Narduzzi Seeing Confidence Grow At Pitt
Pat Narduzzi arrived at Pitt in 2015 with a lot of hype as he was extremely successful at Michigan State as the defensive coordinator.
Things haven’t quite taken off for Narduzzi and Pitt as he is 21-17 in his first three seasons. The Panthers took a step back last fall as they finished 5-7, but Pitt did knock off Miami 24-14 in the regular season finale.
As Narduzzi heads into the 2018 season, he believes a sense of confidence is growing within his team, and it started with the win against Miami.
“ I would say our football team right now is confident,” stated Narduzzi at the ACC Kickoff. “They're passionate about what they're doing, and they're working hard. This is a long process.
“Since the Miami game, there's been a process that we've gone through to get to where we are today and where we'll be when they report to camp on August 2nd. These guys work their tails off. There is no break academically, athletically, they're in summer school, getting A's and B's. They're in the weight room every morning, five days a week”
Narduzzi will head into year four with a confident group, but he’s also confident in his ability to know the other programs in the ACC.
“The one thing you do learn every year is who you're playing, you learn about the ACC conference, the talent in this conference, the coaches in this conference, whether it's an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, special teams,” explained Narduzzi. “You find out what they like.
“Two years ago, it seemed like the whole division was brand new and you didn't know what you were going to get out of Justin Fuente or Bronco Mendenhall. There's some consistency. There's not been a lot of coaching changes, which is nice. It's nice when you can have a two or three game summer scouting report on someone. You start to learn a little bit more about your opponents. Those are the biggest things I think you learn as a football coach this time of year.”
While at Michigan State, Narduzzi led one of the nation’s top defenses. From 2011-2014, Michigan State was the only team to be ranked in the Top 10 in total defense and rushing defense.
That success hasn’t quite hit Pitt just yet, but he’s hopeful it’s on the horizon.
“You can't give up the big play,” said Narduzzi. “When you look at a defense, you want to be stingy. You'd like to stop the run and stop the pass and stop it all. Realistically in the offenses, we're facing today, it's not happening a bunch. But I think as you recruit to the talent you need on your football team that you eventually will get better.
“We made some major strides, I think, last year. I think we probably got as far as we could do with our coordinator there at the time. Josh Conklin did a heck of a job when he was there, and he took a head job. And I really think we upgraded in the hire of Randy Bates, I really do. And that's no disrespect to Josh. It's just a different guy that brings some different ideas and a different way of doing things with a ton of energy. So I'm excited about where we are as a coordinator, I'm excited about the players we have.”
Narduzzi knew he was thin at positions on defense entering 2017, but there is a new confidence in the depth his team has developed over the last year.
“A year ago last June, I walked out on the field, we get about 30 minutes a day to work with them,” Narduzzi said. “I should say 30 minutes every other day, two days a week we worked with them. I looked at the linebacking corps, and Seun Idowu was one of them, and I'm going, ‘God, that's all we've got.’ Almost a little scary.
“But now I walk out there this June, I'm going, 'Whoa, there's a lot of guys there that can play for us,' which they couldn't play for us a year ago. So it's another year of development. We can't draft them, you know. It's a little easier, I think, in the NFL. It's not easier to win, but it's easier when you can say I want that guy, I want to pick that guy. I don't care if it's the first pick in the draft or the 24th pick, but you're recruiting him, and you've got to develop him into young men, and they give it everything they've got, and that's the fun of coaching.”
Pitt will head to Notre Dame on October 13th, and it will be interesting to see if that confidence is still there for Narduzzi’s team after games against Penn State and at Central Florida.
It’s a tough schedule, but Narduzzi believes his team is up for it.
“I listen to our kids talk today in different settings around the Westin today and just listening to how they are regurgitating the information we're throwing,” said Narduzzi. “They are buying in and believing what we're talking about, and that's how you win football games.
“We've got 18 seniors this year. We had a very, very small senior class last year. I think we've got great leadership from the top down. We're developing our young leaders, as well, from our seniors down to our freshmen, and that's the encouraging thing about it.”