It looks as though Pitt has found their new defensive coordinator.
Respected college football writer, Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports is reporting that Pitt will hire Randy Bates as its new defensive coordinator.
No official confirmation from the Pitt media department on this report.
Bates has been Pat Fitzgerald’s linebackers coach since getting hired in 2006. Prior to that, Bates was the defensive coordinator for six seasons at Louisiana Tech.
One of the more notable players that Bates coached was former Steeler linebacker James Harrison when he was linebackers coach at Kent State.
Narduzzi is obviously familiar with Bates from his days at Michigan State.
Rich Walsh of KDKA-TV reports that Bates was in town yesterday and on campus meeting with the coaching staff.
We’ll have more on this story throughout the day.
UPDATE (12:04 PM)-
More on Bates, as far as his recruiting background, he was recently named by Rivals.com as one of the Top 5 hottest recruiters in the Big 10 conference. His recruiting territory with Northwestern was Texas and Ohio. Could be a smart recruiting strategy for Pitt because Texas is a state they don’t recruit. However, like Florida, the state of Texas is so rich in talent, Bates could be a valuable resource for Pitt.
