Tiquan Underwood will continue to serve as the Pitt Panthers wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator despite external interest.
Underwood was offered a spot on the Syracuse coaching staff and turned it down, opting to remain in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Sports Now confirmed. FootballScoop first reported.
A source close to the situation told PSN that it was an intriguing offer considering Underwood’s relationship with new Syracuse head coach Fran Brown, a relationship that dates back beyond their time together at Rutgers in 2020-21, but that bond wasn’t enough to lure him from the Panthers.
Opting to remain in Pittsburgh will put to bed the rumors that swirled around Underwood since Brown was hired as the new head coach at Syracuse.
Underwood was hired as the new wide receivers coach in February of last year, and he’s served as a key recruiter on the staff and helped the wide receiving corps flourish over the second half of the 2023 season.
Jared Wayne blossomed into a 1,000-yard wide receiver in 2022, and after a slow start from Bub Means last season, he emerged as one of the better wide receivers in the ACC down the stretch — opting to test his luck in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Underwood has a receiving corps that features Konata Mumpfield, DaeDae Reynolds and Kenny Johnson set to return in 2024, and a group of young wideouts in Che Nwabuko, Izzy Polk, Lamar Seymore and Zion Fowler-El waiting in the wings.
The 2024 recruiting class features just one wide receiver, three-star Cameron Monteiro from Brockton, Mass., but Underwood landed four strong recruits in the class of 2023 and has been attacking the transfer portal hard already this offseason.
Underwood provides a stable presence on the staff as Pat Narduzzi searches for a new offensive coordinator, nearly two weeks since former OC Frank Cignetti Jr. was dismissed, and there will likely be additional changes.
With the fluidity of college football now, not much is ever set in stone these days, but Underwood remains a Panther.
