Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi doesn’t want to hear excuses for poor attendance at Thursday night’s home game against Virginia Tech. Instead, he’s the one handing out the excuses for students.
Narduzzi shared a form excuse note on his Twitter account on Tuesday, complete with his signature, to be printed out and handed to professors at the University of Pittsburgh. The note asks teachers to excuse students from evening classes on Thursday so they can attend an important game in the ACC Coastal Division with the Hokies.
@ThePantherPitt See you on Thursday night at Heinz Field. #H2P pic.twitter.com/ZMaoZqt6bk
— Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) October 25, 2016
Those taking this too seriously will note this does nothing but emphasize sports above academics, but lighten up. It’s all in good fun and humor. And Narduzzi really wants as many people to attend as possible.
The Panthers do not play their home games on campus, so they have some of the same attendance concerns a number of college programs playing in NFL stadiums face. It is not quite as bad as at places like Miami and Temple, but the Panthers are often on the receiving end of attendance jokes from rival fans. The timing of this is not to be overlooked either, as Penn State just packed in 107,000 fans for a big primetime home game against Ohio State.
We’ll see how many excused absences the Pitt professors put on the record Thursday night.
