Pat Narduzzi didn’t just want to beat Youngstown State, he wanted to make a statement. And he wanted to do it for his late father, Bill Narduzzi.
The elder Narduzzi, who died in 1988 at 51, served as the head coach at YSU for over a decade — from 1975-85. The younger Narduzzi was a ball boy for the Penguins, falling in love with the sport as he watched his dad, his hero, run the football team.
YSU went 68-51-1 during that time, advancing deep into the Division II playoffs twice in the late 80s, and Pat was a linebacker on the team in 1985. But he didn’t want to hold anything back against the Penguins. At all.
“I asked (the team) on Tuesday to go get one for my dad out there,” Narduzzi said Saturday after the game. “Just try to make it personal. They took the challenge and went out there and tattooed them pretty good. My dad would be fired up as he was watching up there.”
Pitt certainly didn’t hold back against YSU, scoring the most points in a win since 2016. A statement win — and a statement outfit.
Narduzzi pulled out the short-sleeve button-shirt and blue tie for the afternoon, a look that his father often pulled off in the 70s and 80s. Why?
“My brother came last week and brought me a bunch of pictures, and I saw him in that shirt and the cutoffs,” Narduzzi said. “So that was one of the reasons, just out of the blue, opened up a box in the basement and found some pictures. That was one of them.”
“I actually liked it, I like the shirt and tie,” Rasheem Biles said Saturday after the game. “It’s what his dad wore.”
Narduzzi wanted his team to make it personal against Youngstown State. And he wanted to do it for his father.
“One of the things we did in the off-season, just to get our team closer — we did a lot of talking as a team, mentor meetings,” Narduzzi said. “I had four guys with me, every coach, every staff member had four. So, we split the team up and kind of talked about who your hero was, what your hardship was in life and highlights in your life.”
Narduzzi has always idolized his father, but as he talked to each group about heroes and hardships, it only further cemented that his hero — and maybe his greatest hardship — is his father. A family man who left behind a wife and six children at the young age of 51. Narduzzi knew what to do against his hero’s old school.
“I just thought like dad would want this thing done the right way,” Pat Narduzzi said.
Geoff Collins is the DC for UNC. Have the Offense take it to them for not shaking Duzz’s hand a few years back while HC at GaTech. Make it personal, again.
Narduzzi:
Vengeance does nt belong on the playing field.
This action iis not ot a good lesson for the Pitt Football team.
Remember, what goes around, comes around. Mighty tough talk for a mid-tier ACC school!
No freedom of speech here. Duzzer can say it’s OK to tattoo a FCS team, but this pitiful site doesn’t allow a fair comment back. Well, you’ll be watching the playoffs from home.