Pat Narduzzi is the top Pitt Target, already interviewed

[Finwad32]

People can disagree with me all they want and that is fine. Some things I say am wrong, and if they are pointed out I will admit it. I don't think everyone having the same opinion is a good thing. I have tried to stay away from posting in things with people I could clash with as its not good for anyone.

However, I don't think my statements are outrageous they may come off strong, but that is how I talk in life. You may disagree fine or I may be wrong, but its not horsestuff.

I respect your opinions, and I respect you as a poster. I really do. I think you add to this board significantly. Not that my opinion matters in that respect, because, really who gives a crap what I think.

That being said, what I think is horse stuff is the blind allegiance to the star system. I've seen so many references to our recruiting efforts and their correlation to the stars, and the rankings assigned to our roster, that's what I get tired of. And, maybe I shouldn't have gone about addressing it the way that I did, didn't mean to offend you, was more trying to make light of the situation.

Some of the analysts are people that wouldn't know a football if Uncle Rico pegged them in the danglers with it.

Furthermore, there are significant politics in play with any of the ranking services. Whether said player attended their showcase, how many subscribers they have, relationships of coaches to analysts, on and on and on. I think guys like Mike do great work, and try their best to be objective, but Mike's not assigning rankings.

 

[TheCusian]

eam Stat Comparison VILLSYR 1st Downs2521 3rd down efficiency 12-205-14 4th down efficiency 1-11-1 Total Yards389320 Passing199184 Comp-Att 16-2722-35 Yards per pass 7.45.3 Rushing190136 Rushing Attempts 6034 Yards per rush 3.24.0 Penalties11-937-55 Turnovers00 Fumbles lost 00 Interceptions thrown 00 Possession37:4822:24

That's not torched. Those are numbers inflated by overtime. Their offense was better than ours by a bit. It felt worse than it was because we all expected to cruise by 45.

 

[Alsacs]

That's not torched. Those are numbers inflated by overtime. Their offense was better than ours by a bit. It felt worse than it was because we all expected to cruise by 45.

They converted over 60% of their 3rd down/4th down attempts and they missed 2 FGs to so subtract 50 yards from OT.

Nova offense torched our defense. Also, honestly do yard per game measure defense fairly or is it better to go by ppg to measure defenses.

 

[Alsacs]

That's not torched. Those are numbers inflated by overtime. Their offense was better than ours by a bit. It felt worse than it was because we all expected to cruise by 45.

Our defense by scoring average was t.42nd in the nation. That is good I would admit, but not great.
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/28
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/28
That 42nd in the nation would put us t.8th in the ACC not exactly outstanding in comparison to the rest of conference. Compared to our offense it is elite.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Nate Mink ‏@MinkNate 45m45 minutes ago
Scott Shafer w/ deep ties to Pat Narduzzi. His D staff met with MSU in East Lansing last spring. Now, the two are crossover rivals in ACC.

 

[sutomcat]

Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi reportedly Pitt's top target, per Richie Walsh http://www.cardiachill.com/2014/12/...ate-interview-pittsburgh-panthers-paul-chryst

I am going to try and get this thread back on track.

Narduzzi looks like a solid choice, but the early word from Pitt was that they were going to 'go big' on this hire and bring in someone with head coaching experience at the BCS level. Pat is well respected but has never been a head coach and has been passed over repeatedly for HC jobs during his career.

I am pretty surprised they failed to land the big name hire they were going after.

From my perspective, it is another conservative, old school hire, a defensive oriented coach who is not likely to bring innovation or excitement to the Pitt offense. It is a lot easier to find qualified candidates with a defensive background, especially when looking at candidates with an Eastern background. Pitt had a chance to do something that could have really broken up the status quo in Eastern football. Looks like they passed on it...

 

[RF2044]

I am never afraid to admit I am wrong. I am still from Missouri as it pertains to SS as a HC hopefully he can "Show Me" and I will gladly admit I am wrong.

My opinion is my opinion it is not to be taken as a fact unless I provide a link about a point.

My point all season was that the problems were multi-dimensional. Our offensive coaching stunk, the play calling stunk, the injuries bit us hard, and yes--our talent was subpar compared to peer programs.

Lots of posters would point to one reason as the overarching cause of the offensive difficulty--i.e., it's the play calling, not the talent.

Unfortunately, it was all of the above...

Our HC, much as I like him, has a LOT of proving to do in 2015. If he can't straighten out the offensive lack of production, IMO he's toast.

 

[javadoc]

I am going to try and get this thread back on track.

Narduzzi looks like a solid choice, but the early word from Pitt was that they were going to 'go big' on this hire and bring in someone with head coaching experience at the BCS level. Pat is well respected but has never been a head coach and has been passed over repeatedly for HC jobs during his career.

I am pretty surprised they failed to land the big name hire they were going after.

From my perspective, it is another conservative, old school hire, a defensive oriented coach who is not likely to bring innovation or excitement to the Pitt offense. It is a lot easier to find qualified candidates with a defensive background, especially when looking at candidates with an Eastern background. Pitt had a chance to do something that could have really broken up the status quo in Eastern football. Looks like they passed on it...

Do we have any idea who else they courted? Were they trying to pry away a current P5 coach?

 

[TheCusian]

They converted over 60% of their 3rd down/4th down attempts and they missed 2 FGs to so subtract 50 yards from OT. Nova offense torched our defense. Also, honestly do yard per game measure defense fairly or is it better to go by ppg to measure defenses.

They outplayed us and we deserved to lose, but didn't. Our defense and offense did enough to win. Take away the yardage in the overtime and it's not "torched" - but whatever.

PPG and YPG should both be factored in as well as TO, and red zone defense.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Do we have any idea who else they courted? Were they trying to pry away a current P5 coach?

FootballScoop Staff @FootballScoop · 2h 2 hours ago
Interestingly SI repots that Doc Holliday and Luke Fickell were contenders. http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/12/22/pat-narduzzi-pittsburgh-panthers-head-coach-michigan-state… We heard other names investigated too

 

[oldpinepoint]

Some of the analysts are people that wouldn't know a football if Uncle Rico pegged them in the danglers with it.

 

[Millhouse]

Makes more sense for a northeast team that plays outside.

But I'd bet it ends up like all the other Pitt coaches. 6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6, Birmingham, Birmingham, Birmingham.

They should move home games there now that UAB is dead.

and if you are stuck as a second class citizen in an empty nfl stadium, playing up pro style this and that might be neccessary

i'm relieved they didn't stumble into someone great

 

[Bayside44]

Villanova O vs Syracuse D
First downs: 25
Total yards 389
Third Down Conversions 12 for 20
Fourth Down 1 for 1
Time Possession 37:48


Nova offense dominated our defense.

They scored 10 points in 60 minutes.

 

[anomander]

I respect your opinions, and I respect you as a poster. I really do. I think you add to this board significantly. Not that my opinion matters in that respect, because, really who gives a crap what I think.

That being said, what I think is horse stuff is the blind allegiance to the star system. I've seen so many references to our recruiting efforts and their correlation to the stars, and the rankings assigned to our roster, that's what I get tired of. And, maybe I shouldn't have gone about addressing it the way that I did, didn't mean to offend you, was more trying to make light of the situation.

Some of the analysts are people that wouldn't know a football if Uncle Rico pegged them in the danglers with it.

Furthermore, there are significant politics in play with any of the ranking services. Whether said player attended their showcase, how many subscribers they have, relationships of coaches to analysts, on and on and on. I think guys like Mike do great work, and try their best to be objective, but Mike's not assigning rankings.

I don't really want to get into a debate or anything about this, and let me say I really respect your opinion and the insight you bring to the board, but I don't totally agree on this. I know there are mistakes, but for the most part I think the 4 and 5 stars are pretty accurate. 3 star and below is a total crapshoot just because there are so many. The reason I think they are pretty accurate is that most of the teams that get the 4 and 5 stars tend to be the top programs in the country, while teams like Syracuse who get mostly 3 and 2 stars are fighting to get to 6 wins every season. It seems like you are saying our recruiting has been better then the rankings? Then my question is why did we have 3 wins this season, and had to fight like hell to get to 6 last year? Sure their are outliers, but it's pretty accurate all the way down the line if you really look at them. I know i'd rather have a class ranked 25, then 50.

 

[chakka3421]

I don't really want to get into a debate or anything about this, and let me say I really respect your opinion and the insight you bring to the board, but I don't totally agree on this. I know there are mistakes, but for the most part I think the 4 and 5 stars are pretty accurate. 3 star and below is a total crapshoot just because there are so many. The reason I think they are pretty accurate is that most of the teams that get the 4 and 5 stars tend to be the top programs in the country, while teams like Syracuse who get mostly 3 and 2 stars are fighting to get to 6 wins every season. It seems like you are saying our recruiting has been better then the rankings? Then my question is why did we have 3 wins this season, and had to fight like hell to get to 6 last year? Sure their are outliers, but it's pretty accurate all the way down the line if you really look at them. I know i'd rather have a class ranked 25, then 50.

Well I've been encouraged by our trends starting with the last 4 classes as we have gone from 2/3 star crap shoots (like Thomas, Hickey, Bromley, Nassib who became solid anchor players for us) to 3 star solid classes - and like last year I expect a few of our 3 stars will be upgraded to 4 star in this year's class (cross fingers).

I think it has more to do with odds meaning the more 4 & 5 stars you get, the more a teams odds are at turning out great winning teams every year. With 2 & 3 star classes the odds are against you.

However, a great QB can uplift a good team into a great team. Example to me this year is FSU. Without J Winston, FSU would not be in the playoffs as he has almost single handily won games for FSU this year.

We need to hit it big with a 3 star ranked QB who turns out to really be a hidden gem (like Nassib but even better with a solid OL & weapons to throw to) that really should have been ranked as a 4-5 star player to take us to the next level.

 

[Alsacs]

They scored 10 points in 60 minutes.

Villanova moved the ball on us with ease. We were lucky our defense stopped them in the redzone twice where they missed chip shot FGs in a Dome. Our defense only gave up 10 points and our special teams gave up 7. If we would have lost 20-17 like we should I doubt you make your comment. We were ridiculously lucky we won the Villanova game.

 

[TheCusian]

Villanova moved the ball on us with ease. We were lucky our defense stopped them in the redzone twice where they missed chip shot FGs in a Dome. Our defense only gave up 10 points and our special teams gave up 7. If we would have lost 20-17 like we should I doubt you make your comment. We were ridiculously lucky we won the Villanova game.

We were lucky, but your contention was that we got torched. Red zone stops aren't luck - that's a win for the D. Even more so when they come away with no points.

 

[anomander]

We were lucky, but your contention was that we got torched. Red zone stops aren't luck - that's a win for the D. Even more so when they come away with no points.

I could be wrong my man, but I believe it was you in the other thread trying to justify our OL by saying how we gained 600 yards vs Maryland. I like that you are always all pro Cuse (we do need more of that in our fanbase), but you can't have it both ways .

 

[TheCusian]

I could be wrong my man, but I believe it was you in the other thread trying to justify our OL by saying how we gained 600 yards vs Maryland. I like that you are always all pro Cuse (we do need more of that in our fanbase), but you can't have it both ways .

I'd take 600 yards and our red zone woes vs what Nova did to us all day. Our offense did everything but score. They had half the yards we did and were relatively toothless in the red zone too.

Not seeing the correlation.

 

[anomander]

I'd take 600 yards and our red zone woes vs what Nova did to us all day. Our offense did everything but score. They had half the yards we did and were relatively toothless in the red zone too.

Not seeing the correlation.

Really? I don't know take away our 90 yard garbage time drive with 3 minutes to go and we totaled 500 yards with all sorts of red zone woes vs Maryland. In a close game where every yard matter vs Nova they gained 400 yards on us (we only managed 320 yards with a fully healthy team ugh). I think the outputs are pretty similar.

 

[Bayside44]

Villanova moved the ball on us with ease. We were lucky our defense stopped them in the redzone twice where they missed chip shot FGs in a Dome. Our defense only gave up 10 points and our special teams gave up 7. If we would have lost 20-17 like we should I doubt you make your comment. We were ridiculously lucky we won the Villanova game.

I made my comment because they scored 10 points, end of the day it's about points and they didn't put any on the board in regulation. They ate a ton of clock to their credit and we were monumentally dumb.

 

[TheCusian]

Really? I don't know take away our 90 yard garbage time drive with 3 minutes to go and we totaled 500 yards with all sorts of red zone woes vs Maryland. In a close game where every yard matter vs Nova they gained 400 yards on us (we only managed 320 yards with a fully healthy team ugh). I think the outputs are pretty similar.

60+ of that output was in overtime. So if you lop of a drive for us in the 4th Q and give Nova 2 extra drives in the OT - they are within a 100yds?!

 

[CuseLegacy]

Pitt: The school has called a press conference for 3:30 p.m. Friday to introduce Pat Narduzzi as head coach.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Hello rock fight, my old friend.

 

[djorange1989]

Narduzzi is following Daoust on Twitter. Just sayin