Pitt notebook: Tight end becomes a position of interestVideo
Almost from the minute Lucas Krull stepped on the Pitt campus, he felt a connection with quarterback Kenny Pickett. “Our relationship has been building, truthfully, since my visit here,” Pitt’s senior tight end said of his recruiting visit last year when he was transferring from Florida. “He hosted me. I...
20 years later, events of 9/11 have lasting impact for Pittsburgh sports figures
Jason Kendall was relaxing at his home in Pittsburgh’s southwest suburbs when his phone rang about 9 a.m. on a sunny, seasonal, late-summer Tuesday. Seeing it was his brother calling, the then-Pittsburgh Pirates star catcher instinctively knew something was amiss. “You know how you get that phone call early enough,...
Pitt rolls over UMass in openerVideo
The numbers were so outrageous — 597 yards, 35 first downs, seven touchdowns and 51 points — that Pitt’s opening day victory against UMass didn’t ever look like a fair fight. The defensive line overwhelmed and overran the UMass offensive line and quarterback Kenny Pickett propped up the offense with...
Pitt Take 5: Pat Narduzzi says his flavor of the week is not vanilla
With no preseason games to test their training wheels, college football teams march right into the action with a real game that counts. Sometimes, it’s against an obviously weaker opponent. Sometimes, it’s a Power 5 team that generates buzz. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi is 5-1 in season openers, but the...
After long days, short nights, Pat Narduzzi says Pitt prepared for opening day
College and NFL coaches might be the only people who won’t get offended or embarrassed if you ask where they sleep at night. “In the couch, over there,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said Thursday afternoon in a conference room adjacent to his office. But he emphasized he hasn’t done so...
Pitt football receives historic $20 million gift from 1997 graduate Chris BickellVideo
Chris Bickell graduated from Pitt in 1997, and he remembers all too well the 72-0 loss to Ohio State and many, many others during his time on campus. But he was a fan then, and he is a fan now, and he proved it Thursday. The IT businessman made a...
Habakkuk Baldonado fights off homesickness for his native Italy by embracing family at PittVideo
With arms and legs that look like logs and a 6-foot-5, 260-pound frame, Habakkuk Baldonado fits his role as a ferocious hunter of quarterbacks. But Pitt’s junior defensive end is 7,322 kilometers from his native Rome, Italy, and he is only human. Perhaps it’s no surprise that he admits to...
Michigan State names Alan Haller as new athletic director
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State named football alumnus and deputy athletic director Alan Haller as its 20th athletic director on Wednesday. Haller served as deputy athletic director since 2019, having been with the athletic department since 2010. He was a lieutenant for the university police department for 13 years. Haller...
Mark Whipple still fond of UMass, but stays focused on improving Pitt’s offenseVideo
Mark Whipple spent some of the best years of his life at the University of Massachusetts. He twice was hired as the Minutemen’s head coach, spent a total of 11 years there and won a national championship in 1998. He was fired after the 2018 season — after he was...
Pitt notebook: Fans will be able to see Pat Narduzzi’s entire face in Saturday’s opener
Don’t be surprised at Pat Narduzzi’s answer if you ask him to name five things he’s most anticipating in Saturday’s opener against UMass. One of them might have nothing to do with football. For the first time since the Quick Lane Bowl on Dec. 26, 2019, he won’t be required...
Pat Narduzzi pleased with Pitt’s depth as he attacks Season 7Video
Almost seven years after he rocked back and forth while answering reporters’ questions at his introductory news conference, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi stood up straight Monday. With his seventh season only days away, he appeared more confident in his team than he did the day after Christmas 2014, when he...
Pitt’s 21 seniors hope to break program’s cycle of mediocrity
Oldtimers like to say with age comes wisdom, and Tre Tipton has plenty of both. Tipton, a senior wide receiver from Apollo-Ridge, is the second-oldest player on the Pitt football team, 42 days younger than linebacker John Petrishen. Tipton joined the team in 2015. Coach Pat Narduzzi and assistants Andre...
Pitt Take 5: Hall of Famer Jimbo Covert shows Panthers how to build a winning culture
They cleaned up nicely, this Pitt football team. After nearly three weeks of practice, Pitt’s seniors combed their hair, dressed up in their Sunday best — tight end Lucas Krull wore a bowtie — and were honored guests at the Kickoff Luncheon at the Westin Pittsburgh, downtown. For a long...
Pitt’s 4 captains represent offense, defense, special teams
On a Pitt football team with 21 seniors, including 14 who decided to come back for the bonus year granted by the NCAA, the four captains this season will represent all three units — offense, defense and special teams. After a vote by the players, quarterback Kenny Pickett, defensive end...
Athletic director Heather Lyke ‘expects’ to remain at Pitt after she was contacted by Michigan State
Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke said Friday she has been contacted by Michigan State about its opening for the same job, but she said she doesn’t expect to leave. “There has (been contact),” she said before Pitt football’s Kickoff Luncheon at the Westin Pittsburgh. “I’m very happy at Pitt. I’m...
No. 3 Clemson seeks 7th straight ACC title; North Carolina, Miami lurkingVideo
James Skalski has been looking forward to third-ranked Clemson’s opener against No. 5 Georgia on the same field where the Tigers maintain their ACC dominance. “We usually end our regular season in Charlotte,” the Clemson linebacker said. And there’s no reason to expect otherwise in 2021, either. The Tigers are...
Unwanted after high school, Pitt defensive end Chris Maloney awarded scholarship
Gracious thank-yous kept pouring from Chris Maloney’s lips after an emotional team meeting Thursday morning. On the last day of training camp, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi awarded Maloney a scholarship after three seasons as a walk-on defensive end. That ended the need to write tuition checks and triggered a barrage...
Pitt notebook: Pat Narduzzi believes NCAA limit on padded practices won’t hinder Panthers’ physicalityVideo
The look from Pat Narduzzi said it all Wednesday morning. He turned his head and looked askance at the reporter who asked about his team’s physicality. It was as if Narduzzi wanted to say, “How dare you?” “We’re going to be physical, no doubt about it,” he did say, finally....
After his mother’s death, Pitt wide receiver Tre Tipton says, ‘Now, she sees everything’Video
Kim Tipton loved nothing more than watching her son, Tre, play football. She went to all the games, but Kim lived in Vandergrift. Meanwhile, Tre was at Pitt for the past six years, earning a bachelor’s degree in communications, working on a master’s in social work, playing wide receiver going...
Day after scrimmage, Pat Narduzzi surprises Pitt players with trip to KennywoodVideo
Years ago, Bill Cowher liked to tease his Pittsburgh Steelers players, make them think it was just another day at training camp, gather them around him in the morning on the fields of Saint Vincent College and announce everyone was going to the movies. Of course, the buses parked in...
ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 ‘competitors’ bond to form ‘groundbreaking alliance’
The joint news release from the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 said the three power conferences will “remain competitors.” Nonetheless, their three commissioners Tuesday announced what the ACC’s Jim Phillips described as a “groundbreaking alliance” that will allow all 41 schools from the three leagues to work together while dealing...
Pitt basketball’s nonconference schedule include trips to West Virginia, Madison Square Garden
Pitt basketball’s nonconference schedule will keep the Panthers tucked inside Petersen Events Center for seven consecutive games (nine overall), with trips to Morgantown to play West Virginia and Madison Square Garden for a date with St. John’s adding a bit of spice to the preseason. “Our nonconference schedule is really...
ACC volleyball coaches pick Pitt to win conference
The Pitt women’s volleyball team was picked to win the 2021 ACC championship, finishing first for the fourth consecutive year in the conference’s Preseason Coaches Poll, released Friday. When the ACC poll was released in 2013, Pitt was picked 13th, but its reputation grew steadily with ninth-, seventh-, fifth- and...
Pitt Take 5: Pat Narduzzi speaks of War Daddys, running backs and freshmen
The phrase pre-dates Pat Narduzzi’s coaching career by about three decades, but you can bet the Pitt coach knows a War Daddy when he sees one. War Daddy? It doesn’t take much research to discover that the phrase first was used by coach Harold “War Daddy” White at Perkinston Junior...
Pitt linebacker John Petrishen shows signs of growth
More than six years have passed since John Petrishen last roamed the halls of Central Catholic. So what was the deal Thursday with this 25-year-old man apologizing to anyone at the school who might be offended by his appearance? “I wouldn’t be allowed in there today,” Petrishen said. Do you...
