Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 162

Keith Dambrot was trying to explain how his young Duquesne team — without a junior or a senior to show the way — has been able to climb into a tie for fourth place in the Atlantic 10. The success formula appears to be a mix of belief, toughness and...

Pat Narduzzi received news Tuesday morning that he hopes will solidify a position of weakness on his 2019 Pitt football roster. After he graduates from Rutgers this spring, tight end Nakia Griffin-Stewart said he intends to transfer to Pitt and spend his final season of eligibility with the Panthers. Griffin-Stewart...

Jeff Capel wants to feel good about how his team has played the past six games, but it’s not easy. Throughout the month of February, Pitt has been within a reasonable deficit of the lead – or, actually, ahead — in the latter stages of the second half and overtime....

West Virginia will play Alabama in a two-game home-and-away football series in the 2026 and 2027 seasons. The first game will be in Morgantown on Sept. 5, 2026, and the second will be played in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Sept. 4, 2027. “With its great tradition and history, it will be...

Trying desperately to push forward in the midst of a difficult season, Tim O’Toole isn’t afraid to reveal his feelings about Pitt’s 10-game losing streak. “Part of this profession,” Pitt’s associate head coach said, “is you absolutely abhor, detest, hate, with every cell in your body, and I mean every...

Keith Dambrot smiles when he thinks about the Atlantic 10 preseason poll. “We were (picked) 11th (among 14 teams),” Duquesne’s coach said of voting by coaches and media. “We were 14th the year before and finished 10th. We earned so much respect that they picked us 11th.” Gaining respect is...

Sean Knapp was walking his dog in Oakmont late Thursday afternoon when he learned the U.S. Amateur Championship will return to Oakmont Country Club for a sixth time in 2021. Knapp said he let out a “woo-hoo” before thinking, “Too bad it’s not this year. I’d be exempt.” Knapp, who...

The Double-A Eastern League, which includes the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Altoona Curve farm team, will change its playoff format, awarding postseason berths to the first-place team from each division during the first and second halves of the season. The change goes into effect this season. Postseason berths will be awarded to...

Pitt’s 10-game losing streak can be tied to many factors. Sometimes, new ones pop up unexpectedly, such as the unbelievably poor foul shooting Wednesday night in the 73-65 loss at Georgia Tech. But maybe it has a much deeper origin, one that goes back to the past Pitt administration when...

College basketball fans in Pittsburgh have a decision to make Wednesday night. But if they can’t make up their minds, they need to check the batteries in the TV remote. While Pitt visits Georgia Tech and tries to end its nine-game losing streak, Duke and North Carolina renew one of...

Pitt has scheduled home-and-away games with Western Michigan of the Mid-American Conference for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The teams never have met. The first game will be played Sept. 18, 2021, at Heinz Field, the week after Pitt visits Neyland Stadium to play Tennessee for the first time since...

Jennifer Tuscano has attended enough basketball tournaments to know how fans of that sport act. When a game ends and another is scheduled back-to-back, the gym empties. Fans from two schools head straight to the parking lot and two other groups take their place in the bleachers. Wrestling isn’t like...

When Jeff Capel was a sophomore at Duke 24 years ago, he hit 3-pointers at an impressive rate of 46 percent. In today’s game, that would put him among the top-10 long-range shooters in the NCAA. Clearly, Pitt’s coach knows something about putting a basketball through the net. More than...

Jeff Capel probably didn’t appreciate the question when someone asked about the mood in his locker room after Pitt had lost its ninth consecutive game. “I mean, we’re trying to stay positive,” Pitt’s coach said, without embellishment. Positivity is a good sign. Plus, Capel doesn’t want the media reminding him...

The game will matter Saturday when Pitt tries to stop its eight-game losing streak while tangling with Virginia Tech at Petersen Events Center. But what’s going on at the edge of the court, especially what’s running through the heads of three coveted visiting recruits, might matter just as much. Pitt...

Pitt women’s basketball coach Lance White said a combination of character and confidence came together among his players Thursday night, leading his team to its first ACC victory of the season. Senior forward Danielle Garven scored a career-high 27 points, and Pitt (10-16, 1-11) rolled to a 91-78 victory against...

Jeff Capel continued his winning streak off the court Friday when he received his second verbal commitment this week from a member of the class of 2019. This time, it’s a center, 6-foot-8 Karim Coulibaly of Scotland (Pa.) Performance Institute. Scotland is the No. 3-ranked prep school in the nation....

There were plenty of good feelings and raised hopes last season when Pitt’s baseball team reached the semifinals of the ACC Tournament for the first time. But the program started down a different path when coach Joe Jordano was relieved of his duties at the end of the season after...

Led by redshirt freshman Micky Phillippi at 133 pounds, seven Pitt wrestlers are included in the second of four coaches’ panel rankings that will be part of the selection and seeding process for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on March 21-23 at PPG Paints Arena. Phillippi (15-2) is fourth...

The ACC laid three-year groundwork Thursday for its new 20-game basketball season, starting in 2019-2020, running at least through 2021-22 and giving each team annual home-and-away series against six opponents. Pitt will continue to play what ACC officials term as its primary rivals, Louisville and Syracuse, twice for each of...