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Ursuline grad Narduzzi wins Broyles Award
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Narduzzi
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Early Monday evening — about 12 hours before Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi found out if he’d won the Broyles Award— he got a Twitter proposition from Spartans punter Mike Sadler.
SADLER: “If you win the Broyles Award I will buy you a speedo that matches my own and we can bring them to Pasadena.”
NARDUZZI: “What is wrong with you??? In the morning I am officially withdrawing my name from the finalists. Lol”
Fortunately (or unfortunately), Narduzzi didn’t. The Ursuline High graduate beat out four other candidates for the prestigious award, which is given annually to the top assistant coach in college football.
(Sadler’s response: “IT’S SPEEDO TIME!!!!!!”)
Other finalists were Auburn’s Rhett Lashlee, Baylor’s Philip Montgomery, Florida State’s Jeremy Pruitt and Duke’s Kurt Roper.
Previous winners include Mark Mangino, a New Castle native and Youngstown State graduate who won it as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator and later led Kansas to the Orange Bowl, and Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Heacock, a West Branch High graduate.
Narduzzi, who did not respond to interview requests, is in his seventh season for the fourth-ranked Spartans (12-1). He oversaw the nation’s top defense, allowing an average of 248.2 yards per game.
It’s the third straight season Michigan State has ranked among the top 10 nationally. The Spartans were fourth in the country in allowing 12.7 points per game. The Spartans also led the nation in rushing defense this season (80.8 yards per game).
Michigan State defeated Ohio State 34-24 in the Big Ten championship game and will meet No. 5 Stanford in the Rose Bowl.
Narduzzi’s high school coach, Dick Angle, called the award “deserving” and said all you had to do was watch the win over Ohio State to see why.
“The proof is in the pudding,” said Angle, who coached at Ursuline and Howland. “I wouldn’t have expected anything less. He was that type of player, a great defensive player who was very, very intense.”
Narduzzi’s father, Bill, coached at YSU from 1975-85. Narduzzi set YSU’s freshman tackles record in 1985, then played three years at Rhode Island after his father was fired.
In 1986, Bill Narduzzi’s replacement, Jim Tressel, hired a secondary coach named Mark Dantonio. From 2004-06, Narduzzi served as defensive coordinator under Dantonio at Cincinnati, then followed him to Michigan State in 2007.
“He’s been with some pretty good staffs and of course, Dantonio has been a great mentor,” Angle said. “He’s certainly taken away things from everyone he’s coached with but he has his own personality. He’s a no-nonsense recruiter and a no-nonsense guy. He’ll look you in the eye and tell you what he thinks and how he wants it done.”
Narduzzi has been linked to several head coaching openings in recent years, including the current UConn opening.
“He’ll do well in any head coaching job,” Angle said. “He comes from the Valley. He’s got that good Valley work ethic.”
The Broyles Award is named for former Arkansas coach Frank Broyles, who is noted for developing assistants into head coaches. A number of his aides went on to stellar careers, including Hayden Fry, Joe Gibbs, Jimmy Johnson, Johnny Majors, Jackie Sherrill and Barry Switzer.
Fry, Majors and Switzer were on this year’s selection committee.
Other past winners include Gus Malzahn, Gene Chizik, Norm Chow, Randy Shannon, Ralph Friedgen and David Cutcliffe.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.