As camp opens, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi says talent level ‘night and day’ from when he took over
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Pitt opened the on-field version of summer training camp Wednesday, giving coach Pat Narduzzi the opportunity — when prodded by reporters — to compare the team he inherited in 2015 to what he has built as the 2023 season begins.
Keep in mind, Pitt was coming off four years of post-Dave Wannstedt instability when Narduzzi arrived two weeks after former coach Paul Chryst left for Wisconsin at the end of the 2014 season. The succession of 6-7, 6-7, 7-6 and 6-7 records from 2011-2014 didn’t make it easy to find players, not for Chryst and certainly not for Narduzzi, who was hired six weeks before signing day. Talent was thin.
During his first news conference of camp Wednesday afternoon, Narduzzi was not shy about making the comparison.
“That’s a great question,” he said. “We could put some tape on. Put 2015 there and 2022 there. You look at it, it just looks slower. It looks smaller. It just looks totally, I mean, totally different. It’s night and day.
“Just the talent level is better than what it was. That’s no disrespect to some of the guys we had playing for us because we had some good players. It just seems like top to bottom, you’re watching guys out there today, and it’s different. I feel better this year just looking at these guys running around. It’s a pretty good football team.
“When you watched practice then and when you watch it now, there’s a little bit of a difference now, I think.”
Pitt has had it share of defeats under Narduzzi. The 5-7 season in 2017 and the abbreviated covid year of 2020 when Pitt finished 6-5 can’t be ignored when assessing the big picture.
But the Panthers’ total of 41 ACC victories since 2015 is second only to Clemson’s 60. Also, Narduzzi’s eight-season victory total of 62 is tops among all Pitt coaches since Jock Sutherland won 111 from 1924 to 1938. No wonder Narduzzi has a contract that will allow him to coach through the 2030 season, when he’ll be only 64.
Those close to Narduzzi and the program believe it’s the culture that has been cultivated over the past eight years.
Assistant head coach/defensive line coach Charlie Partridge, who has been with Narduzzi since 2017, said demanding a high standard on and off he field doesn’t need to be a negative thing.
“The standard is what I let them get away with,” Partridge said. “(Upholding the standard) doesn’t mean you have to be an old-school, gruffy guy. It just means, that’s not the standard. ‘I can’t play you. You’re not ready yet. You’re not living up the standard.’
“I think you can sum up a lot of things that way and doing it in a positive way that the kids enjoy being around. Just tell them the truth.”
Partridge said it starts the same place it does in all programs: at the top.
“I think coach Narduzzi has done a fantastic job of being himself,” Partridge said. “His personality is one of energy and passion. He holds kids accountable to the standards that we have. Anything from, if you’re in a meeting, your hat has to be off. There are simple standards, but we do have standards. It’s not punishment.”
Narduzzi, 57, has learned to adjust to changing times, Partridge said.
“He’s done a great job of holding appropriate standards, holding them to it and morphing and adjusting as times change.”
Culture means everything from being early to meetings to following the detailed pass-rush techniques Partridge teaches his linemen.
“So far, we’ve been able to find guys who fit what we do, that fit our system and enjoy playing in our system,” he said.
The result has been that Partridge normally is comfortable using as many as 10 linemen over the course of a season because they achieve the standard and have enough physicality to make plays and the willingness to adhere to the culture.
That wasn’t always true during those 6-7, 7-6 seasons.
“When it becomes their turn (in subsequent seasons), seldom are they just thrown out on the field,” Partridge said.
Narduzzi said a strong culture is “doing things the right way and staying on it.”
To that end, coaches held meetings with their players Tuesday from early afternoon until nearly 9 p.m.
“That’s no different than we had in 2015, talking about Title IX stuff, hazing, all that stuff,” Narduzzi said. “I can pull out a manual from 2015 that we go through with all our guys, and it’s talked about all the time.”
Narduzzi said it’s just as important for a coach to discuss off-the-field issues as it is to teach football.
“We remind our guys what’s happening, whether it’s a gambling thing happening out at Iowa State, whatever it is, I’m always keeping our guys in the know. It’s just a constant reminder. But having a good culture, you’ve just got to keep it going because it’s day by day.
“That’s our job. That’s what we’re here for. It’s everything.”