PITTSBURGH — Pat Narduzzi needs to work on his breakup etiquette. What is it with this guy and his outgoing offensive coordinators?
They make him look good. He tries to make them look bad.
Narduzzi's two best seasons at Pitt were 2016 — when he beat Penn State and Clemson — and last season, when he won the ACC championship. His offense carried the weight both years, and even though Narduzzi is a defensive guy, he deserves credit for that.
He hired offensive coordinators Matt Canada and Mark Whipple, after all.
But after they left, Narduzzi went nuts. He shredded both men. Granted, he did so in low-key venues, but he shredded them nonetheless. And in the process, made himself look incredibly petty.
This is what Narduzzi said about Canada at the 2019 Nike Coach of the Year Clinic a few years after Canada produced the highest-scoring offense in Pitt history, including 43 points against Clemson and 42 against Penn State:
"I had an offensive coordinator — I won't even mention his name — at Pitt. He spent eight months with me, left to go take one of those big jobs (LSU coordinator) for $1.2 million, and I said, 'I don't think you wanna go, OK?' He's like, 'Well, it's a lot of money.' And I got him a lot of money. I got him a million at our place.
"Like are you (kidding) me? I don't even think he was even worth a million. I mean, he wasn't even that good. ... I said, 'You stay here for another year, have a good year, and you'll be a head coach. I'll send you out of here a head coach.' "
Those were big words for a guy whose defense gave up 81 combined points to Penn State and Clemson that season and another 61 to Syracuse (yes, 61 to Syracuse) and won all three games because of Canada's offense.
Narduzzi wasn't finished.
"No patience," he added. "So have patience in the profession. He goes there (LSU), gets fired before the end of the season. It was a miserable season for the guy. He's gone. Goes and gets another job. He's been in three jobs in three years. You know, good luck finding him. He's out of a job right now."
Not for long. Say what you will about Canada, but he did reach the NFL. Works next door to Narduzzi, as a matter of fact.
Was Narduzzi jealous that Canada got so much credit that year? Did he simply feel spurned that Canada had the audacity to go to a higher-profile program?
You have to wonder, when you hear such comments.
The Whipple rant was even weirder. It happened on the Shults Ford podcast with Richard Bazzy — owner of Shults Ford Lincoln of Wexford — on Wednesday. Narduzzi was talking about Kenny Pickett taking a bunch of hits last season.
"I think when you throw the ball 85 percent of the time, and you've got people teeing off on the pass rush, we didn't make it easy on Kenny," Narduzzi said.
He added, "Our old offensive coordinator had no desire to run the ball. Everybody knew it; he was stubborn. Wake Forest was 118th in run defense, and we threw the ball every down. When we ran it, we ran it for 10 yards, but that wasn't good enough."
Wait a second. Pitt ran it four more times than they passed and scored 38 offensive points in the ACC title game against Wake Forest. And was that a fan calling into a show to complain about the play-calling, or was that the head coach — the only man who actually has control over the coordinator?
If Narduzzi didn't like the play calling, he should have changed it. He should have grabbed the headset.
Meanwhile, Pitt and Whipple — and by extension Narduzzi — owe no apologies to Pickett. Their pass-happy offense enabled him to become a Heisman Trophy candidate and a first-round draft pick. They also scored a ton of points. That was true even in their two regular-season losses, when 75 points weren't enough because Narduzzi's defense gave up a combined 79 at home to Western Michigan and Miami.
Anyway, Whipple left Pitt for Nebraska. He was replaced by Frank Cignetti Jr., and Narduzzi also has a new receivers coach/passing game coordinator in Tiquan Underwood.
"We've got better people coaching on those positions on offense, I guarantee you that," Narduzzi said.
I don't get it. You go to work with your guys, day-in, day-out — your coaches — and you win the ACC Championship together, and this is what you say about them?
What does Narduzzi have to gain here? He looks petty, jealous, vengeful — whatever adjective you want to use.
He also bragged that Pitt would have hammered Michigan State if Pickett had played in the Peach Bowl, ignoring the fact that Michigan State — which won by 10 — also was missing its best offensive player in running back Kenneth Walker.
"(Pickett's) a 21-point difference," Narduzzi said. "Michigan State gets their butt kicked in. It's at least a 14-point difference if (backup) Nick Patti plays the whole game. If that was one of the best Big Ten teams last year, then let's go to the Big Ten and win it every year."
OK. Sure. You go do that. But before you take on Michigan, you might want to beat Western Michigan.
