‘I Just Want the Kids to Feel Success’: Pitt Coaches Focused on Right Now

Tim Salem isn’t sleeping much these days. He admitted that he probably wouldn’t be sleeping much anyway, but after Pitt reached a new low this season in a loss to Wake Forest, he’s sleeping less than ever.

Turbo Tim, as he’s affectionately known, is hard to rattle though. He’s been doing this for 38 years. Malcolm Epps, the oldest player in his room, has been doing it for almost six years. You can’t say there isn’t a different sort of mentality when it comes to what coaches want out of a season and what players themselves want out of a season, but if experience has taught Salem anything, it’s to want what’s best for his players.

“I’m at a point in my career where I just want the kids to feel success and win and do the stuff for them,” Salem said Tuesday after practice. “Because that’s what we’re doing it for, it’s for them. When the taste of victory is not in your mouth, the joy of winning is just not there, that’s just sickening to me.

“To me, the wins aren’t as high anymore and the lows are lower. That’s kind of what I’ve noticed with 38 years, whatever it is, but I just feel for the kids. I just feel for the kids, because that’s what it’s all about, do what they do and win, see the Cathedral lit up with those lights when we fly back into town.”

The Cathedral was dark as Pitt flew back to Pittsburgh late Saturday night, and Pat Narduzzi said that the mood around the facility was grumpy. Grumpy?

“Yeah, grumpy,” Narduzzi said Monday at his weekly news conference. “Kind of like I was grumpy yesterday. It’s a 24-hour grump. You can’t be grumpy for 24 hours, you know you’ve got problems.

“But nobody’s happy. That’s what we talked about last night. There’s nobody happy. I feel bad for you guys. Nobody wants to go through it. Nobody wants to go through it. Like, we had to take it.”

Pitt took a 21-17 loss against Wake Forest. And there have been some tough, take-a-look-in-the-mirror type of losses this season, but the loss to the Demon Deacons was legitimately one of the worst in the nine seasons Narduzzi has coached Pitt. He said himself that it’s easier to get beat by 25 than to blow a game with a chance late, but it goes much deeper than that.

Simply put, coaching hasn’t been good enough and execution from the players hasn’t been good enough. That’s why Pitt is lingering in the basement of the ACC.

But even though this season’s goals are all but lost, needing four wins against the remaining schedule of Notre Dame, Florida State, Syracuse, Boston College and Duke just to reach bowl eligibility, Salem has seen that there’s still plenty of resolve in this Panthers squad.

“The best thing that’s still enjoyable is that our kids are still practicing hard, they’re still coming into the building, like, wanting to be here, wanting to play, wanting to give effort,” Salem said. “I’ve been on teams before where you’ve gotten on a losing streak and it’s like pulling teeth. It’s not pulling teeth here. Thank God these kids still enjoy football, they’re showing up, we’re still demanding effort and they’re just trying to go through learning the gameplan.”

Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Christian Veilleux (11) October 5, 2023 David Hague/PSN

Christian Veilleux is leading the team going forward, and showing signs that he might actually be the guy going forward, and his injection of youth has been joined by young players across the lineup getting chances over the last couple of weeks. Kenny Johnson caught his first touchdown, with two under his belt now, and Ryan Baer, Terrence Moore and BJ Williams have all started multiple games on the offensive line this season.

Samuel Okunlola is tied for the team lead in sacks despite limited snaps this season, and Braylan Lovelace, Jordan Bass, Kyle Louis and Rasheem Biles have all made an impact this season, working into more responsibility on defense and special teams.

There’s potential, lots of it across the offense and defense, but the Pitt coaching is slowly working that talent into the lineup. The focus, at this point, should be on what can be built upon going forward, but the coaching staff also cannot just “give up” on this season either. And Charlie Partridge is making sure that he channels his own experience to help foster growth.

“For me, because I’ve been through dream seasons and I’ve been through nightmare seasons, and the way to flip a season from one to the other or do something special when you had a disappointing performance the previous week — I am here,” Partridge said. “I’m right here, right now, talking to you guys. And that’s the advice you give to these players.

“Guys, this is Tuesday’s practice, this is inside period, this needs to be the best inside period of your career, that creates energy because then the next thing you know, they go to whatever the next period is and make that the best period that they’ve ever had in their career. And it’s all those things added up that give you a chance to have a great performance.”

It’s going to be a tough matchup against No. 14 Notre Dame at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind., but Pitt has already knocked off a 14th-ranked team this season. The emphasis from the coaching staff, at least this week, is to go out and do it again.

There’s certainly no lack of heart when it comes to those efforts.