The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

By Chris Gates | The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

Every offseason, there are a handful of coaches whose names start showing up on hot seat lists.

This year, Pat Narduzzi has been one of them.

If you’ve listened to enough national college football podcasts or preseason previews over the last month, you’ve probably heard it too. His name keeps coming up as one of those coaches who isn’t necessarily in immediate danger, but could find himself under some real pressure if things don’t go well this season.

I understand why that conversation exists.

I just don’t think I’m ready to fully buy into it.

At least not yet.

Last Season Was Better Than People Give It Credit For

I think people sometimes forget just how unusual last season was.

Pitt entered the year expecting Eli Holstein to lead the offense.

Instead, Mason Heintschel was thrust into the starting role much earlier than anyone expected.

Changing quarterbacks in the middle of a season isn’t easy.

Despite that, Pitt still won eight regular-season games, climbed into the national rankings, hosted College GameDay for the Notre Dame game and spent a good portion of the season playing meaningful football (especially into the month of November, which is ultimately the goal, right?)

Did the season end well?

Absolutely not.

The losses to Notre Dame and Miami were ugly, and the bowl game against East Carolina is one I’d happily erase from memory.

But when I step back and look at the season as a whole, I think Narduzzi did a pretty good coaching job.

Given everything that happened, finishing 8-4 felt like a successful recovery rather than a disappointment.

But This Year Feels Different

With that said…

This season feels important.

Really important.

Because now the circumstances are different.

• Mason Heintschel is no longer a freshman being thrown into the fire.
• He’s entering Year Two as the unquestioned starter.
• Kade Bell has another offseason to develop him.
• Ja’Kyrian Turner established himself as Pitt’s top running back.
• Most of the coaching staff returns.
• There’s continuity across the roster.

At some point, continuity has to translate into improvement.

That’s why I keep coming back to the phrase I’ve used over and over this offseason:

The next logical step.

If Pitt takes that next logical step and the players and coaches grow, develop, and BUILD upon what we saw last year, we’re probably talking about a 9- or 10-win football team.

If they don’t?

Then some harder questions start getting asked.

Why The Hot Seat Conversation Exists

I understand why national media members have started mentioning Narduzzi as a fringe candidate to be on the coaching “hot seat.”

Think about the timeline.

Pitt won the ACC Championship in 2021.

They followed it with a nine-win season in 2022, but that year never quite felt as clean as the record suggested. The Kedon Slovis experiment didn’t work the way anyone hoped, the Frank Cignetti hire was a disaster, and the offense never found much consistency.

Then things bottomed out before Pitt slowly climbed back to eight wins last season.

The trend line hasn’t fully returned to where it was after the ACC Championship.

That’s what people are reacting to.

If Pitt finishes 7-5 or even another 8-4 without clear signs the program is moving forward, it’s fair to wonder where things are headed.

Not because the program is bad.

Because it might feel… stuck.

And that’s a dangerous place for any college football program to be.

The Allen Greene Factor

There’s another layer to this discussion that I think matters.

Alan Green is entering another full season as Pitt’s athletic director.

And let me be clear, I have absolutely no inside information here.

This is simply how college athletics tends to work.

New athletic directors often want to hire their own coach eventually.

Now, Greene and Narduzzi appear to have a very good relationship. They’ve known each other for years, and by every public indication they work well together.

But if a program begins plateauing — or worse, starts sliding backward — that calculus can change quickly.

Again, I’m not saying that’s happening.

I’m saying that’s why people are talking.

Here’s Why I’m Still Pro-Narduzzi

I’ve generally been a supporter of Pat Narduzzi throughout his time at Pitt.

That doesn’t mean I think he’s perfect. (Far from it.)

• He’s stubborn at times.
• Some decisions have been frustrating.
• There have absolutely been moments where I’ve questioned things.

But I also think people underestimate what he’s built.

One of the biggest accomplishments of the Narduzzi era isn’t just the ACC Championship.

It’s the floor.

For the most part, Pitt has become a program that expects to win 7 or 8 games every season.

I know some fans roll their eyes when they hear that.

But you shouldn’t.

Because I’ve lived through what came before.

• I grew up watching Pitt football in the 90’s.
• I remember the years bouncing from Walt Harris to Dave Wannstedt to Todd Graham to Paul Chryst.
• I remember seasons where simply becoming bowl eligible felt like an accomplishment.

The fact that Pitt enters each season as “that team that always wins 8 games” is a huge improvement compared to previous eras of the program. And I, personally, appreciate that. It makes it a lot more fun as a fan to anticipate the season and wonder what could be each fall.

Stability matters.

People tend to appreciate it only after it’s gone.

Narduzzi needs to surpass those expectations occasionally. That’s the key.

And this feels like a crucial (and advantageous) year to get it done.

We’ve Seen This Before

College football has a funny way of making fan bases regret moving on too quickly.

Walt Harris consistently won eight and nine games.

Eventually, that wasn’t good enough.

Dave Wannstedt won 9 games one year and 10 the next.

Then came a seven-win season, and suddenly it wasn’t enough anymore.

What followed was YEARS of 6-6 football until Pat Narduzzi arrived.

There were other dynamics involved in those coaching changes, of course.

But history reminds us that replacing a coach is a lot easier than replacing sustained success.

That’s why I think it’s important to appreciate what Narduzzi has accomplished while also acknowledging that the next step still needs to happen.

Those two ideas can both be true.

Player Development Is Still Pitt’s Calling Card

One thing that keeps me optimistic is Pitt’s track record of developing players.

Nationally, coaches and analysts consistently point to Pitt as a program that gets more out of its roster than many schools with similar recruiting rankings.

Think about players like Sirvocea Dennis always come to mind for me.

Pitt took him from a complete unknown and turned him into an NFL linebacker.

That isn’t an isolated example.

• Kyle Louis
• Kenny Pickett
• Gavin Bartholomew
• Matt Goncalves
• Calijah Kancey
• Jaylen Twyman

It happens over and over again. And those are just some of the most recent names on the list. I could name many, many more.

Finding overlooked players, developing them and sending them to the NFL has become part of the program’s identity.

Even Nick Saban last year on College GameDay said “nobody does more with less. Coach Narduzzi develops players.”

I think that’s an unbelievably important skill for a Pitt head coach to have in this current era of college football, because the program isn’t shelling out $40 million for a roster any time soon.

My Verdict

Do I think Pat Narduzzi is on the hot seat today?

No.

Do I think he should be?

Also no.

But I do think this season feels pivotal.

• If Mason Heintschel develops the way he should.
• If the offense takes that next logical step.
• If Pitt finds itself in the College Football Playoff discussion in November again…

I think this conversation disappears.

If Pitt stumbles through a season that feels stagnant?

Then the discussion becomes much more legitimate.

For now, though, I’m choosing cautious optimism.

Narduzzi has earned enough trust over the last decade that I’m willing to believe this program still has another step to take.

Now it’s time to go prove it.