Pitt fans are out of control over their football coach.
Despite their team winning the ACC championship last year and winning the Coastal Division before that in 2018, Pitt alumni and fans are slightly berserk over the Panthers’ 4-4 start to this season.
First of all, a team not named Clemson never wins its ACC division almost every year. The Coastal is a different animal with each of the seven schools winning it over a recent seven-year span. But Pitt fans think they are still in the days of Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett, who starred for their team as an independent.
Social media went crazy over the Panthers’ 42-24 loss to the Tar Heels after holding the lead for 42 minutes of the game. Are their fans aware that Pitt has never won in Kenan Stadium, even when Heisman Trophy winner Dorsett played for the blue and gold?
Head coach Pat Narduzzi has turned a moribund program around over his first seven seasons, currently holding a 57-41 record. The Narduzzi doozies have lumped him in with basketball coach Jeff Capel, the ex-Dukie who probably deserved to get fired after going 51-69 in four years. But Capel’s agent negotiated a hefty buy-out, so the school kept him on.
In fact, Narduzzi seems like the perfect coach for Pitt, a one-time hardscrabble town with citizens of that ilk. He is a tough disciplinarian who likes to run the ball first but came up with a clever game plan against the Tar Heels, who were caught off guard by the Panthers’ pass-first attack.
Kedon Slovis is no Kenny Pickett, who stayed five years and turned into a first-round draft pick and now is the Steelers’ starter learning his way around the NFL. Ask UNC how easy it is to replace a first rounder like Mitch Trubisky, who was good enough as a college quarterback to be the second overall pick, after which Carolina won five games over the next two seasons.
Are Pitt fans reacting to the Steelers’ decline since Big Ben retired, or the Pirates dismal status compared to the cross-state rival Phillies now in the World Series, or maybe even the NHL Penguins without a recent Stanley Cup run?
Maintaining a winning and relevant college program in a pro city is harder than you think. BC fails miserably. Miami draws small crowds. Same for Maryland outside of Washington. USC and UCLA have found it harder in LA.
But fire the defending ACC champion coach? That’s ridiculous.
Featured image via USA Today Sports/Jim Dedmon
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You and Narduzzi are probably buddies.I get it Genius !! Your Buddie is a freaking Loser !,Narduzzi is the dumbest coach in the NCAA and has to go A-hole !!