Pat Narduzzi didn’t win the 2021 Dodd Trophy, finishing as a finalist to the award won by Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell, but he’s already on the shortlist for the 2022 award.
The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl, Inc. have officially named Narduzzi to the 2022 Dodd Trophy watchlist, along with 19 of the nation’s best coaches, the award given to college football’s top coach.
The Dodd Trophy, college football’s most coveted national coaching award, celebrates the head coach of a team who enjoys success on the gridiron, while also stressing the importance of scholarship, leadership and integrity– the three pillars of legendary coach Bobby Dodd’s coaching philosophy.
Narduzzi guided Pitt to an 11-2 season in which the Panthers won the ACC title for the first time in program history. With a win in the Peach Bowl, Pitt’s first New Year’s Six Bowl since the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, the Panthers can match a program-best 12 wins set back in 1976.
Pitt is 53-37 under Narduzzi, with only one losing season during his time in Pittsburgh, and the Panthers’ 36 ACC wins are the third-most in the conference since 2015. Pitt has won the ACC Coastal twice during that spanning, winning its first outright title this season.
“College football has seen many changes in recent years, but all of these coaches have held true to our award’s three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity,” Jim Terry, chairman of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation, said in the release. “What separates The Dodd Trophy and truly makes it the most coveted coach of the year award, is our commitment to recognizing all that these coaches do, not only on the football field, but in the classroom and throughout their communities as well. This is why we require coaches to have at least two years of experience leading their current programs, so that they have had time to establish a precedent, both on and off the field.”
Narduzzi is joined by Wake Forest’s Dave Clawson, North Carolina State’s Dave Doeren and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney in the ACC. Five SEC, five Big Ten, two Big 12, one Pac-12, one AAC and one indepednt coaches featured on the list.
Congratulations! H2P
Best wishes Coach N. You and the team can do it ! H2P
Where is psu head coach Franklin???? Ha Ha ha!