Pat Narduzzi

The Pitt Football RR’s (Relentless Recruiters) Are All Over the Country

One issue that arose with Pitt fans the past three years was the extent of the recruiting.

We know of innumerable recruiting twitters from the current Pitt coaches, generally Rob Harley, Tim Salem, Andre Powell, Tom Sims, and Renaldo Hill, from Texas, California, New York, and several other states, within a very short time frame.

So, here is the state-by-state breakdown of still uncommitted recruits that have received 2016 offers from Pitt, based on ESPN recruit listings:

There are two five-star players listed, one from New Jersey and one from Louisiana.

There are 31 four-star players still listed:

Pennsylvania-5          New Jersey-4          Maryland-2           Virginia-1

North Carolina-1         Tennessee-1            Georgia-1              Florida-7

District of Columbia-1  Ohio-1                     Indiana-2               Michigan-2

Texas-1                        California-1             Utah-1  (Yes-Utah!)

There are 22 three-star rated players still listed:

Pennsylvania-4           New Jersey-3          Maryland-3          Virginia-2

Tennessee-1                Florida-4                  Connecticut-1      Ohio-1

New York-1                  Illinois-1                   California-1

There are 41 yet non-committed players that are not yet rated on the ESPN list:

Pennsylvania-6            New Jersey-3           Maryland-2        Virginia-5

Florida-7                      Connecticut-2           Ohio-5                Texas-1

North Carolina-2           Illinois-2                    Georgia-2          Michigan-2

Massachusetts-1          District of Columbia-1

This list is, of course, subject to change as the Relentless Recruiters add more offers.

Here is the point to the statistics above:

In the past, there were questions about recruiting being spread to other states.

That obviously is happening.

With the diverse group of assistant coaches that Coach Pat Narduzzi has assembled, all together their experience covers a wide range of states, including ACC states, which shows up in the offers.

In the past, there were questions about recruiting more players from Florida.

That obviously is happening, and likely with some networking through Coaches Josh Conklin and Rob Harley, who were at Florida International last season.

There is also still a presence in Pennsylvania.

These new coaches are being asked to put together a sustainable recruiting program at warp speed, which they are doing, and so they are being referred to here as the Relentless Recruiters.

Pitt Expectations

The ideal purpose of recruiting, of course, is to match a recruit’s ideas about and vision for himself with a school and coaching staff that can help him get a solid academic background, graduate, and mature, as well as to become the best football player possible.

That is also a way to minimize transfers through solid matches of player, coach, and school.

Reportedly, Michigan State has relied on developing 3-star players, on players that want to play in their system. Recently recruited, current Pitt players seem to fit that same mold. There has been discussion among Pitt fans the last three years about the meaning of player ratings. With Pitt’s record the last three seasons, it would still probably not be realistic to expect many five and four star players at this point to want to enroll at Pitt.

If you check the number of five-star players available and the top football schools, even many of those schools may only obtain one or two five-star players a year.

Point is, before Pitt accumulates four and five star players, they are most likely going to need to: WIN.

And the Catch 22 is that recruits come in with different ideas. Some players, like the type that have frequented Michigan State, are willing to put team ahead of self. If you win, and you get more future four and five star rated interested players, then you need to sort out:

who is interested in Pitt because they want to give their all for the team, and who is seeing wins at a school as the main incentive. We have seen recruits in the past drift elsewhere for a winning team, whereas they could have been on the first or second team at PItt.

Regardless, there has been progress in Pitt recruiting. The numbers may not show it to this point, but the excitement of the recruits at getting Pitt offers and their positive statements about the coaches in their interviews and twitter feeds show that everything is moving in the right direction. As mentioned before, also, most of Coach Paul Chryst’s recruits became interested/committed during summer camps.

The other positive is that Coach Narduzzi has apparently discovered past recruiting issues and is listening and addressing them.

There may be a temporary lull, but at some point the Pat Signal should blaze brightly on the twitter sky for all Pitt family and fans to see.

H2P!!

A Look Back at the Pitt Football Spring Game

Now that the Pitt spring football game is ten days past (although it seems like thirty), let’s take a look back at what happened and see where the team stands.

At quarterback, junior Chad Voytik started for the Blue (Larry Fitzgerald) Team.  Redshirt freshman Adam Bertke started for the Gold (Aaron Donald) team. Nate Bossory, a sophomore from Chelsea,Michigan, filled in for Bertke for a few plays.

Voytik started out in admirable fashion, including several deep throws with a lot more velocity than he showed last season (has offensive coordinator Jim Chaney perhaps been working on this aspect of his game?). Late in the game, the velocity faded some. The majority of the plays, decision making overall appeared good. There were a few plays where decisions needed to be made quicker.

One thing for certain, Voytik’s running velocity was excellent, and his decision making once he started running towards the sideline was stellar.

Overall, the outlook for Pitt’s starting quarterback is favorable and improved from last season.

Adam Bertke finally had the chance to show his powerful, long-distance arm. (Unfortunately, he rarely ran, so that is hard to evaluate. On his high school films, his running style is similar to that of Colin Kaepernick, running through tacklers).

Bertke’s throws often resemble an “old-time” long armed, almost side-arm style with flare-outs towards the sideline similar to Craig Morton (U. of California) or Roger Staubach sprinkled in with deep throws. Towering above many players, Bertke has the height that Pitt quarterbacks have been lacking recently. He still needs work on accuracy (this was mentioned in fall training last season), but, considering this was his first real game action and that receivers were probably being shuttled in and out to give the coaches more information on them, he made some strong throws.

The defense caught up with both offenses and both quarterbacks in the second half, but Bertke did show that he could be a creditable back-up quarterback to Voytik.

Nate Bossory was only in a few plays, so it would be difficult to rate him at this time.

In the fall, Tennessee graduate Nate Peterman will also join the quarterback corps. With his actual game experience at Tennessee, he should be a valuable back-up and another solid mentor for Bertke.

James Conner and Tyler Boyd had standout games. Conner showed that he can catch the ball and be very elusive after the catch. This was an aspect of the game the coaching staff has mentioned could come into effect. The other good point in this regard is that Conner would not be pounded by bigger linemen as much compared to when all plays started up the middle.

The catch and run by Conner was spectacular, as were some of Tyler Boyd’s catches throughout the game.

On one deep pass play to Lafayette Pitts, though, interference was called and Conner and Boyd  were questioning the referee from the bench. I assume the coaching staff has addressed this, because losing both on one play in a real game would be an issue.

Conner may opt to enter the draft next season, and, if so, Pitt proved they had a stellar pounding back-up in Quadree Ollison, a redshirt freshman from Buffalo.

Rachid Ibrahim had some nice elusive runs.

Chris James was finally unleashed (from last season) for outside (swing pass) plays as well as up-the-middle runs, and while he had to grind yards up the middle with the new defense, he showed his elusiveness on the plays to the side.

Another notable aspect of the game was that every quarterback drop back, especially in the second half, was a battle. Deep passes were thrown often, even to tight ends, who figured much more in pass plays. There were plays where the safeties were beaten, and no doubt this has been studied by the coaching staff, but yet every play was a battle unto itself.

There was no play where the offense was not challenged by the defense. In that way, head coach Pat Narduzzi and defensive coordinator Josh Conklin did achieve their goal of changing the mindset of the defense.

Considering many players who took part in this game were riding the bench most of last season, this should be an invaluable experience for them and definitely was an opportunity for the coaching staff to see where they are in their development on game films and how they can help each to improve their techniques. The other plus is that most of them will be returning for at least two more seasons.

The outlook for Pitt football this fall and for the foreseeable future, based on the spring game, is very favorable.

While preparing for this blog, I came across a very appropriate and fascinating book at a used book store, “Beyond the Final Score,” by Tom Osborne, former Nebraska coach and athletic director, that covered many aspects of his coaching life, that were, in fact, beyond the final (game) score. There were similarities to Coach Narduzzi’s persona and coaching style to this point that flew out at me from the pages of this book in a very positive (optimistic) way and so, next blog will cover these.

Pitt Basketball Comments

With the season nearly over, some comments on the Pitt basketball programs:

Pitt Mens’ Basketball

The men have two games left  for the regular season, one at home with Miami and one away at Florida State.

The men’s basketball program was not supposed to do as well as they did this year in beating some top teams, but yet they were in situations during the year, such as Wake Forest yesterday, where they had a nine point lead with about four minutes to go and let the lead evaporate.

At the start of the year, they had trouble rotating to three-point opposing shooters. At the end of the year, they had trouble rotating to three-point shooters.

At the start of the year, they had trouble shooting consistently. At Wake Forest, they went about five minutes (over 25% of the second half) with no basket.

At times, they appeared like world beaters. At other times, they showed slow reaction to defensive situations, as when Cameron Wright motioned for someone to pick up his man cutting to the basket yesterday and no one responded. Some of this was likely due to injuries putting players out of position and quite likely causing a lack of coordination, some of it due to injuries throwing off shooting motions, and some of it due to a need for more awareness by players on the court resulting in not adjusting fast enough to situations on the court.

Overall men’s basketball evaluation:

ACC tournament:  first round and out? Every game, there have been only one or two stars, and often different players. Unless all of the players get on the same page within a very short time, this will be a short tournament for Pitt.

NCAA tournament:   Not consistent enough for an NCAA team. If go to the NCAA, not likely to go more than one or two rounds. Usually Pitt plays a midwest team early. Midwest teams like to pound the boards with strong forwards. Pitt would have a tough time matching up, as they did against Wichita State in the tournament.

NIT team: definitely. Accept any offered bid and go as far as possible. Since Pitt is on the bubble in the NCAA, they should have a higher seed in the NIT and play weaker teams earlier on.

Best guess:  to wind up between number three and number seven in the NIT.

Outlook:    Depending on which recruits sign in April, with healing by injured players, and with a better understanding of the defense by younger players, this team could potentially catapault into being a top 25 team.

Pitt Womens’ Basketball

The women have played at their seniors’ day against Clemson, and the regular season is over.

The Pitt womens’ basketball team played well coordinated near the end of the season. Due to the majority of the team being underclass, they are still learning. Due to limited numbers, their motion offense tended to wear down in the second half.

Outlook:    Coach Serio-McConnell has recruited some highly ranked recruits for next season. The coaching was very good this season, and the player quality should improve dramatically. Next season top 25.

ACC tournament:

They should make a run, because they should not face the top teams until later in the tournament.

With Brianna Kiesel at guard, they always have a chance in every game. If you want to watch a great point guard at work, recommend you watch one of the womens’ tournament games.

Hoping to see them wind up about number three to four at the end of the tournament, provided they can grab early leads and drop back into a zone to rest the smaller number of players.

NCAA tournament:    a possibility.  If so, I don’t expect them to be a top team, but to make a respectable showing that could help recruiting.

NIT:  if so, then they should be one of the top teams.

Just a side note, waiting to hear soon when and where the spring football game will be scheduled for Coach Pat Narduzzi’s charges. Reportedly April 17 or 18.

Pitt Football Snags A Wide Receiver Commit

Just minutes ago Mansfield, Texas wide receiver Gentry Ivery committed to Pitt. On video, Gentry appears very strong in addition to having height and was used on the jet sweep as well as standard passing routes.

This should make up for the loss of Adonis Jennings, and the strength of Gentry should be an added plus.

This is commit number seven for the Pat Narduzzi troops, and the 16th commit overall.

The other advantage of this commit is that it will give Pitt inroads into the abundant crop of Texas recruits. For instance, the University of Missouri (Columbia) has thrived on Texas for some time now. In recent years, usually about 30% of Missouri recruits have come from Texas.

News from Wisconsin – Pitt Football the Likely Winner

Two interesting tidbits of information have appeared from a Wisconsin sports blog.

Number one, Pitt football’s new coach Pat Narduzzi was interviewed for the Wisconsin head coach job as well as Greg Schiano. So far, national analysts feel that hiring Coach Narduzzi was a win for Pitt.

(For Wisconsin fans, the picture on the blog mentioned below with Coach Narduzzi was taken at the Peterson Center at a basketball game venue with student fans, the student section being dubbed the “Oakland Zoo” because Pitt is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.)

Number two, Wisconsin still has no wide receiver coach. Apparently this has not hurt their recruiting efforts, as they now have 27 commits (Note that they did have some coaches stay on board, while Pitt had none). Pitt and Wisconsin had been looking for a wide receiver coach at the same time. Coach Narduzzi hired Kevin Sherman. (However, Pitt fans, note) according to the article, Coach Chryst is going to wait a little to hire a wide receiver coach. Sound familiar? Could an in-house hire or ex-Pitt coach eventually be on the way?

More information on this badger blog:

http://www.buckys5thquarter.com/2015/1/25/7902273/barry-alvarez-wisconsin-interviewed-pat-narduzzi-ben-strickland

Side Story for Pitt Football – The Salem Brothers

There are the Harbaugh brothers and others, and Pitt now has its own brother connection, although only one of the brothers is at Pitt.
Coach Tim Salem is now the tight ends coach for Pitt. Younger brother and coach Brad Salem is the quarterbacks coach for Michigan State. The connecting link is new Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, who came from Michigan State and who along with new offensive coordinator Jim Chaney has now brought Tim Salem, recently fired from Illinois, to Pittsburgh.
For a story about this connection, see:
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2013/10/michigan_state_assistant_brad.html

Another best guess:

Coachingsearch is not listing any open positions for Pitt, which would lead one to believe that Coach Narduzzi has made offers to whom he wants for wide receiver and cornerback assistant coaches and is waiting for responses. Michael Smith of Arkansas is still a possibility for wide receiver coach.

UPDATE: Afternoon of January 15, footballscoop is listing the two Pitt jobs (wide receiver, cornerback) as still unfilled, so it looks like the situation is still fluid.

Wisconsin looks like it still has the wide receiver position available, although Jay Norvell (who is from Madison, Wisconsin,) who was let go recently by Oklahoma, is thought to be a leading contender for that position. Besides Head Coach Paul Chryst, coaches Inoke Breckterfield, Joe Rudolph, and Chris Haering, formerly of Pitt, are officially on the Wisconsin staff, along with Mickey Turner, a Pitt graduate assistant under Coach Chryst, as tight ends coach.

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The new Pitt coaches are on the road today since the silent period has ended for now.
Coach Narduzzi is in Western Pennsylvania, Coach Conklin in Florida, Coach Harley in New Jersey/Philadelphia, and so forth, working to try to keep the current 10 commits and to also see about offers/commits for other recruits that would help the program and have an interest in Pitt.
We really appreciate:
1. their efforts and
2. their communication with fans/alumni.
Good luck on the road, guys, bring home some winners!

Quarterback Musical Chairs for Pitt Football

There has been a brief flurry of activity on the quarterback front at Pitt football.
2015 commit Alex Hornibrook decommitted from Pitt and committed to Wisconsin.
Senior Trey Anderson is graduating and decided to transfer for his final eligibility season.
Underclassman Jaquan Davidson is reportedly moving from defense to quarterback.

What does that mean in terms of the overall Pitt quarterback situation?
IMHO, probably little or no effect, except for Davidson, and that is a plus.

When Pitt set up its recruiting targets under Coach Chryst, Hornibrook was not the top choice. From what I recall, he was maybe around number 3 to 5.

Pitt still has junior Chad Voytik, Adam Bertke coming off a freshman redshirt year, Jaquan Davidson switching from defense, and walk-on Joe Repischak. Only a guess, but thinking the switch for Davidson was from a discussion between him and Coach Narduzzi.

So, regardless of any quality issues or how anyone fits a particular scheme, Pitt has one junior and
three underclass quarterbacks.
The good news is, too, that with the majority of younger players, they will be able to be taught new systems without being encumbered by a knowledge of several older systems, as was the case recently.

Trey Anderson should be praised for his allegiance to the system under so many different coaches, and hopefully he will have a great season wherever he decides to transfer to.

There is also the rumor. The rumor is that new offensive coordinator Jim Chaney is bringing in a junior college transfer quarterback.

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On the Wisconsin Front

On the ever-changing Wisconsin front, the latest gossip is that Jay Norvell, who is a Madison, Wisconsin native and was offensive coordinator for the Oklahoma Sooners, is going to be the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin for Coach Chryst, and that Coach Joe Rudolph will become the offensive line coach. Other sources report that Coach Inoke Breckterfield and coach Chris Haering will be going to Wisconsin. The wide receiver coach has departed for Virginia, so maybe Greg Lewis to Wisconsin?

Okay, already, hot off the press – here are THE official coordinators:

Defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach – Dave Aranda

Offensive coordinator and associate head coach (and handling offensive line duties) – Joe Rudolph

Just a Guess

This is just a guess, but it seems as if any previous Pitt coaches (Hueber, Settle, Lewis, House, Douglas, Palermo) wanted to stay or were bring retained at Pitt, we would have heard already from Coach Narduzzi.

Pitt Football Assistants to Wisconsin Pipeline Updated

Coaches Inoke Breckterfield (defensive line) and Ross Kolodziej (strength and conditioning) apparently were going to Wisconsin to join Paul Chryst’s staff, per Wisconsin blog
http://www.buckys5thquarter.com/2015/1/6/7506821/report-badgers-alum-ross-kolodziej-to-join-staff
Now, however, it seems that Matt House may still become the defensive line coach.
(For any Badger fans reading this, this is the kind of confusion we saw on the field with the Pitt defense the last three years.)
Anyway, Joe Rudolph is apparently getting the offensive coordinator job, per Wisconsin blog http://www.buckys5thquarter.com/2015/1/7/7509555/paul-chryst-joe-rudolph-wisconsin-coaching-staff

Wisconsin fans seem puzzled by Pitt fan reactions to the coaches leaving.
So I wanted to explain, in case any Badger fans are present, more specifically:

There are a few factions that developed during the Paul Chryst era.
One was pro-Chryst, one was anti-Chryst (no pun intended), one was pro-wait and see, one was pro-bring back Dave Wannstedt, etc.
You are seeing reactions from these factions, but mostly from the pro-wait and see group, which saw that, after three years, Pitt could possibly have improved some in year four with Paul Chryst, but can see how much better off this Pitt team will be with Pat Narduzzi as head coach and no Steve Pederson hiring football coaches. That is why they are elated.

Here is my own view of Pitt the last three seasons under Coach Paul Chryst and the assistants in a nutshell, and there is further information in archives for this blog:

Coach Paul Chryst was brought to Pitt to stabilize the program. There were off-the-field issues with players under Dave Wannstedt, and Coach Wannstedt was unable to win championships in a mediocre Big East. Mike Haywood was hired and had off-field issues himself so was let go, then Todd Graham was at Pitt for one year. Graham texted the players from his western home that he was leaving. He had brought in players for his system, which compounded the issue with there being Wannstedt-system players there already.
Coach Chryst stabilized the program.
He brought in some outstanding recruits, and he did improve the program.
The question to Pitt fans was one of rate, how long could it take the program to reach former glory levels?

The issues were, Coaches Bostad and Huxtable went to Pitt, then left soon after that. The assistant coaching staff was then lacking in depth of experience (except for Jim Hueber and, later on, John Palermo, who was brought in later on). Coach Chryst took a long time to hire a defensive coordinator, and then it turned out to be Matt House from the staff already there. The first season, there was no special teams coach, and Coach Chryst said that was what he wanted, that all the coaches would share in the special teams. Finally, in the offseason after multiple special team slip-ups occurred during the season and changed the outcomes of some games, Coach Haering was moved over to linebackers/special teams.

The majority of Pitt fans probably wanted Coach Rudolph to stay. They also liked the way Coach Hueber was developing players. Coach Settle did a good job with the running backs (the running back coach that Coach Chryst hired the first year was turned into a recruiting coach for some time, and during that time Pitt officially had no running back coach as such).

Under Coach House, players often lined up or executed poorly, there were many missed tackles. The defensive line under Coach Breckterfield (except for Aaron Donald) rarely consistently got past their blockers, and quarterbacks had plenty of time to pick the youthful defensive backfield apart. Fan frustration built because the offense began to develop quickly while the defense stagnated. Despite the emergence of some solid individual players and despite the statistics, this is why Pitt fans are looking forward to Coach Narduzzi’s defenses.

With the Wisconsin team being at a higher level of development than Pitt, and with Barry Alvarez overseeing the situation, we wish the best for Coach Chryst, Coach Rudolph, the other assistant coaches, and the Badgers.

H2P!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pat Narduzzi, the Robert Irvine of Pitt Football; Joe Rudolph Likely to Wisconsin; Pitt Assistant Coach Updates

Latest update: in the media/blogs, this coach is being mentioned as a possible new Pitt coach: http://www.fiusports.com/coaches.aspx?rc=6&path=football

Update: Per media, Coaches Joe Rudolph, Matt House, Troy Douglas, Chris Haering, and Ross Kolodziej are in Wisconsin to talk to Coach Paul Chryst. Coach John Palermo and Inoke Breckterfield would then be the lone defensive coaches that might stay at the moment. Coach Palermo, who was underutilized with Coach Paul Chryst, could be a candidate for defensive line, a position he held with other schools for many years.

Just noted: Quarterback coach Brad Salem, who was thought to be a candidate for Pitt’s offensive coordinator, is planning to stay at Michigan State. See: http://www.chatsports.com/michigan-state-spartans/a/Michigan-State-QB-coach-Brad-Salem-plans-on-returning-to-Spartans-coaching-staff-0-10951747

With the start of Coach Pat Narduzzi’s tenure as football coach at the University of Pittsburgh, there is an expected return to rock-’em,sock-’em, Western Pennsylvania style football.

Yesterday’s game (for the lack of a better term) with Houston was the best possible outcome for Pitt. How else would Coach Duzz, as Sparty nation calls him, see the REAL Pitt problems?
Did any Pitt alumni or fans feel that the first part of the game (except for defenders confused over positioning from the very first play of the game) exemplified what they’ve watched for the last three or even twenty years? Now Coach Duzz knows what he has to re-build. Now he has seen the real defense. The Houston game exposed good and bad coaching.

Who is Coach Narduzzi? IMHO, he is the Robert Irvine of Pitt football. Just as in Restaurant Impossible, Coach Narduzzi is being called in to straighten out the situation. And there is a facial resemblance. Chef Irvine, talking and listening to people to find out what has been happening. Fixing things that are broken and replacing ones that need replaced. Bringing it all together in a program in concert.

One major improvement already is in communications to the public, namely to Pitt fans and alumni. Coach Chryst made Pitt football program progress, but as he said himself, he wanted to show his work on the field, not in talk. On the other hand, Coach Narduzzi, while also wanting to show progress on the field, has already set a precedent of explaining what he will be doing along the early stages.

The primary tasks he set at the moment are: 1. setting up the “staff of nine” assistant coaches. 2. Recruiting heavily and firming up commits.

He has said that his first goal is to have the assistants in place by Friday, January 9.

Let’s look more in depth at the main current coaches from this fan’s point of view:

1. Offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph:
According to a badgernation twitter, Coach Joe Rudolph may be offered a position as offensive coordinator/assistant head coach at Pitt.
IMHO, having watched his video presentation from a fan fair and having met him in person, this would be a very good move.
Coach Rudolph has the backing and trust of the players, and he would continue an offensive system that Coach Narduzzi is very familiar with, per his comments during the Houston game.
He did a good job with the offense at the bowl game despite having wider responsibilities.

Concerns: He may want to go to Wisconsin to stay with Coach Chryst.
If he is hired at Pitt, Coach Narduzzi and he should discuss play calling at length. We do not know who was responsible for the errors in judgment on the field the last three seasons, him or Coach Chryst, or a combination, but when different scenarios occur, there should be plans in effect to deal with them that are more likely to result in good outcomes.
There were defensive and special teams issues at the bowl game (obviously), and the overall game management could have been better, although we don’t know how the responsibilities were delegated. If he is going to be assistant head coach, then Coach Narduzzi would be giving him more responsibilities and building him as an administrator from the ground up.

Personally, I feel that he and Coach Narduzzi could develop the same type of relationship as Coach Dantonio and Coach Narduzzi have had at Michigan State.

2. Offensive line coach Jim Hueber (note, his son is also on the football staff):

Whatever Pitt can do to keep this guy (with his son), do it! The players being recruited apparently love this guy. It took some time, but he has proven how outstanding a coach he is. From a sparse offensive line, he has built a powerhouse that gives up a lot fewer sacks, and he even turned a defensive player to a possible first round draft pick in two years. And he has a great sense of humor on video. Please do not let him go to Wisconsin, pay him and give him a bonus of Primanti Brothers coupons, if you need to!

3. Running backs coach, John Settle:

Has done a great job with a bunch of young recruits. Same comments as Coach Hueber. And throw in Isaly’s barbecue sauce coupons!

4. Wide receivers coach, Greg Lewis:

IMHO, replace.

Actually, from just being an observer, I see nothing special about the wide receivers.
We had a bunch of 2014 commits of phantom speedy wide receivers.
Why haven’t Tyler Boyd and Adonis Jennings being sent down the field on different sides to split the defense? Where have Jennings, Zeise, Weah, and Wuestner been?
Are we going to see the same benchwarming when Quadree Henderson comes in (hopefully) in February?

We saw enough drops this season, too.

Whoever the wide receivers coach will be, perhaps Coach Narduzzi should set up daily/weekly/monthly benchmarks.

5. Special teams coordinator and defensive coach, Chris Haering:

PLEASE, Coach Narduzzi, move him to recruiting coordinator, WPIAL/western Pennsylvania.

(By the way, after yesterday’s game, a badgernation twitter is hoping that Coach Chryst will not bring the Pitt special teams coordinator to Wisconsin.)

6. Defensive coordinator, Matt House

Replace.

Just a re-hash, but players confused on positioning, not going all out, too laid back for a defensive coach, untimely defensive schemes, etc.etc.etc.etc.etc

It looks like he’ll be going to Wisconsin as defensive line coach.

7. Defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield

IMHO, the defensive line rarely penetrated into the backfield, and therefore they did not help protect our young defensive backfield.

Replace.

8. Defensive backfield coach Troy Douglas

I don’t know. They had a lot of injuries. They had freshmen playing. But yet they disappointingly still had alignment and cohesive issues far into the season, including the bowl game.
IMHO, questionable but replace.

9. Defensive coach John Palermo

This is the one I really don’t know, don’t understand.
He had the most experience of all the defensive coaches but was the most under-utilized.
What would have been nice to know, why did Coach Chryst bring him in, besides the Wisconsin connection?
This is a coach who has shown passion similar to Coach Narduzzi’s. I would really like to see Coach Narduzzi talk to him at length about what his role has been and if he is interested in moving up with a bigger role.

10. Strength and conditioning coach Ross Kolodziej

PLEASE keep him at Pitt! This guy was obviously the best coach on the team last season!

So we should see by the end of the week what the revised/new staff will look like.
IMHO, the difference this time in the hiring process is the confidence Pitt fans/alumni have that Coach Narduzzi can/will bring overall improvements.

Good luck, Coach Narduzzi, we’re all rooting for you. Make us proud!

Update comments: Here are recent rumblings: Coach Rudolph is said by media sources to be definitely going to Wisconsin.
Coach Matt House is said to be talking to coach Chryst, and Coaches Troy Douglas and Chris Haering on the defensive side are said to be following Coach Chryst to Wisconsin.
Coach Ross Kolodziej (strength and conditioning) is said to be going to Wisconsin.

Here’s what is left: One great recruiter (Coach Narduzzi).

Coach Jim Hueber (offensive line), John Settle (running backs), and Coach Greg Lewis (receivers) on offense.
Coach Inoke Breckterfield (defensive line) and coach John Palermo (linebackers) on defense. (Basically, there are two defensive line coaches left, based on background).

My hope: Coaches Hueber, Settle, Palermo stay.

Stay tuned: Will try to update additional as information is released.

H2P!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!