in Pitt Football 1,204 Words

Cignetti Officially Offical

Per Borghetti, Narduzzi has hired Cignetti…

Frank Cignetti Jr. Returns to Pitt as Offensive Coordinator

PITTSBURGH—Pittsburgh native Frank Cignetti Jr., widely respected for his offensive schemes and mentorship of quarterbacks, has been named Pitt’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach by Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi.

Owning more than three decades of experience at both the collegiate and professional levels, this marks Cignetti’s third appointment at Pitt. He began his coaching career as a Panthers graduate assistant on Mike Gottfried’s staff in 1989. From 2009-10, Cignetti was Pitt’s offensive coordinator under Dave Wannstedt.

Cignetti joins Narduzzi’s staff after spending the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Boston College, where he completely revitalized the Eagles’ passing attack. Under his guidance, transfer Phil Jurkovec ranked among the ACC’s top quarterbacks as a first-year starter in 2020.

Cignetti’s pro-style schemes maximized the talents of tight end Hunter Long, who earned All-America honors and now plays for the Miami Dolphins, and wide receiver Zay Flowers, a two-time All-ACC honoree and one of the most prolific pass catchers in Boston College history.

In total, Cignetti brings to Pitt 32 years of accomplished coaching experience—21 in college and 11 in the National Football League. He has coordinated offenses at seven different schools and in the NFL. Cignetti has worked alongside future Hall of Fame quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning, dynamic receivers like Tavon Austin and Mohamed Sanu, as well as 1,000-yard backs in Dion Lewis, Todd Gurley and Jahvid Best.

“Having the opportunity to bring Frank back to Pitt is a tremendous coup for our entire program,” Narduzzi said. “He’s an extremely talented football coach and teacher. Frank has worked with some of the greatest quarterbacks in the game. He knows what it takes to build a championship-caliber offense. I really think Frank’s experience and knowledge will make us better in every positional room.

“Beyond football, Frank understands and values what Pitt and Pittsburgh are all about. This is home for him. His passion and energy are going to make an immediate connection with our team.”  

“My family and I are extremely grateful to Coach Pat Narduzzi for the opportunity to return home to Pittsburgh and coach at Pitt, two places that have always remained very close to our hearts,” Cignetti said. “There are some incredibly special things happening at Pitt and it is exciting to become a part of it. I can’t wait to work with this great coaching staff and, most importantly, get to know and work with our players. I know everyone is wholly committed to building on last year’s ACC championship and continuing to elevate this proud program.”

Cignetti’s family has deep ties to Pitt and Western Pennsylvania football. His father, College Football Hall of Fame inductee Frank Sr., was a Pitt assistant from 1966-68 and later the head coach at both West Virginia (1976-79) and Indiana University of Pa. (1986-2005). His brother, Curt, was also a Pitt assistant (1983-84 and 1993-99) who now is the head coach at James Madison University.

During his most recent Pitt tenure, Cignetti’s influence figured prominently for the 2009 team, which finished 10-3 and ranked No. 15 in the final polls. The Panthers’ offensive arsenal included a 1,700-yard rusher in Dion Lewis and 1,000-yard receiver in Jon Baldwin. Moreover, quarterback Bill Stull ranked among the nation’s most efficient passers (No. 10 nationally, 150.6 rating), throwing for more than 2,600 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Lewis was named the Big East’s 2009 Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. Tight end Dorin Dickerson, who caught 10 touchdowns that season, earned first-team All-America honors. For his impact, Cignetti was a nominee for the prestigious Broyles Award.

Following Pitt, Cignetti was offensive coordinator for 2011 Pinstripe Bowl champion Rutgers, where under his watch wide receiver Mohamed Sanu compiled a school and Big East-record 115 receptions.

Cignetti would spend the next seven seasons in the NFL, working with the St. Louis Rams (2012-15), New York Giants (2016-17) and Green Bay Packers (2018).

Cignetti coached the Rams’ quarterbacks his initial three seasons before serving as offensive coordinator his final year. In 2015, he orchestrated one of the league’s top rushing offenses as Pro Bowler Todd Gurley gained 1,106 yards—third most in the NFL—and was named Rookie of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA).

Overseeing the Rams’ quarterbacks, Cignetti helped Sam Bradford, when healthy, achieve some of the best production of his career. In 2012, Bradford enjoyed a breakthrough season as an NFL starter by throwing for 3,702 yards and 21 touchdowns. He was on a similar trajectory in 2013—ranking among the league leaders in passing yards, passing touchdowns and completions—before injury ended his season after seven games.

During Cignetti’s stint in New York, the Giants went 11-5 during the 2016 season as Eli Manning achieved the second-highest completion percentage (63%) of his career. Manning was one of only six NFL quarterbacks that season to compile at least 4,000 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns and a 63.0 completion percentage.

As Green Bay’s quarterbacks coach in 2018, Cignetti worked with Aaron Rodgers, who threw for 4,442 yards and 25 touchdowns against only two interceptions. Rodgers’ yardage marked the second highest of his career while his INTs were his lowest as a starter.

Cignetti’s other NFL appointments came with the San Francisco 49ers (quarterbacks, 2007), New Orleans Saints (quarterbacks, 2000-01) and Kansas City Chiefs (quality control, 1999). While with the Saints, he helped Jeff Blake to a career-best passer rating and also helped Aaron Brooks produce some of the best statistics of his career in earning a Pro Bowl alternate selection.

Cignetti coordinated offenses at three additional FBS programs: California (2008), North Carolina (2006) and Fresno State (2002-05).

His 2004 Fresno State offense ranked among college football’s most explosive. The Bulldogs averaged 40.2 points—the fifth-highest scoring clip in the country—en route to a 9-3 record and No. 22 final national ranking.

The Bulldogs twice finished among the nation’s top 10 in scoring and third-down conversions during Cignetti’s tenure. They were also a perennial postseason team, advancing to four consecutive bowls, including victories over power conference foes Georgia Tech, UCLA and Virginia.

From 1990-98, Cignetti was on his father’s staff at IUP, where he was an all-conference safety before earning his bachelor’s degree in 1988. He served IUP as receivers, secondary and quarterbacks coach before elevating to offensive coordinator for his final two seasons. During his tenure, IUP twice advanced to the NCAA Division II national title game and earned a berth in the semifinals four times.

He and his wife, Ellen, have one son, Frankie, and three daughters, Alyssa, Gabrielle and Ella.

Pitt ticket information for the 2022 season is now available online or by calling (800) 643-7488. The Panthers host seven home games this fall, including attractive non-conference matchups against historic “Backyard Brawl” rival West Virginia and Southeastern Conference foe Tennessee in the second edition of the Johnny Majors Classic. ACC opponents visiting Heinz Field in 2022 are Duke, Georgia Tech, Syracuse and Virginia Tech.

74 thoughts on “Cignetti Officially Offical”

  1. A nice write-up on Cignetti. He certainly has a hell of a lot of experience. And its also my guess he will be the best OC “recruiter hired” out of many OC’s Narduzzi employed a the position,

    Liked by 7 people

  4. I agree it’s a good pickup and for what I have researched he likes to go out and hit the recruiting trail as mentioned by jrnpitt prior.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. His expertise with QB’s couldn’t come at a better time. Love the recruiting angle. Next year needs to be a banner year for recruiting.

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  7. A great hire…..Cignetti has Pittsburgh in his blood. Slovis and Patti will both benefit under his tutelage,
    I firmly believe that we will see a more balanced offense and that it will contribute to opposing teams being forced to work MUCH harder in planning how to scheme their defenses against us,
    Whipple had his strong points but recruiting was certainly not one of them. Cignetti is well respected
    in the 412 and the tri-State area……I hope he gives PSUX fits going after talent.

    Liked by 3 people

  8. While only time will tell if this is a good hire, it is impressive that Pitt is now the aggressor in coaching hires. I guess two Coastal Division titles and one Atlantic Coastal Conference championship does have its perks.

    I do have one small request of the new OC: Please do not make your quarterback run to you after each play!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m with you on that second point, John. Especially since I read that Cignetti likes to coach from up in the box.

      Liked by 10 people

  9. I’m still surprised that we hired a coordinator from another ACC team – one that was apparently still employed by that team.

    Will be interesting to see who BC hires. Oh Canada?? 😊

    Go Pitt.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Good to see Frank coming back home to his roots… at his age and with continued winning I bet he retires here. His dad was coach at Leechburg HS in the early 60’s. The Blue Devils won the WPIAL Class A tilt level and following year won the Class B WPIAL crown beating Avella who was lead by Ralph Cindrich.

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  14. Posted this on the last thread. Want to make sure every sees this so if I am wrong you can call me on it, LOL.

    I don’t like the Cignetti hire. Little success the last two years at BC. I looked at film with Jurkovic playing, they struggled to score against better than average teams. They were inconsistent. He is not one of the better OCs in the country. If Pitt wants to stay on top, they need to go after a very successful OC.

    That being said, I wanted Whipple fired before this past year and he ended up being PN’s best OC. Actually, best OC at Pitt in decades so what the heck do I know.

    I hope Cignetti opens up his offense more. Thirty plus points per game are a must.

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    1. Tyler kind of spoiled us with how rare he dropped one during his Pitt career. And he made a ton of “Wow” catches…

      And good to see him keeping involved with his home town…. I’m rooting for the Bungles to move on…

      Go Pitt

      PS: Hoping Richard had a good day today…

      Liked by 5 people

      1. his hands were amazing and I think everyone knew THAT, I didn’t think that he had the quickness or speed to be as great as he has become

        glad to see I don’t know everything 🙂
        don’t tell my kids, shhhh

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  18. notrocketscience … Cignetti is not an exciting hire but former Pitt players absolutely love him and his brother is rocking it down here at JMU. Hopefully, the freedom Duzz gives his OC will inspire Cignetti to fully unleash his vision for an offense. What he did after Matt Cavanaugh was pretty remarkable. Breaking in a young Tiny in year 2 had a pretty dramatic affect on the offense but he came close to having two 1k rushers that season. Dion hit 1k and Ray Graham was like 20 yards or so from hitting it. Baldwin’s stats took a huge hit.

    You have to score points to win in this era of college football … ball control offenses tend to not score as much thus leaving a lot closer games than are necessary in the 4th quarter. Close games add up and tend to go 50/50 … or you could be Nebraska … I prefer score at will so it doesn’t fall on your defense or you converting 3rd downs down the stretch … but that’s just me … we’ll see, though. As we saw this year, I’m pretty sure most teams that had 11 wins averaged over 40 points per game.

    I have zero interest in 27-24 games … they’re brutal to watch and agonizing to the very end … I’d rather enjoy the game 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    1. I’m with you. Score as fast as you can. I did read Stull said they went deep more with Cignetti than with Cavanaugh, but that isn’t saying much. Fingers crossed. Also Stull said Cignetti kept what worked for the offense under Cavanaugh. Hoping Cignetti looks through Whipple’s playbook and keeps those long to intermediate pass plays and the sideways pass 🤣.
      By the way, it is irrelevant that Frank is from the Burgh.
      I hear he recruits, but I haven’t read of any examples. I’m a “have to see it to believe it guy”.
      I want the guy to succeed. This past football season was awesome, don’t want it to end.

      By the way, remember when the PN criticism was he couldn’t recruit offense. Now all we hear is that Cignetti has tons of talent to work with.

      Liked by 1 person

  19. I am at home. No blockages. Interesting procedure. Semi-awake the whole time but wasn’t able to see any screens to see what was going on. At hospital around 8am. On way home around noon. Restricted right arm usage for next 5 days or so.

    Sent daughter back to Columbia after settling me in. Columbia was expecting snow/freezing rain. I had a dusting of snow overnight. Still had some patches of snow on the ground from last Sundays 6 inches.

    Liked by 11 people

  21. As to Cignetti’s offense – In the 2 years he was at BC, he did seem to tailor his offense to the talent he had available.

    In Addazio’s last year (2019), BC’s offense was 67% run, 32.6% pass and 1.3% sacks allowed.
    In Cignetti’s 2020 offense, BC was 44.3% run, 51.9% pass & 3.7% sacks allowed.
    In 2021 w/out Jurkovic for most of the season – 57.9% run, 38.8% pass, 3.3% sacks allowed.

    Since the NCAA includes sacks as a “run” attempt, I like to break it out separately. Just add the sack % to run % for the NCAA stat breakdown or add to pass % for a truer pass attempt %.

    Liked by 3 people

  22. OT: From Craig Myers PG

    From Jan. 23 on, Pitt is 7-33 in three seasons under Jeff Capel.

    Poster comment – The first half of those seasons have not been too impressive either.

    I heard a rumor (ikr) that Capel is trying to become a candidate for the Maryland job. There is no basis for it to me because of his performance at Pitt warrants a better candidate.

    Two similarities between MD and Pitt are that not too long ago they were perennial top 25 teams and they packed their arenas.

    Three big differences I see:

    -1. Local recruiting footprint of DC/MD is better than Pittsburgh
    -2. MD did not have Stallings & Barnes in their recent past.
    -3. The MD leadership is committed to putting a winner on the court.

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    1. That is seriously funny. Capel is damaged goods unless he can put a recruiting class together.
      Don’t see any P-5 school taking a chance on him after his results at Pitt. Two years in a row with off the court issues, an entire team abandons him, very few wins and Champ is his only success story?
      Certainly not all his fault, but “The Buck stops here”

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I think the only way Capel moves to Maryland is if Coach K pulls a Godfather move and calls in a favor for him. It makes no sense otherwise for Maryland to want him

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        1. I agree – it would be a good move for Capel but not sure a smart move for MD.

          Question: would Horton be currently playing if he and Capel were in the same situation at MD that they are with the legal situation at Pitt?

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        2. I don’t think even Coach K has that much juice and certainly not with Maryland who hates the NC schools.

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  23. OK, I am going to try again, just had a comment disappear into the either, no idea why? First time in a long time.

    Anyway I said with Addison, Jared, Bart, and the new guy, Barden and backs with good hands any coach would be an idiot not to have a pass heavy offense.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Secondly, you still need to be able to run the ball and Pitt proved that it can do that last year, the combination of the two made me wonder where Pitt Juggernaut has been?

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  25. OK I figured out which word is banned, not sure why.

    Anyway, some balance is still required and you must be able to run the football which Pitt proved it can do last year and with everyone back should be even stronger this year.

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Slovis should be on campus and throwing to get some timing down with all of his new weapons.
    Hopefully Patti is a fast healer.
    The spring game attendance should be way, way up.

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  27. Lastly, sure would be nice to get another top Tight End, Linebacker and Corner off the Portal.
    Up our portal rating. LOL

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  28. FCjr has two key things that could set him up for success in his play calling –

    -1. Film of nine returning starters on the offense he is inheriting that averaged 40+ points per game.

    -2. Two QB’s who look to be legitimate P5 starters and lots of Slovis’ FR year film where he was a rock star.

    KP3 will be very hard to replace, but Duzz has set the table with some pretty good choices.

    If Krull’s replacement is not found, Blue Mountain Bart will get more minutes and twice as many catching opportunities – to me that is a good thing. When two TE’s are needed, why not a healthy Ky Wright (former PA player of the year)?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I am really rooting for Ky Wright to make an impact, but it appears he may have hands of stone. I hope I’m wrong and he gets another crack at TE this coming season.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. OK, I’m game just where did you get the info on Kyi Wright having hands of stone? We know he has had injury problems but I never have seen the hands of stone comment from anyone. That said the very idea that Pitt has offered the TE from Lafayette just recently suggests you may well be right on Wright.

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  29. The banned word appears to start with jug and end with not, I was reminded of it by next years offense, and wondered where the man’s been?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I posted three times in the last 24 hours using that word and none made it through – I was using it to refer to certain Pitt sporting teams.

      🤔

      Liked by 1 person

  30. Interesting thread, and thanks Erie for adding to it with the hoops thoughts as well.

    I am not sure what to make of the Cignetti hiring; as I said before, I was initially so disappointed with it because my first thought was Pitt’s offense under Wanny, which was certainly an underwhelming thought. But after I read a bit and realized what he did with Stull plus given his limited time at Pitt, I felt a bit better. Then I saw his NFL QB experience, plus the comments from his former players here at Pitt, and I landed with a much better outlook, like almost all of you. Also, a few weeks before the hire I had commented that I wanted either an OC with significant QB coaching credentials, or an OC plus an additional QB coach hire, so in hindsight, this hire checked my box in that regard.

    I often wonder what made Pitt’s offense go from mediocre in Whipple’s first two years, to explosive in his third, and keep coming back to the fact that you’ve got to give him credit as our OC, but at the same time I truly feel he benefitted from a lot of things coming to get at once, as did Pickett, not the least of which was the sudden arrival of two Tight Ends who became weapons in one year (Krull dropped everything in sight the prior year, and only became a real threat this past year), combined with improved (albeit mediocre) offensive line play. Again, I never loved Whipple, and was glad to see him go, even after this most recent successful year; I was at the Virginia game and heard many fans cussing him out after play calls for many of the same reasons that frustrated me. In the end, I am thankful for Whipple’s contributions and am looking forward to turning the page. Even though Chryst was not a great head coach at Pitt, I always admired how he immediately turned us into a physical offensive team that had balance with the running threat. My hope is that Cignetti will make us balanced enough so that we can take advantage of whatever weakness our opponents have, yet also prioritizing the deep passing game because it’s so important to today’s game, plus its fun to watch and attracts talented recruits.

    With regard to Capel, I think it’s laughable that Maryland would even consider hiring him given his track record at Pitt. Maybe he could bring Hugley and Barnes with him, but that’s not enough for a P6 program to be enticed imho. If Heather is willing to give him a few more years, it’d be in his best interest to give everything he has to build something here, rather than quitting when the going gets tough. The question is, how many more years does he have here before we pull the plug?

    Liked by 2 people

  35. A year ago Thursday (1/20/21), Pitt BB was just coming off a win over Duke to raise its record to 8-3. Then it all caved in and it finished 10-12

    Hugely was suspended on 1/15; X entered transfer portal on 1/23; soon followed by Audiese Tony.

    Sent from my iPhone

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    Liked by 1 person

  37. Had today’s transfer portal been in effect 20 years ago, I seriously doubt that Jamie Dixon would have prospered. So many of his players didn’t see a lot of PT in their first 2 years, only to come into their own the final 2 years. (Wanamaker, McGhee, G Brown, Patterson, Zanna, Young … I can go on)

    The upcoming months will be make/break for Capel. Not so much in how the team finishes but more importantly how he does in bringing in transfers

    Sent from my iPhone

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    Liked by 1 person

    1. Absolutely a completely new environment. No longer can you build a team over time. Also not sure how NIL will factor in, but I think schools will need to have deals ready for big time players if they want to get them and keep them.

      Wondering how large corporations are going to factor in. For example how many kids will PNC sponsor in their footprint? Banks, Law offices, Health Systems, grocery chains, manufacturers, energy sector.
      Does Heather need to start a new department to manage the process.

      Boggles the mind.

      Liked by 1 person

  38. I have my local contacts antenna’s out for news on Capel being wooed by Maryland.

    A comment by Erie “Maryland wants to win now!” Is hard and fast truth. I’d take a swap and give the Turtles Capel if Pitt can get Mark Turgeon! He refused to play ball and pay off street agents and possee’s to get recruits to get top talent. It cost him and Maryland!

    But see, there’s NIL money now so street agents are disappearing faster than Pirate talent! And the transfer portal. Now you can go out and buy a top flight team….legally!

    I like Jeff Capel as a person and a coach but from what I hear, Pitt is simply not a good match for him.
    Maryland has a basketball recruiting program set up that would be the envy of any school!
    Recruiting is Jeffs weakness. This is a good match.

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    1. Did Capel forget how to recruit? Initially, it was his strength not his weakness. I think the recruiting rules have been turned upside down. Is NIL more or less effective for HS players vs. transfers? It will take time for Capel, and other HCs, to figure it out, and the solution may be different for new coaches vs. longer tenured coaches who may prefer to recruit high school players and develop them.

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    2. no way can you prefer Turgeon’s game day coaching

      not saying it’s worse that JC but frankly last couple games, Jeff’s time-outs at least seemed done right

      Turgeon overall when I have listened to him is not inspiring,,,, now give me the preparation and game coaching of Gary Williams and I’d be ok with a UMD swap 😉

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      1. Last couple of games…Turgeon is 10 x the proven game day coach and recruiter of Capel.

        Where were all those great Capel time out calls the last three years?

        And do I need to remind anyone
        of the lack of a time out at the end of UVA that cost us the game?

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  39. Obviously a big difference in recruiting for Duke than Pitt. And of course he kept trying to recruit all the blue chips. IMO this mindset is what put Capel into this big hole.

    Sent from my iPhone

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    Liked by 3 people

  40. It was mentioned up above about Capel’s record down the stretch … It’s been very alarming and something I’ve drawn attention to in the past. His teams collapse every season. If Pitt can finish better than previous seasons, you at least can take home that the coaches are having an impact. If they collapse (as much as you can collapse, lol) then Pitt really has no choice but to move on. You have to get better. If you’re not going to win you have to at least improve. You have to at least learn how to close out games … and seasons. Thus far, I’ve been impressed at how hard Pitt does play. Players, and coaches, could have checked out long ago but there is an effort that’s been lacking in recent years.

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  41. I’ll go out on a limb here. The transfer portal will not be a big thing in 2-3 years and the problem is bigger than you might think. Ever wonder why I coined Athlete-Student a couple of years ago? This is why.

    Pay for play. The NCAA is currently re-writing its Constitution. In it, the regulation of what you can do for a recruit will be controlled by each individual conference, not the NCAA. A conference can decide how much the school can pay for players, all legally. I can’t state that emphatically enough.

    Players are already paid a monthly stipend based on cost of attendance % at a particular school. That was deemed a farce as most schools increased their tuition so that they could pay players more legally and scholarshipped regular students to make up the difference. The true cost of tuition is a smoke screen. Ever wonder why so many students get scholarship? Because it isn’t really scholarship! It’s funny accounting and all you CPA’s would get a headache trying to figure it out.

    Anyway, with Pay to Play (which is going to happen very soon), the players will get room and board, tuition, NIL, and X amount for signing on the dotted line. Looks like a bonanza for the athlete-student. The power has shifted in collegiate sports to the athletes. Why this will be a cluster : When a university pays someone, there is an employee/employer relationship;player union; medical care/workers’ compensation; state retirement funds; taxes; decrease in collegiate sport offerings; instead of national letter of intent, pitt will contract with a player for 4 years, or 1 year renewal at the school option. If schools are dumb enough to offer one year contracts, the portal will live, but I doubt they do it because there needs to be a sense of continuity (which doesn’t happen now). Some might go the root of independent contractors (moving from place to place), but my sense is that the conferences will not allow that. Forget graduation rates. Forget schooling to a certain extent. The smart players will negotiate money for them to come back to school to get a degree if their professional careers don’t pan out. Pitt is not innovative enough in the athletic department to compete in the new space right now. Big10 and SEC will dominate.

    We will now be able to call college sports what it really is, a business. If I have time, I will pen an article about all of this. Right now, I sit on a committee to figure this stuff out and the repercussions and unintended consequences. This is also why the schools haven’t passed playoff expansion yet. They need to figure out the bigger issue looming.

    Liked by 2 people

    2. This one will be tough for collegiate athletics since there won’t be money for the non revenue producing sports. Also will probably eliminate some schools that don’t want to compete in the new environment.
      How many more lawyers, accountants and administrators will be required by each school to manage the process. For the players it will be like buying a car, after you are done with the sales guy you need to meet with the finance guy. The players will need representation and accountants/tax advisors.

      As employees a whole new set of rules will apply. What a mess!

      Liked by 1 person

  42. Good post Huff. In my thinking, college pay for play in one form or another has been around for awhile. I would not be surprised if in the future some colleges became farm teams for NFL teams

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  43. Inevitable. Many college coaches make more than pro coaches. TV money ensures the SEC and B10 > $75m per year. Texas has made well over $100m per for years

    Which is exactly why the legislature had no choice than to approve the NIL. And face it, no matter if it’s playoff expansion, NIL, portal, etc. the rich will get richer

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

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  45. In college basketball, the top players are one and done anyway. Below this tier, there are some really good players who need a couple of years to develop (Champ would fall into this category). The portal will stay important because one player can make a difference, and it fits perfectly for the type of player who thinks he should transfer for better competition to get NBA ready. (Players like X-Man and Toney may think they fall into this category but could be in for a big surprise when they leave for the NBA).

    For successful, stable programs, the model for future recruiting still looks like the focus will be on high school players with a constant eye on the portal. In basketball, one player can make a big difference, and when a player like Champ leaves unexpectedly for the NBA the portal can be used to fill the opening.

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  46. Off topic, I just finished Beano Cook’s book “Haven’t they suffered enough” and it was fantastic. Definitely recommend.
    ‘

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