Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 34

On a night when Christian Veilleux’s completion percentage was worse than his benched predecessor’s, two pretty touchdown passes trumped everything else. Veilleux made his first collegiate start Saturday night, leading Pitt (2-4, 1-2 ACC) to a 38-21 victory against previously undefeated Louisville (6-1, 3-1), which fell from its No. 14...

At one point Saturday night during Pitt’s 38-21 victory against Louisville, Pitt greats Kenny Pickett and Tony Dorsett were pictured on the scoreboard seated side-by-side in the upper reaches of Acrisure Stadium. Earlier in the game, Pitt (2-4, 1-2 ACC) honored another of its own, Pro Football Hall of Fame...

Jeff Capel believes there are players on his team who can score. Freshman guards Bub Carrington and Jaland Lowe and transfer Ismael Leggett are among that group. And, of course, 2022-2023 ACC second-team selection Blake Hinson, who has a newly slimmed-down body and his signature pumped-up confidence, still is making...

By the time a college football team starts 1-4, its goals of winning a championship and earning a bowl bid are all but gone. There aren’t enough games in a season to attain a complete reversal of fortune. Pitt football doesn’t have the same luxury as its basketball colleagues, who...

Over the years, whenever Ernie Borghetti runs across someone bragging about his football team, he always has the same answer. Sixty years later, it still makes him laugh out loud. “Match us in the classroom,” he says. “Not on the field.” Academics or athletics, it didn’t matter. Pitt’s 1963 team...

There is no mystery to what forward Blake Hinson can bring to Pitt’s basketball team. He led the team in scoring, rebounding and successful 3-point shots last season. He also is shouldering a leadership role now. Expectations are high, as they should be. Big men Federiko Federiko and the Diaz...

If you’re wondering how Pitt’s quarterbacks prepare for a game, let new starter Christian Veilleux take you behind the curtain. First of all (and of least importance as it relates to Pitt’s game Saturday against undefeated No. 14 Louisville), the Canadian-born Veilleux prefers the pronunciation of his name to be...

Randy Bates doesn’t hide from reality. He understands the problems confronting the Pitt defense that he coordinates, and he doesn’t make excuses for a 1-4 record, a sudden inability to stop the other team’s ground attack or allowing 72 points (minus one punt return) in the past two games. It...

The list of transfer quarterbacks Pitt has lured on campus is a long one, just as long as Pat Narduzzi’s nine-year tenure as head coach. Yet only two of the nine — Nathan Peterman and Kedon Slovis — made significant, positive contributions as starters. And Slovis quickly transferred out last...

Keith Dambrot laughs when he recalls his journey as a coach, starting in 1981 as a 23-year-old assistant at Akron (his alma mater) before he accepted his first job as a head coach at the age of 25 at Tiffin. And, now, with his 65th birthday looming, he is entering...

Kenny Pickett took his last snap as a Pitt quarterback Dec. 4, 2021. Quarterbacks — good ones, the kind you win with — are difficult to find, and developing them to a coach’s satisfaction is a complicated process. Pickett arrived in 2017, and he didn’t become a star until 2021....

Befitting a man who respects his teammates, Pitt’s Zack Austin didn’t want to name his victim. But when he was asked recently to recount some of his craziest shows of athleticism around the basket, he was quick with the recollections. “Practice-wise, when I was at High Point (N.C.), I got...

At the dawn of the 21st century, the blame for Pitt’s 1-5 start in 2001 was pinned on an inability to immediately adapt to a new offensive scheme. Four years after that, in 2005, Pitt had parted company with Walt Harris, a coach who led the program out of the...

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi wasn’t kidding when he said there were “a lot of things that need changing” with his team. Quarterback Phil Jurkovec was benched and moved to tight end in practice this week, leaving Christian Veilleux in line to start the next game Oct. 14 against Louisville, ESPN...

There are a few historical trends that may foretell how the remainder of Pitt’s season evolves. Critics and doomsday fans might prefer the word “unravels,” but let’s allow the remaining seven games to play out before slapping on labels. In coach Pat Narduzzi’s eight previous seasons, he has compiled an...

Joe Lunardi proudly puffed out his chest and, suddenly, he felt like the tallest man inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, which was populated at the time by several tall Duquesne basketball players. What was the trigger? Bracketology has been accepted into the Merriam-Webster dictionary. JOEY BRACKETS is IN THE DICTIONARY! @ESPNLunardi...

William Jeffress won’t lie about how difficult it was watching his Pitt teammates reach the NCAA Tournament last season. “It was tough to not be on the court,” he said. Foot surgery forced him to sit out the entire season and robbed him of the chance to be part of...

If you have wondered what Joe Lunardi is thinking when he assembles his NCAA Tournament bracketology for ESPN, Duquesne is giving you the chance to hear his insights. Duquesne will serve as the host for a Basketball Tip-Off Event from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse....

Pat Narduzzi called what Virginia Tech’s offense did to his team a “slow bleed.” He was describing how the Hokies controlled the pace of the game with an effective ground game, hitting only the occasional big play, while maintaining possession of the football for nearly 38 minutes. You know, domination....

In the aftermath of Pitt’s embarrassing 38-21 loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday night in Blacksburg, Va., Pat Narduzzi pointed the finger of blame everywhere. Just not at Phil Jurkovec. Pitt’s sixth-year senior quarterback completed only five passes in the game’s first 54 minutes, lost another fumble that led to...

Phil Jurkovec will start Saturday night in Pitt’s game at Virginia Tech, multiple sources confirmed to the Tribune-Review. The news was first reported by ESPN.com. Pitt (1-3, 0-1 ACC) is trying to end its first three-game losing streak since 2020. When he met with reporters Thursday, coach Pat Narduzzi declined...

Times change, athletes’ physicality changes and, as a result in college football this season, rules change and the game changes. In an attempt to shorten games and reduce the number of plays — and, by extension, reduce the number of collisions and injuries — the NCAA instituted a rule change...

You are probably under the impression that two schools named Pitt and Virginia Tech will play a football game Saturday night in Blacksburg, Va. You’re not wrong, but if one of the founding fathers of those schools heard those names, they might ask, “Sir, of what do you speak?” The...

Pat Narduzzi said revealing who will start at quarterback when there’s some question about it hands the opposing coach no specific advantage. “I don’t think it really matters,” he said, noting that each of Pitt’s top three quarterbacks is capable of running the offense. Nonetheless, when he was asked Thursday...

Peter Paul Neft, one of three Pitt quarterbacks who shared the backfield with Bobby Grier when he became the first Black player to play in the Sugar Bowl, died Tuesday. Neft, a native of Sharon, was 89. Neft helped make history Jan. 2, 1956, when he joined Grier and their...