Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 11
Pat Narduzzi shoulders bulk of blame after Pitt’s 1st loss of the season to SMU
If you paid attention to Pat Narduzzi’s news conference after Pitt’s miserable performance Saturday night against SMU, you should have spotted a trend. Narduzzi willingly exposed himself to his critics while discussing SMU’s 48-25 victory, taking blame for everything that led to Pitt’s first loss of the season. In a...
Pitt assistant Jacob Bronowski builds ‘special’ relationship with his players
Jacob Bronowski began his college football journey as a freshman quarterback at New Mexico in 2013. He was not part of the Lobos’ 49-27 loss to Pitt that year, but it didn’t matter. Coaching was in his future. No later than 2016, he was a 22-year-old graduate assistant for his...
Pitt basketball ready to open season with a dose of physicality
At the outset of this century, Pitt basketball players patrolled the Petersen Events Center and Fitzgerald Field House floors with intensity and physicality. If a bit of blood appeared on someone’s jersey at practice, play on. Worry about it later in the locker room. No wonder Pitt earned 10 consecutive...
Pitt Take 5: Panthers’ road to ACC championship game runs through Dallas
A couple of years have passed since Pitt played a game with the significance of its confrontation Saturday with SMU in Dallas. It’s a prime-time 8 p.m. matchup between ranked schools (No. 18 Pitt and No. 20 SMU) and the Panthers’ first as a Top 25 team versus a Top...
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi says his players don’t feel disrespected, are singularly focused on SMU
Pat Narduzzi doesn’t remember the Kent State/Rutgers game played Oct. 27, 2012, in Piscataway, N.J. Nor did the game register in his consciousness that day. He was too busy in Madison, Wisc., preparing Michigan State’s defense for its 16-13 overtime upset of No. 25 Wisconsin. But what happened to Rutgers...
Pat Narduzzi says Eli Holstein will start for Pitt against SMU
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi told reporters to “wait and see” when he was asked how quarterback Eli Holstein was feeling after leaving the Syracuse game in the fourth quarter with an injury Thursday night and not returning. The wait turned out to be less than three days. Narduzzi announced on...
Pitt’s offensive stats fall off while No. 18 Panthers remain undefeated
No one — fan, coach, player or Associated Press Top 25 voter — expected Pitt to keep up the offensive pace it set over the season’s first five games. The Panthers averaged more than five touchdowns (total: 26) and 522.2 yards per game (7.5 per play). The schedule wasn’t particularly...
Pitt defensive coordinator Randy Bates praises ‘good day’ vs. Syracuse while looking for more
Pitt’s defense toyed with Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord last week, and Randy Bates called it “a good day.” Five interceptions. Three pick-6s. Four sacks. Holding the opponent under 25 points for the fourth consecutive game. Good, but … “I think we had a lot more in us, quite frankly,” said...
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi says ‘wait and see’ on subject of Eli Holstein’s injury situation
When the subject of Eli Holstein’s health first was presented to Pat Narduzzi on Monday at his weekly news conference, it was half of a two-part question. Guess which half Pitt’s coach conveniently ignored. Right. The one with Holstein’s name in it. A few minutes later, he was reminded he...
Pitt moves up 1 spot to No. 18 in AP poll, awaits SMU showdown in Dallas
A month ago, one of the most iconic players in SMU history was speaking to coach Rhett Lashlee. Craig James said Lashlee’s Mustangs reminded him of another SMU team he knew well. He was referring to SMU of the 1980s when James teamed with Eric Dickerson to form the Pony...
In light of NIL, Pat Narduzzi tells national audience Pitt will ‘take care’ of Eli Holstein
In college athletics’ new age of NIL and immediate eligibility for transfers, success can work both ways. No one knows that better than Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, whose team is 7-0 and a serious contender for its second ACC championship in four years. Interviewed on CBS Sports Radio and Sirius...
Looking back at another 7-0 Pitt team and how its star-crossed season ended on a cold, rainy day in Texas
New Year’s Day morning, 1983, dawned cold and rainy in Dallas, but Tom Flynn had seen worse. He grew up in Western Pennsylvania and had played in similar conditions at Penn Hills High School and Pitt. Later, he played in snowstorms with the Green Bay Packers. Truth be told, the...
Focused on the hold, his left toe, the football, Pitt’s Ben Sauls gets kick from perfection
Ben Sauls has a confession to make. Despite the enthusiasm and energy inside Acrisure Stadium, the high hopes surrounding the undefeated Pitt team and what can be called one of the best vantage points in the house, he doesn’t watch the games. At least half the time, anyway. It’s all...
Pitt defense picks off Syracuse on its way to 41-13 victory and 7-0 start
Not only do Pitt’s linebackers harass quarterbacks with their athleticism, step boldly into passing lanes and attack like sharks (which is what they want to be called), but now they’re also starting to take personally what they perceive as nationwide disrespect. Everything came together in what turned into one fine...
Larry Fitzgerald returns to Pitt turf as a Hall of Famer
Larry Fitzgerald was always in control as a Pitt football player. Yet his emotions nearly got the best of him Thursday night when he was honored on the Acrisure Stadium turf where two decades ago he exhibited such impressive body control. He played in only 26 games over two seasons...
New Pitt athletic director Allen Greene understands reality of college athletics: Money matters
Pitt introduced Allen Greene as its next athletic director Wednesday morning, and the theme was as clear as a bank statement. Money. Blunt, honest and to the point, Jeff Capel said as much when asked what he might ask of Greene if the two men sat down to discuss what...
Pitt Take 5: With Larry Fitzgerald and college football world watching, Panthers put unbeaten record at risk
Pitt’s game against Syracuse on Thursday night marks the Panthers’ last game before the crucial month of November, and everyone knows this is the time of year when the best teams emerge to claim their place among the sport’s elite. Is Pitt among them? The College Football Playoff committee, which...
Pitt opens basketball season with 93-62 exhibition victory against Point Park
Pitt’s game against Point Park on Tuesday night was only an exhibition. There were more empty seats inside Petersen Events Center than those that were filled, the arena lacked most of the energy it has generated for ACC games the past two seasons and the decision — a 93-62 Pitt...
Transfer quarterbacks Eli Holstein, Kyle McCord give different look to Pitt-Syracuse matchup
Pitt hasn’t played a game since Oct. 12, which means Pat Narduzzi, his staff and players have had nearly two weeks to prepare for the Syracuse game coming up Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium. Part of the prep was spent watching Pitt turn the football over four times and Syracuse...
No need for a crowbar to pry the truth from Pitt tight end Gavin Bartholomew … he enjoys blocking, receiving equally
The life of a tight end often can be cloaked in anonymity, with true celebrity difficult to attain. Travis Kelce excluded, of course. Pitt tight ends coach Jacob Bronowski did nothing to dispel that notion when he decided to put crowbars on players’ desks before a meeting Sunday. The idea,...
Back from injury, defensive tackles Sean FitzSimmons, Nick James give No. 19 Pitt options against Syracuse
Syracuse’s Kyle McCord gains yards through the air better than most quarterbacks, and his 19 touchdown passes are proof that he can move an offense forward. He’s second in the nation in yards per game (360) — only 2.6 behind the leader, Miami’s Cameron Ward — and fourth in completions...
In the midst of many new faces at Pitt, returning players find way to uphold culture coach Jeff Capel is building
Those players returning to Pitt’s basketball team for the 2024-25 season were not surprised Bub Carrington left for the NBA after one season. Especially when it became almost immediately apparent Carrington was destined to be a first-round choice. No one panicked, either, even as Carrington left while Blake Hinson also...
Pitt remembers 2023 loss to Syracuse, gets chance Thursday night to erase sour memories
Perhaps no game from 2023 capsulizes the misery Pitt players and coaches felt better than the 28-13 loss to Syracuse on Nov. 11 at Yankee Stadium. Not only did the defeat complete the second four-game losing streak of the season, but it dropped the Panthers to 2-8 for the first...
With Tony Bennett, others resigning, Pat Narduzzi says he coaches ‘for the love of the game’
In the wake of the resignation of another high-profile ACC basketball coach Friday, Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi said college athletics will survive. “It’s never going to go anywhere,” he said Friday. “It’s who’s going to hang in there long enough to continue to ride the waves, right?” The waves...
Pitt names veteran big-school administrator Allen Greene as its next AD
Pat Narduzzi wasn’t on the search committee, and he said he did not have input into Allen Greene becoming Pitt’s next athletic director — his next boss. But when the Pitt head coach sits down with Greene in the coming days, it will be a getting reacquainted meeting — not...
