Pitt’s football team was no match for Notre Dame on Saturday. The Fighting Irish steamrolled the Panthers 58-7, easily covering the 21-point spread on the game. It was the latest loss in what’s been a miserable season for Pitt.
And after the game, coach Pat Narduzzi made some curious comments which have clearly bothered at least some of the players.
The Panthers have had a significant drop in 2023 compared to the previous two seasons. Pitt won the ACC Championship in 2021 going 11-3 overall and followed that with a 9-4 season in 2022. So, what’s caused the drop?
After the game, Narduzzi said (per Noah Hiles, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), “We lost a lot of good players last year. We thought we’d replace them and we obviously didn’t do a good job with that.”
Narduzzi: "We lost a lot of good players last year. We thought we'd replace them and we obviously didn't do a good job with that."
— Noah Hiles (@_NoahHiles) October 28, 2023
Several Pitt players responded to their coach’s comments and as would be expected, were not particularly happy with them.
https://twitter.com/GavinBartholom6/status/1718418995278147841
dam bruh💔
— solomon deshields (@acelordd) October 28, 2023
Wow 😒 https://t.co/ThqcA4Te9s
— Daniel Carter (@KING__CARTER5) October 29, 2023
— 7 (@JavonMcIntyre2) October 29, 2023
lol crazy world… https://t.co/A3D9hX4jZe
— Ryland Gandy (@iamrdg10) October 29, 2023
https://twitter.com/RodneyLHammond1/status/1718416839590494382
And Narduzzi’s players weren’t the only ones unhappy with what the coach said.
Me when I'm not good enough: "Other people aren't good enough." https://t.co/2vD6FmI7AS
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) October 29, 2023
Yikes. Whatever you say after a loss … don't say that. https://t.co/N03MyS8QdG
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) October 29, 2023
Guy threw his players straight under the bus. What a leader. https://t.co/nQptiKaTPU
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 29, 2023
Hiles later tweeted Narduzzi’s entire quote. And while it did contain that message, there was a little more to it.
“I’ll go back, as a football coach you lose a lot of good players from a year ago and you think as a coach you’re going to replace them and obviously we haven’t. Again, it starts with me. I didn’t do a good enough job coaching today. Put it on me and we’ve got to make plays.”
I tweeted this live, as Narduzzi was talking. Below is the full quote, which was transcribed after the presser ended.
"I’ll go back, as a football coach you lose a lot of good players from a year ago and you think as a coach you’re going to replace them and obviously we… https://t.co/oxSeYP7WYf
— Noah Hiles (@_NoahHiles) October 29, 2023
That’s better but still not great. That may be a message you can send after the final game of a season. It would still be awkward but it would be more understandable. But the Panthers have four more games to play. And as good as Notre Dame’s team is, Pitt’s next opponent, the undefeated and No. 4 ranked Florida State Seminoles, is even tougher.
It’s hard to imagine this not being an issue between the coach and team.
[Noah Hiles on Twitter]
