Colorado head coach Deion Sanders made sure to thank the “head coach of Pittsburgh” in a recent interview.
Why? For developing a couple of his transfer portal pickups.
Colorado picked up a couple of former Pitt Panthers in the offseason, grabbing Samuel Okunlola in December and Dayon Hayes in April, and it would seem that Sanders is pleased with the way they developed during their time in Pittsburgh.
“I want to digress a bit and thank the head coach from Pittsburgh for really preparing those young men for us,” Sanders told the media Friday. “He did a great job. I love those three young men, they’re really great players and they’re gonna be pros and I heard that someone took a shot at one of them verbally. So, Mr. Hayes just wanted me to make sure I add that in for him. But thank you Pittsburgh, I appreciate everything, God bless you.”
It’s not the first — and very, very likely won’t be the last — time that Sanders and Narduzzi have exchanged words through the media.
Narduzzi was asked about Sanders’ transfer portal approach at the ACC spring meetings year, and as he’s known to do, he didn’t mince his words.
“That’s not the way it’s meant to be,” Narduzzi told 247Sports’ Brandon Marcello. “That’s not what the rule intended to be. It was not to overhaul your roster. We’ll see how it works out but that, to me, looks bad on college football coaches across the country. The reflection is on one guy right now but when you look at it overall — those kids that have moms and dads and brothers and sisters and goals in life — I don’t know how many of those 70 that left really wanted to leave or they were kicked in the butt to get out.”
And when Carl Reed of 247Sports brought up Pat Narduzzi in an interview a few months later, Sanders didn’t hold back.
“What was his situation when he came to Pitt?” Sanders said to Reed. “He had a different situation than me. He is not mad at me, he is mad at the situation in football now that allowed his best player to leave a year ago. He’s not mad at me, he’s using me to shoot bullets at another coach who he has an issue with. I don’t know who he is; if he walked in here right now I wouldn’t know him.”
Sanders said he didn’t know Narduzzi, but he certainly does now.
Colorado is coming off a 4-8 (1-8 Pac-12) season, Sanders’ first at the helm. The Buffaloes made the switch to the Big 12 this season, and the conference media voted the Buffs 11th in the preseason poll.
Gotta hand it to Deion. He’ll probably go 4-8 again this year, but at least he got a nice little jab in.
I’ll be shocked if Colorado isn’t better than Pitt this year. I think Pitt wins more than 3 games this year but probably 5 or 6 if we’re honest. Deion gets it in this day and age you have to move with the times yeah they weren’t good last year but he’s rebuilt that brand in just a couple years to basically look down on a once proud Pitt program now a feeder program to Colorado or SEC schools. The guys we lost to them and the SEC were better than the guys we replaced them with. Maybe the four… Read more »
Yeah, Sanders isn’t someone or something I’d emulate in anyway. He’s a complete duesche bag. H2P. How about his own son and his legal and financial difficulties? Nah, I’m rolling with Pat. He produces degreed grown-ups and NFL players.
Well those players Sanders took are NFL players just like the players at South Carolina and A&M. Vegas over under wins for Pitt o/u 5.5 yeah they left because they have a better chance at Colorado to win this year and I’m sure they were offered more money as well. Keep rolling with Flinstone outside of two seasons he’s been a 5 to 7 win coach nearly every year. Mediocre is what he is and will continue to be. We deserve better.
Dont worry.Duzz will get his in sonewhere down the line.You can guarantee that
Sanders is unworthy of any response. Both teams are Liberty Bowl capable. Maybe they’ll meet somewhere in December.
Big jerk
Not a good human being.
Sanders is a POS and Hayes is an ungrateful punk
Every kid on that team is fodder for getting his two kids drafted as high as possible. I would question any parent that approves of their kid going there.
Take this at face value. Both players will be very good and have potential to get to NFL. Sadly this is the state of college FB. This transient nature is a burden for all who are involved including the players and schools. Chasing NIL $$ seems to be the only thing that counts for many athletes. That is not my view of what college sports ought to be IMHO. It costs too much $$$ and resources to manage this type of business.
Very disappointing …..
I hate to be a fatalist but if it doesn’t change then the possibility of competing for a championship is over. The decline in 3* players recruited this year is striking. For the last few years they were getting alot of high 3* with offers from the big boys but this class is filled with low 3* that are wanted by MAC schools. On3 gives avg NIL ratings and we aren’t even close to competitive. The top schools are 10x higher and they are almost all SEC & Big10. We are now a minor league (feeder) program that will lose… Read more »
Pitt stunk before this. You should be used to it
For the history of college football, players were used, abused and thrown out. It took the federal government to rectify the situation. They are employees who make vast sums of money for the schools and coaches. Now they can enjoy the wealth. At school, it’s next man up.
From that perspective the only solution is to get better employees b/c the caliber of employee Pitt puts on the field is woefully inadequate.