Polls
PSN Poll Question: Grading Pat Narduzzi After 6 Seasons
Today is an anniversary for Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt Panthers.
Six years ago today, Narduzzi officially took over as the head coach of the Pitt football program, his first head coaching job after serving as defensive coordinator at Michigan State, Cincinnati, Miami OH and Rhode Island.
After finishing up the 2020 season with a record of 6-5, Narduzzi’s career record at Pitt is 42-34 overall and 29-20 in the ACC. When breaking down his six seasons, Narduzzi has compiled three 8 win seasons, with his worst season being 5-7 in 2017.
While Pitt has remained pretty steady by averaging 7-8 wins under his watch, Pitt’s recruiting in terms of team rankings has no doubt steadily improved under Narduzzi.
PITT’S TEAM RECRUITING RANKINGS (PER RIVALS)
This Season: 21st
2020: 44th
2019: 49th
2018: 36th
2017: 38th
2016: 29th
Our PSN question for you to vote on, taking everything into consideration, what grade would you give Pat Narduzzi for the job he’s done thus far at Pitt?
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Who do you think could do better?
Glad you asked Teddy, The answer is Joe Morehead
Moorhead looked great at Miss St…
He did the same as Duzz in the toughest conference in the land. He had 8 wins vacated after the fact. He requires no on the job training like Duzz the Mediocre.
He was a winner at Fordham and ran a 21st century offense at Pedo. I’d take him in a heartbeat over Duzz the Mediocre.
I think Duzz and his staff have done a tremendous job building on existing recruiting pipelines and developing new ones (ie Virginia, Texas). I think they have also done a very nice job developing raw/mediocre talent over the years, while also preparing players for the next level. One of the most critical things Duzz has done though is build an identity for Pitt football of playing good physical defense and once you have a “brand” established, you’ve left a mark for continued success. He’s established more of a brand than any of his predecessors dating back to Wannstedt. The 2… Read more »
I will say it again, adding Pitt and Syracuse to the ACC improved it’s football brand image. No, we are not seeing the results we expected when Pitt Football joined the ACC but that’s because the ACC is keeping players from the region. Higher water floats everyone in the boat higher. With the exceptions of Syracuse and Boston College, no one from the Power 5 Conferences wants to play an ACC team during the regular season. The ACC has 8 of the top 30 recruiting classes for 2021 (excluding ND), SEC – 8, Big 10 – 7, per Rivals. 2020… Read more »
Very well said. I agree with all of it. I Just hope he is getting better game time experience with time as a head coach, and not appearing so nervous during the game. I do love the brand he is building at Pitt! H2P!
Has some signature wins on his resume. (Clemson, PSU, #2 Miami). He does have a Coastal title although that was a 7-7 season. What is the most encouraging is this year’s 21st ranked recruiting class. Not only is it a top 25 class, when you look at it, the local talent stayed home. Narduzzi deserves credit but so does Beatty and Collins. They do have a brand and this defense is stockpiled with talent and they have depth. Pickett coming back with all the backs and WR’s except turner should be a special year in Narduzzi Year 7. I know… Read more »
The answer should be an obvious “C” to anyone who can look at Coach objectively. He’s mediocre. His defense the last 2 seasons have been great (for the most part). But his offense the last 2 seasons have been below pedestrian. Nard has not been able to put together a single season with both a good offense AND defense. He does have some solid wins agains Clemson, Miami, UCF the last few seasons. But for the most part, going into a game you know what you’re going to get: win against G5 and below, get beat (or blow out) by… Read more »
Well said One Last Year. He is the epitome of mediocre. He still appears to be learning on the job. Pitt should NEVER hire another coordinator without head coaching experience again. Pitt pays for them to learn on the job. What a ridiculous concept!
Pitt will be mediocre again next year hovering around .500. We have seen Nards ceiling. It’s not good enough for me.
Narduzzi isn’t going anywhere. Pitt will not pick up the remainder of his contract. We are still paying for the last MBB coach and just finished Wanstead’s contract. Remember PS had a big enough athletic endowment to pick up the $100 million JoePa fiasco and not skip a beat. Our endowment, though bigger than PS’s has stipulations toward academics (the right choice). Oh and WHO are you going to chase to replace Duzz, understand Cowher said no to another PRO coaching stint. There is no one at this level who is going to leave a Power 5 job at a… Read more »
And one more thing, we are going to lose outstanding coaches this year. Targets include Harley, already gone, Collins, Partridge, Beatty, Bates…….. Expect Collins to get Harley’s recruiter position and $$$. There is only so much money available.
My God I hope you are right and Whipple is hired by away by ANYONE. The Offense is TERRIBLE
I didn’t say he was going to get fired. Heather Lyke took care of him (when he was on the committee responsible for hiring her) and mindlessly extended him…now we are stuck with him for at least another year. I did say he was mediocre. He has NEVER had a team ranked at the end of the season. NEVER! He makes over $4 million a year and his team can’t get ranked. You happy with that? His offense is terrible. How many years you want to wait for a breakthrough year? Another 6 years of .500 football? You’re afraid Pitt… Read more »
Look at the schedule. No reason to think we won’t have 7 wins minimum. They can easily get off to a 4-0 start against a weak non-conf slate and from there it really depends how the conf games are laid out. It’ll be nice getting UNC and Miami at home. 7-9 wins (excluding bowl game) is a pretty safe bet, but 7 would be a failure.
I looked at the schedule. It will be another mediocre season. Duzz the Mediocre will 5 to 7 games. This was supposed to be the year. It’s always next year. Well, define insanity for me…
AND then expect different results from Duzz…
I really hope that Narduzzi use that coaching vacancy to get a high level quarterbacks coach becuase I honestly think Pitt is one Elite QB away from 9 or 10 a win season.
Lose a linebacker coach and add a QB coach?
Put it another way. A really good offensive co ordinator that relates to how college offenses have evolved to what they are. At the same time a younger , more driven OC that may be able to bring in at least a couple 4 star QB’S THAT WILL challenge for the starting job right off. Any coach that is afraid to play a younger player when his talent is better than an upper class men is in the long run a coach that will lose more than win.Look around, GA. Clemson. N.C. etc. have been kicking azz with young qb’s… Read more »
The freshmen transfer from California/Arizona State was a 4-star.
While our QB history hasn’t been great, I think we’re further off than just a QB. We never seem to have a complete team. We put countless players in the NFL, and some elite ones at that, but we have little to show for their time on campus because other positions/groups are lacking.
Guess his family members voted 25 times… Anybody who gave him an A is either family or rode the short bus to school…
The article states… “Pitt’s recruiting in terms of team rankings no doubt steadily improved under Narduzzi.” Then shows the teams recruiting ranks under PN… PITT’S TEAM RECRUITING RANKINGS (PER RIVALS) This Season: 21st 2020: 44th 2019: 49th 2018: 36th 2017: 38th 2016: 29th MY QUESTION: How exactly has the team rankings “steadily improved” when the team rankings were below his first season’s team rankings for four consecutive years and when 2017 and 2019 were worse than the years prior? Hos recruiting rankings started at 29 and 3 years latter it was 49! Ugh! It is trending in the right direction,… Read more »