Pitt will have to replace perhaps the most valuable member of its coaching staff.
Charlie Partridge, who has served as the Pitt associate head coach and defensive line coach since 2017, has left Pittsburgh for an opportunity to coach in the NFL, Pat Narduzzi announced. Partridge will be taking a position with the Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Sports Now confirms. Panther-Lair first reported.
It’s a major blow for Pitt on and off the field, considering Partridge’s impact as an ace recruiter, developer of defensive line talent and respect around the football landscape — college and professional.
“As a coach and mentor, Charlie Partridge has been vital to our program’s rise over the past seven years,” Narduzzi said in the press release. “When I hired him back in 2017, I had high aspirations for the type of impact he would make for us. True to form, Charlie surpassed even those expectations. His influence on our players, on and off the field, is well known. Speaking personally, Charlie has been a tremendous confidant, advisor and friend, and I’ll always be grateful for that. The National Football League is getting a great coach and an even greater man. On behalf of our entire program, I wish him and his family only the very best.”
Partridge has turned down interest from Alabama and Miami in recent seasons, but with the instability in college football and a chance to go to the next level, Partridge finally decided to pull the trigger.
It makes sense why the Colts would be interested in Partridge. Aside from his work developing star defensive linemen at every stop in his collegiate journey, his football wisdom and ability to connect with his athletes is nearly next to none.
It’s well known that Pitt led college football in disruptive plays under Partridge’s tutelage, with 196 sacks (26 more than second-place Alabama) from 2019 through 2022, and it all starts up front. Pitt recorded 51 sacks (second place), 46 sacks (first place), 54 sacks (third place) and 48 sacks (first place) over the last four seasons, and through all of the turnover, it was a leading unit nationally.
It wasn’t as successful a season for the defensive line in 2023, recording just 31 sacks, but with a young core of talented defensive tackles and ends, there’s an expectation that the unit will rebound in 2024. That return to dominance will have to go without Partridge though.
Partridge previously spent time at Pitt, in the early to mid-2000s, before he went on to success at Wisconsin, rising to associate head coach/defensive coordinator and followed Bret Bielema to Arkansas for one season in 2013. Following a three-year stint as the head coach of Florida Atlantic, Partridge returned to Pitt in 2017.
In his time at Pitt, he helped the likes of Rashad Weaver, Patrick Jones, Jaylen Twyman and Calijah Kancey reach All-American success in Pittsburgh.
And in addition to Partridge’s status as one of the very best defensive line coaches in college football and one of the key recruiters on Pitt’s staff, he’s made lasting impacts on the lives of countless young men he’s coached over the years.
Narduzzi will now have the crucial task of finding a defensive line coach to replace Partridge.
Good luck to coach… Pat certainly got his money worth out of him
Oh man this one hurts. Here comes the DL exodus
Damn, that’s a bummer.
Wow – This is terrible news. Hope they get someone really good!
H2P!!!
Charlie chose the slightly better option of dealing with already wealthy and entitled NFL players instead of attempting to coddle and placate kids that are wealthy and entitled wannabes. 😂