Mark Madden: We will see if Pat Narduzzi is as smart as he thinks he is

In 2021, Pat Narduzzi had his best season since taking over as Pitt football coach in 2015: His Panthers went 11-3, won the ACC and went to a New Year’s Six bowl.

The offense was the driving force of the two platoons, averaging 41.4 points (third best in the nation) and 486.6 yards (eighth best). It was overseen by coordinator Mark Whipple, who departed for Nebraska after the season.

The defense was only decent: It allowed averages of 23.6 points and 353.6 yards. That ranked 39th and 42nd, respectively. Randy Bates was defensive coordinator, but Narduzzi, who once had that job at Michigan State, definitely left his imprint.

So why on earth did Narduzzi excoriate Whipple and receivers coach Brennan Marion on a recent podcast? (Marion also left Pitt’s staff, going to Texas.)

Narduzzi had a great season, but that certainly didn’t force-feed him any class.

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The most laughable and bizarre part of Narduzzi’s criticism was when he said Whipple put quarterback Kenny Pickett at undue risk by throwing “85% of the time.”

Pitt ran 1,069 plays in 2022. Pitt passed 544 times, ran 525 times. So Pitt threw 50.8% of time, not 85%.

Is Narduzzi so arrogant that he thought nobody would do the math?

Of course, he is.

Narduzzi’s conceit is born of overestimating the importance of college sports in a pro sports town. Narduzzi pretends he’s Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa. He’s not.

The Pitt football coach isn’t a reverential figure in Pittsburgh — never has been, and never will be no matter how well Pitt does. If the locals could vote on trading Pitt’s ACC championship for the Steelers getting even one lousy playoff win for a change, they would decide to do so and it would be a landslide.

Pickett was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. He’s gone. Jordan Addison won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver. He’s gone, too. Whipple and Marion are gone. Pitt scored 41 and 34 points in its two-regular season losses. When the Panthers stumbled, it wasn’t because the offense sputtered.

So we’re going to see if Narduzzi is as smart as he thinks he is.

Two years ago, Narduzzi similarly ripped Matt Canada, who served as Pitt’s offensive coordinator in 2016. Canada’s offense ranked 10th in scoring average. In 2015, Pitt’s offense ranked 68th. In 2017, it ranked 101st.

But, said Narduzzi, “he wasn’t even that good.” He then went on to mock Canada’s employment history.

Narduzzi never mentioned Canada by name. He never mentioned Whipple’s name, either. Narduzzi doesn’t exactly ooze fortitude.

Whipple and Canada made Narduzzi a lot more than he made them. The numbers and results back Whipple and Canada.

Pitt has replaced Whipple and Marion with Frank Cignetti Jr. and Tiquan Underwood, two coaches of solid reputation.

“We’ve got better people coaching at those positions on offense, I guarantee you that,” Narduzzi said.

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That’s another broadside at Whipple and Marion. Why couldn’t Narduzzi just say that Cignetti Jr. and Underwood are good coaches? Why belittle key components of a team that just had the best season of your tenure at Pitt?

Narduzzi comes off as insecure, small and petty. But only because he is.

Narduzzi also said that if Pickett had opted to play, Pitt would have beat Michigan State by 21 in the Peach Bowl. He added that if backup Nick Patti hadn’t gotten hurt, Pitt would have won by at least 14.

“If that was one of the best Big Ten teams last year, then let’s go to the Big Ten and win it every year,” Narduzzi added. “OK, so I don’t want to hear about this Big Ten dominance or SEC dominance.”

It’s easy to brag about winning the Big Ten every year when your school will never be asked to join. But the idea of Pitt ever being good enough to win the Big Ten is silly.

By the way, Narduzzi’s Pitt record against non-ACC Power Five schools is 2-12.

Narduzzi should be credited for getting Pitt’s football program to its absolute ceiling. Make no mistake, last season was Pitt’s absolute ceiling.

But was that a one-off or the start of a trend? How will NIL and the ability to transfer without sitting out a year affect Pitt in the long run? Was Addison leaving for Southern Cal a one-off or the start of a trend? Will Pitt become a de facto feeder program for bigger programs?