to be a lot. I look at our DBs…we just lost two of the best we have had in a long time in Whitehead and Maddox… and see a lot of question marks there.

    I get Pitt fans are excited about our new defensive backs and we think back to Pat Narduzzi’s days at Michigan State and how good his DB’s were, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be replicated here. We haven’t seen anything else he did at MSU replicated here yet so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they are going to be the real deal but we may well see Briggs play again too.

    If Ford doesn’t play at a star, real star, level I think we could be worse because I don’t think our DL is going to get pressure on the QB that PN’s defenses are built on. We desperately need a nose tackle who can do more than just stand up and get double teamed. Roy played the whole season and had 14 tackles, one TFL and one sack. Not nearly good enough

    As any team does we play hot and cold during the season. I can’t remember anytime Pitt has been able to play consistently good throughout a full schedule. It’s hard to do this even the best can’t always, but sometimes it would be nice to see a solid season from Pitt where we didn’t have losing games to a crap school that cost us something.

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  108. Toss – If We adjust our pass defense for the excess over the average of our 11 other games OK State had against us we rise from 254 ypg to 233 ypg which would land us around 79th out of 129 teams.

    Not all that good in PN’s 3rd year even with the adjustment.

    That’s about where I think we’ll be in ’18.

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  109. Reed – Those are legit concerns. The D-Line absolutely makes the defense click so they’ll need the the DL to become a strength. A jump from 128 to 79 is still very good tho. A jump from 350 yards per game to 233 is also very good. I’d argue not to look at the final ranking but look at the jumps. The OKSt. cannot be erased but you can look at it in context. That’s my only argument. I think Pitt could be 30-40 in the final rankings but there are “what ifs”.

    You points go to my point that this season is a huge unknown and one of the more difficult to predict in recent memory … in my opinion.

    This team will also need the offense to help the defense. I think it has the potential. It’s an inexperience OL but the TE’s we’ve recruited are essentially 6th and 7th linemen.

    My gut tells me this will be a completely unrecognizable offense. I have nothing to base that on except Watson’s history and Narduzzi’s allowance for freedom.

    Last season was done in the name of continuity but I think that’s out the window this season.

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