But having fans isn't as important as 9 national championships, NFL facilities, Ivy League education, and a theatre.
A visit to the Pitt free board reveals why we are outrecruiting Pitt
- Thread starter NITTANYJGK
- Start date
I agree their administration screwed the pooch. Their about as competent as our own BOT. Thankfully for us the wall that never was came down
Jesus. H. Christ. WHO GAF. We outrecruit Akron and Temple, too. Let's throw an #irrelevancy party.
They scrimmaged yesterday and added a 10th national championship.
In other words, a participation trophy. Each player also got a juice box.
So Yinzer, why are you always here? Your "Duzz" is living on borrowed time. Time to oil the revolving coach's door. That stammering, stuttering fool lacks any kind of personality to even get his old job back at MSU. Franklin is making Nardouchie look like a fool in recruiting. Wow, now he may even lose Raines to WVU!
Pitt picks up six transfers to fill holes in the depth chart.
James Ericson
Southern Huntingdon County School District
That's how Browne became one of six players who transferred to Pitt after spending time at other Power 5 schools. All six are expected to contribute this season. They are Browne, tight ends Chris Clark (UCLA) and Matt Flanagan (Rutgers), defensive end Dewayne Hendrix (Tennessee), offensive lineman Brandon Hodges (Texas) and defensive tackle Kam Carter (Penn State).
“That's just a whole new phase of recruiting,” Salem said. “It's not just high school kids. It's now the college kids. If those kids are looking to leave, use every connection you can to get a hold of the kid, if that's a position of need.”
Hmmm....but didn't Narduzzi just say a couple of weeks ago that he didn't go looking for transfers.....
Pitt counts on transfers to fill lineup, depth chart
Updated 11 hours ago
Late one night near the end of last season, Pat Narduzzi decided there was nothing more he could do that day to further the cause of Pitt football. He was going home.
Suddenly, Tim Salem, a salesman hiding inside a tight end coach's body, walked briskly down the hall and shoved a phone in Narduzzi's face.
“ ‘Coach, here's the guy we kind of whispered about,' ” Salem said.
The voice on the other end belonged to Max Browne. Pitt's next quarterback was on the other side of the country, but he was closer to Pittsburgh than he thought.
“Coach Narduzzi had a really good conversation,” Salem said.
Browne, who was eager to escape the nightmare that was most of his USC career, eventually visited the Pitt campus and was sold. He made no other visits.
“I was sitting there during Christmas break,” Browne said, “and I'm saying, ‘If I'm not going to Pitt, what am I waiting on?' ”
That's how Browne became one of six players who transferred to Pitt after spending time at other Power 5 schools. All six are expected to contribute this season. They are Browne, tight ends Chris Clark (UCLA) and Matt Flanagan (Rutgers), defensive end Dewayne Hendrix (Tennessee), offensive lineman Brandon Hodges (Texas) and defensive tackle Kam Carter (Penn State).
“That's just a whole new phase of recruiting,” Salem said. “It's not just high school kids. It's now the college kids. If those kids are looking to leave, use every connection you can to get a hold of the kid, if that's a position of need.”
In Pitt's case, all six potentially can patch a hole on the roster. Before their arrivals, Narduzzi needed experienced hands at quarterback, defensive tackle and on the offensive line, a pass rusher to replace Ejuan Price and tight ends. Especially tight ends.
“I'd like to hide under the podium here if you asked me in the spring (about tight ends),” Narduzzi said.
Now? “It's one of those, ‘Wow!' positions.”
Part of that enthusiasm stems from Clark, rated the No. 1 high school tight end in the nation by recruiting services Rivals and Scout in 2015.
Narduzzi tried to recruit Clark to Michigan State and Pitt and was unsuccessful both times.
“I knew coach Narduzzi really well when I was in high school (in Connecticut),” Clark said. “When he got the Pitt job (December, 2014), he sent me a message on Facebook and said, ‘We need a tight end. Are you interested?'
“At that point, I was deciding on either UCLA or Michigan. Fast forward a couple months. I'm leaving UCLA. I ended up reaching out to coach Narduzzi, and it ended up working out.”
Why transfer?
“I don't really think I was mature enough to handle all the expectations that come with college football,” Clark said. “I was making some bonehead decisions out there and not really following the way that it goes. I was just kind of being a headache.
“Over the last couple years, I've matured so much. I don't even remember that guy I was. A lot has changed. Not to mention it was also so far from home. It was a lot to deal with. Getting to a school closer to home seemed like it made the most sense to me.”
Transfers are so prevalent in college athletics the NCAA has a tutorial on its website for players considering it. It's entitled, “Want to Transfer?”
Without specifically referencing Pitt's transfers, Salem isn't surprised players are changing schools.
“A lot of these kids, they're transferring in high school,” he said. “Go to some of these high schools in some of these states. These kids transfer every week. In the state of Florida, there are no rules. You can transfer anytime you want, no papers, no signatures, just go, go to the next school and go play. Some of these kids are brought up like that.”
Browne is one of 23 quarterbacks who found new campuses this year, and 247sports.com ranked them all. Browne is fourth on the list. Pitt lost a quarterback when Chad Voytik transferred to Arkansas State after he knew Nathan Peterman would start.
In the beginning, Browne did his homework on several schools. He said he knew little about Pitt, other than Peterman was graduating. But Salem called a few sources to get Browne's phone number, and then that late-night conversation with Narduzzi happened.
“Not until I got ahold of him was he interested in Pitt,” Salem said. “Pitt wasn't even on his radar.”
Browne, Flanagan and Hodges are graduate transfers, serious students who earned degrees and decided to play their final season of eligibility elsewhere. Narduzzi believes graduate transfers are emerging because student-athletes must declare a major after their sophomore year.
“Academically, people are doing a great job of getting their degree,” he said. “Twenty years ago, a kid could be a junior taking English 101 or taking what they call basket-weaving classes. You spent four years at a university and never got your degree.
“I think they're looking and saying, ‘Hey, I got my degree here. Let me go try something new.' ”
Flanagan is a unique case. He graduated from Rutgers with a degree in biological science, a minor in entrepreneurship and a 3.2 GPA.
“I'd love to know what I would have had if I didn't play football,” he said.
He was attracted to Pitt as much — if not more — by the Katz Graduate School of Business.
“Rutgers didn't want him and gave him his release,” Salem said. “He's a quality, first-class individual. You can trust that kid to do anything you want. To have him in the room is like having a second coach.”
Salem believes Flanagan can contribute on the field, too.
“To watch him on tape, he's blocked Michigan. He's blocked Ohio State. He's blocked Penn State. So he knows what it takes.”
He also could pick up some production lost by fullback George Aston's injury.
Hodges' transfer stems from his relationship with offensive coordinator Shawn Watson when he held that position at Texas.
“He kind of fell in our lap,” Narduzzi said.
“I remembered coach Watson was here, and I looked at my phone and hit him up one day,” Hodges said. “I was like, ‘Coach, can I talk to you?' He was always open to talk to me. All he did was tell me we'd love to have you.”
Hodges started nine games at Texas last year, but he said he wanted a fresh start.
“I feel like I moved past (Texas), and I'm at a better place,” he said. “The culture here is different. You carry yourself like a pro here.”
Of first-year Texas coach Tom Herman, Hodges said, “He has his ways and his days. He's a coach. That's all I can say.”
Narduzzi has been impressed by Hodges' strength on the football field and his appetite.
“He came on his official visit,” the coach said, “and ate this big cheeseburger and I (said), ‘For breakfast?' ”
Hodges was courted by Florida State and Mississippi State but chose Pitt, though he lives in Aberdeen, Miss., 51 minutes from the MSU campus in Starkville.
“I drove 12 hours (to Pittsburgh) by myself,” he said. “That's how hungry I am to be here.”
How was the trip?
“Stressful,” he said. “Coffee was my best friend that day.”
James Ericson
Southern Huntingdon County School District
That's how Browne became one of six players who transferred to Pitt after spending time at other Power 5 schools. All six are expected to contribute this season. They are Browne, tight ends Chris Clark (UCLA) and Matt Flanagan (Rutgers), defensive end Dewayne Hendrix (Tennessee), offensive lineman Brandon Hodges (Texas) and defensive tackle Kam Carter (Penn State).
“That's just a whole new phase of recruiting,” Salem said. “It's not just high school kids. It's now the college kids. If those kids are looking to leave, use every connection you can to get a hold of the kid, if that's a position of need.”
Hmmm....but didn't Narduzzi just say a couple of weeks ago that he didn't go looking for transfers.....
Pitt counts on transfers to fill lineup, depth chart
Updated 11 hours ago
Late one night near the end of last season, Pat Narduzzi decided there was nothing more he could do that day to further the cause of Pitt football. He was going home.
Suddenly, Tim Salem, a salesman hiding inside a tight end coach's body, walked briskly down the hall and shoved a phone in Narduzzi's face.
“ ‘Coach, here's the guy we kind of whispered about,' ” Salem said.
The voice on the other end belonged to Max Browne. Pitt's next quarterback was on the other side of the country, but he was closer to Pittsburgh than he thought.
“Coach Narduzzi had a really good conversation,” Salem said.
Browne, who was eager to escape the nightmare that was most of his USC career, eventually visited the Pitt campus and was sold. He made no other visits.
“I was sitting there during Christmas break,” Browne said, “and I'm saying, ‘If I'm not going to Pitt, what am I waiting on?' ”
That's how Browne became one of six players who transferred to Pitt after spending time at other Power 5 schools. All six are expected to contribute this season. They are Browne, tight ends Chris Clark (UCLA) and Matt Flanagan (Rutgers), defensive end Dewayne Hendrix (Tennessee), offensive lineman Brandon Hodges (Texas) and defensive tackle Kam Carter (Penn State).
“That's just a whole new phase of recruiting,” Salem said. “It's not just high school kids. It's now the college kids. If those kids are looking to leave, use every connection you can to get a hold of the kid, if that's a position of need.”
In Pitt's case, all six potentially can patch a hole on the roster. Before their arrivals, Narduzzi needed experienced hands at quarterback, defensive tackle and on the offensive line, a pass rusher to replace Ejuan Price and tight ends. Especially tight ends.
“I'd like to hide under the podium here if you asked me in the spring (about tight ends),” Narduzzi said.
Now? “It's one of those, ‘Wow!' positions.”
Part of that enthusiasm stems from Clark, rated the No. 1 high school tight end in the nation by recruiting services Rivals and Scout in 2015.
Narduzzi tried to recruit Clark to Michigan State and Pitt and was unsuccessful both times.
“I knew coach Narduzzi really well when I was in high school (in Connecticut),” Clark said. “When he got the Pitt job (December, 2014), he sent me a message on Facebook and said, ‘We need a tight end. Are you interested?'
“At that point, I was deciding on either UCLA or Michigan. Fast forward a couple months. I'm leaving UCLA. I ended up reaching out to coach Narduzzi, and it ended up working out.”
Why transfer?
“I don't really think I was mature enough to handle all the expectations that come with college football,” Clark said. “I was making some bonehead decisions out there and not really following the way that it goes. I was just kind of being a headache.
“Over the last couple years, I've matured so much. I don't even remember that guy I was. A lot has changed. Not to mention it was also so far from home. It was a lot to deal with. Getting to a school closer to home seemed like it made the most sense to me.”
Transfers are so prevalent in college athletics the NCAA has a tutorial on its website for players considering it. It's entitled, “Want to Transfer?”
Without specifically referencing Pitt's transfers, Salem isn't surprised players are changing schools.
“A lot of these kids, they're transferring in high school,” he said. “Go to some of these high schools in some of these states. These kids transfer every week. In the state of Florida, there are no rules. You can transfer anytime you want, no papers, no signatures, just go, go to the next school and go play. Some of these kids are brought up like that.”
Browne is one of 23 quarterbacks who found new campuses this year, and 247sports.com ranked them all. Browne is fourth on the list. Pitt lost a quarterback when Chad Voytik transferred to Arkansas State after he knew Nathan Peterman would start.
In the beginning, Browne did his homework on several schools. He said he knew little about Pitt, other than Peterman was graduating. But Salem called a few sources to get Browne's phone number, and then that late-night conversation with Narduzzi happened.
“Not until I got ahold of him was he interested in Pitt,” Salem said. “Pitt wasn't even on his radar.”
Browne, Flanagan and Hodges are graduate transfers, serious students who earned degrees and decided to play their final season of eligibility elsewhere. Narduzzi believes graduate transfers are emerging because student-athletes must declare a major after their sophomore year.
“Academically, people are doing a great job of getting their degree,” he said. “Twenty years ago, a kid could be a junior taking English 101 or taking what they call basket-weaving classes. You spent four years at a university and never got your degree.
“I think they're looking and saying, ‘Hey, I got my degree here. Let me go try something new.' ”
Flanagan is a unique case. He graduated from Rutgers with a degree in biological science, a minor in entrepreneurship and a 3.2 GPA.
“I'd love to know what I would have had if I didn't play football,” he said.
He was attracted to Pitt as much — if not more — by the Katz Graduate School of Business.
“Rutgers didn't want him and gave him his release,” Salem said. “He's a quality, first-class individual. You can trust that kid to do anything you want. To have him in the room is like having a second coach.”
Salem believes Flanagan can contribute on the field, too.
“To watch him on tape, he's blocked Michigan. He's blocked Ohio State. He's blocked Penn State. So he knows what it takes.”
He also could pick up some production lost by fullback George Aston's injury.
Hodges' transfer stems from his relationship with offensive coordinator Shawn Watson when he held that position at Texas.
“He kind of fell in our lap,” Narduzzi said.
“I remembered coach Watson was here, and I looked at my phone and hit him up one day,” Hodges said. “I was like, ‘Coach, can I talk to you?' He was always open to talk to me. All he did was tell me we'd love to have you.”
Hodges started nine games at Texas last year, but he said he wanted a fresh start.
“I feel like I moved past (Texas), and I'm at a better place,” he said. “The culture here is different. You carry yourself like a pro here.”
Of first-year Texas coach Tom Herman, Hodges said, “He has his ways and his days. He's a coach. That's all I can say.”
Narduzzi has been impressed by Hodges' strength on the football field and his appetite.
“He came on his official visit,” the coach said, “and ate this big cheeseburger and I (said), ‘For breakfast?' ”
Hodges was courted by Florida State and Mississippi State but chose Pitt, though he lives in Aberdeen, Miss., 51 minutes from the MSU campus in Starkville.
“I drove 12 hours (to Pittsburgh) by myself,” he said. “That's how hungry I am to be here.”
How was the trip?
“Stressful,” he said. “Coffee was my best friend that day.”
As has been proven, a visit to the sPitt "free board" isn't as profitable as buying sPitt tickets w/ restaurant coupons.
Maybe some day the sPitt "free board" will find a way to pay participants so they aren't such a burden to their parents.
Maybe some day the sPitt "free board" will find a way to pay participants so they aren't such a burden to their parents.
Whatever happened to that Pedsburgh "counselor" w/ tons of child porn on his Pedsburgh University computer? He up for sentencing yet? Kane? Any details on this predator?
A
anon_is9z1n0h3zblb
Guest
Narduzzi only ever had three things to sell at Pitt. The first was that new coach smell and that's wore off. The second was a reputation as a defensive genius that has since proven undeserved. The third was negative recruiting against us, and last season took that away from him. The loss of this only three things to sell, plus his inane antics on TV and blaming his players and refs for his own coaching inadequacies, it's actually surprising that anyone with a different offer, even to a Sun Belt school, would ever play for him.In reality, nardoozie has nothing to sell, as in promote to his advantage. No tradition, no campus stadium, no home-game atmosphere, etc. To the nuts on the liar, "resources" probably means that the competition all have "bag men", while pitt is above all that. How can pitt recruit well and have a championship-caliber program when they are the only ones playing by the rules?
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nardoozie still has the keychain, but it's done nothing for him. In a month, he won't even be able to show that to recruits.
LOL, that was as thorough an ass-kicking as I've seen on this board.
How about this.........don't visit the board at all (or at least do so incognito for entertainment purposes ONLY). PSU posters are the only relevant thing they have left and it's not even close. Stop feeding the animals!
Lol at Narduzzi's aggressive recruiting. "Hey we need a tight end, you interested? No? Ok, have a nice day"
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anon_is9z1n0h3zblb
Guest
Pitt fans' problem is they don't understand how low their ceiling is. They still have irrational dreams of fictional National Championships won during the depression and don't realize that their ceiling is the top of the bottom half of any P5 conference. They would be better off being with schools that have the same potential that they do as a member of the MAC. They could consistently finish in the top tier of the MAC and win a conference championship every 5-7 years. Going to the Pitt board as recruiting season progresses is like watching Charlie Brown kick a football. "Darn, that mean James Franklin yanked another recruit away from us again. Next time we will show him!" It would be funny if it wasn't so Pittiful.
I don't really agree with this. I don't like Pitt and their fans, but their ceiling is something like West Virginia's. Walt Harris basically knew what he was doing and they were getting respectable again. Then they hired Wannstedt, who was a total moron, at about the same time PSU was at its lowest point in the last 50 years. That was a huge gift to PSU, as Pitt probably could have actually started compwting with PSU in recruiting right around then.
Narduzzi is probably adequate and will have some success, but he is never going to outrecruit Franklin as the coach of Pitt. He likely knows this and will take another job after having some success.
WVU has what Pitt doesn't. Fan support. Pitt is the 7th most popular team in Pittsburgh:
1 Steelers
2 Penguins
3 Pirates
4 Penn State
5 Pittsburgh Opera
6 Carnegie Art Museum
7 Pitt
There isn't enough room for the fans at Heinz Field anyhow. Once you get all of those national championship trophies into the facility, you can barely squeeze more than a couple of thousand fans in there with them. If it weren't for all of those trophies taking up so much room, I'm sure more people would come.
Yes, but a "ceiling" is not an exact science. fan support follows winning and isn't the most important factor in achieving winning. If recruits viewed Pitt's program as head and shoulders better than WVU they would be there regardless of the lower enthusiasm. That is really why Pitt struggles, aside from the competition with PSU they cannot even dominate recruiting in the areas closest to them.
Pitt's major problem is they are surrounded by teams they can't compete again in recruiting outside of Rutgers. Maryland is starting to recruit at a high level.
OSU, Mich, PSU, ND, etc land all the best in jersey
OSU, mIch, PSU, MD, VT land all the best in DC/VA
This is leaving Pitt to become like Indiana and Illinois and throw out offers to low rated Florida recruits and hope they pan out, take flyers on Pittsburgh kids, take high risk kids/transfers, or take kids late in the process who are unable to commit to the offers they originally wanted to
OSU, Mich, PSU, ND, etc land all the best in jersey
OSU, mIch, PSU, MD, VT land all the best in DC/VA
This is leaving Pitt to become like Indiana and Illinois and throw out offers to low rated Florida recruits and hope they pan out, take flyers on Pittsburgh kids, take high risk kids/transfers, or take kids late in the process who are unable to commit to the offers they originally wanted to
Also demographic changes. The population of Pittsburgh declined sharply after the middle of the last century, but recently leveled off. Things are cyclical, and if Pittsburgh's population ever returned to 1960s levels I think Pitt's program would be In a different place
I've ventured to the Pitt board and have noticed that they've become realistic with their predictions for the upcoming season. With a couple exceptions, most are predicting 5-7 to 8-4.
And yeah, they need to rely on transfers to make up for their poor recruiting.
And yeah, they need to rely on transfers to make up for their poor recruiting.
I don't post just like to read the boards to see what is going on. I was on the pitt yesterday and they were going on about child molestation and so forth. I simply asked, what does this have to do with football? The comment was deleated. I don't think my comment was out of line. Anyway I hope we put up 50 points against these clowns this year. It may finally shut them up.
That thread is gone when the aholes started posting about players dying in plane crashes.
Of course practices are closed. They don't want people to see how bad the team is before the season even starts.
I'm not sure who would want narduzzi as a coach, and the longer he stays, the less attractive he will be. Soon pitt fans will wake up to the reality that the rest of the world has known for some time, but they will be stuck with him. Poor recruiting, bad coaching, temper tantrums, sideline kisses, and all.
Failure with shame
To be fair, it was only a 9 win regular season in the big least, which wasn't even good enough to win the conference. They also barely beat UNC, yes the basketball school, in a bowl game.
Failure with shame
To be fair, it was only a 9 win regular season in the big least, which wasn't even good enough to win the conference. They also barely beat UNC, yes the basketball school, in a bowl game.
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