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Pat Narduzzi Evades the Idea of Making In-Season Coaching Change

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Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi.

The offseason coaching carousel has slowly started to spin as coordinators around the country have begun to be let go by their respective teams.

Arkansas, Indiana and Iowa (although not technically a firing in the case of Brian Ferentz) have fired their offensive coordinators, and USC has made a change at defensive coordinator. And — while also not technically being fired — Colorado demoted offensive coordinator Sean Lewis from his play-calling duties.

College football has turned into a business, after all, and aside from Lewis (maybe), none of the fired coordinators were reaching the standard required of them. And that is a scenario that can be applied to Pitt this season, too.

But Pat Narduzzi evaded the idea of making an in-season coaching change himself when asked about it Thursday at his weekly news conference.

You know, No. 1, I’m worried about Syracuse and not worried about the chaos on the outside that happens,” Narduzzi said. “Just focused on our kids and what we do in this program and nothing else. There’s nothing that’s going to speed up what we do and how we do what we do here at Pitt.”

Narduzzi hasn’t made any changes in-season over his nine seasons in Pittsburgh, but he has made changes at coordinator quite a few times now. He’s only had two defensive coordinators (Josh Conklin and now Randy Bates), but he’s been through Jim Chaney, Matt Canada, Shawn Watson and Mark Whipple on the offensive side of the ball — and Frank Cignetti Jr. is in his second season.

Pitt isn’t making any changes this season. That’s certain, especially with just three games left this season — and the outspoken desire to continue to work with what is already in place. Cignetti is finishing the season as Pitt’s offensive coordinator.

But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any changes made upon the conclusion of the season at the end of the month. There will not be a bowl game extending the season into December this year, after all.

Narduzzi has mentioned the idea of getting reps for some of the young players in the system, true freshmen taking their first collegiate snaps and second-year guys working into the rotation, but he’s also expressed — multiple times now — that the only goal this season now is to win. There is no looking ahead.

But at 2-7, with one of the worst offenses in the NCAA, there hasn’t been much winning this season. And it’s not exactly hard to figure out why.

Sandy Schall, Coldwell Banker
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TMG
TMG
5 days ago

That is a really selfish ignorant, obtuse, thing to say.
“There’s a fire in this program, but I tell ya, no one is gonna tell this program when to call 911. We’ll just let it burn because the OC is my friend and he needs a job. I think that’s more important than winning because, I love my kids and want them to win by watching it all crumble a long with their future.”

Thanks Coach we love you too.

Wow!

kevin
kevin
5 days ago

I’m not sure what an in season firing will do now, but I hope Pitt is going to finally pay to get a young, top notch OC this off season! Take some from Narduzzi’s >$5 mill salary!

Denny
Denny
5 days ago

He’s just dumb. It’s no coincidence that the team has little self discipline.

ArmChairCritic
ArmChairCritic
5 days ago
Reply to  Denny

He should coach defense at Air-Force so they can make an acronym for him, D AF.

Jane
Jane
5 days ago

His way is going to cost him in the end!

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