Pat Narduzzi has filled the coaching vacancy on his staff and is turning to someone that he has plenty of familiarity with.
According to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, Pitt will be hiring Ryan Manalac as its new linebackers coach. The 35-year old was most recently the defensive coordinator at Bucknell and has a long history with Narduzzi as he played for him at Cincinnati and then served as a graduate assistant for him at Michigan State.
Feldman says that Manalac is “considered a rising star in coaching.”
Manalac was born in Pickerington, Ohio and was a linebacker at the University of Cincinnati from 2005-08. Following his time with the Bearcats, Manalac joined the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2009. After two seasons, he then decided to get into the coaching profession.
The first stop in Manalac’s coaching profession was as a graduate assistant and operations assistant under Narduzzi at Michigan State from 2011-15. From there, he moved onto Valparaiso in 2016 as their linebackers coach. The following season, Manalac was hired as the defensive coordinator at Ohio Dominican in 2017 and then became the defensive coordinator at Bucknell in 2019.
Manalac is replacing long-time Pitt linebackers coach Rob Harley, who accepted a position as defensive coordinator for Butch Jones and Arkansas State.
Had hoped for someone from Florida or at least the South.
Meh — seems like we could have done better than someone with no power 5 experience. Wonder if he can recruit with the big boys. Banking an awful lot on that “rising star” classification by Feldman. Hope he turns out to be successful, but seems like a big gamble.
it’s a LB coach, not a DC so that’s not a “big gamble” at all… You’re putting a little too much stock into this position/hire.
Do you guys know why kasperowitz didn’t get the job? I thought he would have been the perfect hire. Big opportunity missed in my book