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New Pitt coach Narduzzi credits father for success
Ursuline grad Pat Narduzzi ready to be head coach
PITTSBURGH
Pat Narduzzi keeps an old pair of wing tip shoes in his closet that his father, Bill, used to wear.
He says he doesn’t put them on anymore because they’d fall apart, but it’s a piece of his father, who Pat credits to teaching him “more football in that one year I played for him at Youngstown State than I can think of.”
Thirty years later, Narduzzi will get his first chance to walk in his father’s shoes — again — this time as a college football head coach.
Narduzzi was introduced as the 37th head coach at the University of Pittsburgh on Friday at the team’s South Side training facility. He takes over Pitt’s program after spending the last eight years as the defensive coordinator at Michigan State University, where he built a reputation as one of the best defensive minds in college football.
His unit was the only one to rank in the top 10 nationally in total defense and rushing defense for the past four seasons.
Now he’s faced with the challenge of restoring a proud football program that’s on its fifth head coach in five years.
“Today is the beginning of a dream come true for me and my family,” Narduzzi said Friday afternoon, sporting a black suit and gold tie.
“And I hope it’s a dream that’ll last for many years to come.”
Narduzzi, 48, grew up in Youngstown while his father coached YSU from 1975-85. He graduated from Ursuline High School in 1985 and went on to play for “the single most impressive football coach I’ve been around.”
That, of course, was his father, who led to Penguins to the Division II national championship game in 1979 and was twice named Ohio Valley Conference coach of the year.
“I’ve got coaching in my blood,” Narduzzi said. “What did I get from [my father]? He’s very disciplined.
“You better not come home at 11:01 if your curfew’s 11. He was tough and he showed love and he was an incredible, incredible person.”
Narduzzi plans to bring that family mentality to Pittsburgh, which has lacked continuity since school-alum Dave Wannstedt was coach.
“He was head and shoulders above the group we were looking at,” said the university’s executive vice chancellor Jerry Cochran. “He’s got this high energy level. He’s somebody that is going to love this institution and he’s somebody that this institution is going to love.”
The 2013 winner of the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant, Narduzzi will spend one more week with the Spartans as they play Baylor in the Cotton Bowl.
Narduzzi talked at length about loyalty and how he feels it’s one of his strongest qualities. He said he’s had other opportunities to leave Michigan State prior to this, but was waiting for the perfect place. He believes he’s found that with Pitt.
“Clearly, this is my home,” Narduzzi said. “There isn’t anything closer to Youngstown that’s a place where you can win a [FBS] national championship, so Pittsburgh is my home.
“It’s about 50 miles down the road from where I grew up. It’s a tough city like Youngstown is and I wouldn’t call it a destination job, but it’s a place I want to be for a long time — if they let me.”
Narduzzi’s mother lives in New Jersey and his wife, Donna, still has family in her home state of Rhode Island, where Pat finished his college playing career after his father was replaced by Jim Tressel as coach at YSU.
It was clear Narduzzi hasn’t forgotten where he came from and he said as much when asked about some of his mentors growing up.
“I’ll go back to seventh and eighth grade playing for Jeff Bayuk,” Narduzzi said of the Warren JFK head coach who has also been the head coach at Canfield, Hubbard and Campbell. “Again, a coach that coached us hard, coached us like family and was tough on us.
“I love that guy to this day.”
He then went on to credit Dick Angle, his high school football coach at Ursuline.
“I’ll never forget him,” Narduzzi said. “I still talk to him occasionally.”
What could make the transition from Big Ten coordinator to ACC head coach a little bit easier is the fact that Narduzzi’s been recruiting western Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio for some time now.
Pittsburgh is a football program that has nine national titles, but it’s been nearly 40 years since the last one. Narduzzi knows it wont be easy, but he’s used to that growing up in Youngstown.
“We’re going to do that with relentless energy,” said Narduzzi, who joked that his wife told him to tame it down his first day on the job.
“A ton of energy, passion and discipline — that’s how we’re going to do it.”
When Narduzzi expanded on past experiences, as he often did, he circled back to his family — and more often than not his father. So when asked what he though his father would be saying if he were still with him, Narduzzi thought for a moment.
“He used to always say I’m tickled pink,” Narduzzi said. “I don’t know what that was, but that was always something that came out of his mouth.
“There were plenty of discussions at the kitchen table growing up on 2261 Fifth Ave in Youngstown where I lived. We’ll have another coach up in the big press box.”