Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 31
Here are 5 coaches Pitt should consider for its offensive coordinator job
Lacking the most important element in trying to pinpoint the identity of Pitt’s next offensive coordinator — that being the key to the desk drawer where Pat Narduzzi keeps his list of candidates — we are left to speculate. Coach searches are typically secretive endeavors for obvious, professional reasons. The...
Pitt fires offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr.
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi wasted no time in an attempt to reverse the team’s fortunes when he fired offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti Jr. on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the end of the season. Cignetti spent the past two seasons with the Panthers — his third stint with...
Analysis: At the outset of Pitt’s offseason, Pat Narduzzi throws support behind Nate Yarnell
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi’s nearly two-year-old quest to find a competent successor to Kenny Pickett will continue into the offseason. He should not and will not ignore the transfer portal. But perhaps he won’t have to look so hard for a quarterback from somebody’s else team. That hasn’t worked out...
Pitt’s 30-19 loss to Duke in finale turns into a repeat of tough season
In the bitter aftermath of a miserable season, Pitt’s 30-19 loss to Duke on Saturday in Durham, N.C., doesn’t matter as much as what coach Pat Narduzzi will do to fix the program’s trajectory in the days, weeks and months to come. There were the same problems that have plagued...
Pitt pounds Oregon State in NIT Preseason consolation game
After the second of Pitt’s five consecutive games against power conference teams ended in a 76-51 victory against Oregon State on Friday, Blake Hinson was asked to comment on that tough stretch of games. “Tough for whom?” Hinson said on the 93.7 FM postgame show. Call him brash, but don’t...
Pitt Take 5: Panthers seek positive finishing touch to sub-standard season
Pitt’s season ends Saturday in Durham, N.C., against Duke. It’s a game that appeared more difficult Oct. 14 when the Blue Devils were 5-1, with victories against Clemson and N.C. State and a 21-14 loss to Notre Dame. Since then, Duke is 1-4, including close road losses to North Carolina,...
No time to ‘stew’ over loss to Florida, Pitt prepares to confront Oregon State on Friday
It was 11:53 p.m. Wednesday, not long after Pitt’s loss to Florida in the semifinals of the Preseason NIT Tip-off, and coach Jeff Capel gave his players their orders. “I just told the team, ‘Right now, we have about seven more minutes to stew on this, and then we’re going...
Pitt cornerbacks, assistant Archie Collins prepare for ‘sentimental’ finale at Duke
Archie Collins and Marquis Williams have grown up together at Pitt over the past six seasons. It was 2018 when Collins was hired as Pitt’s secondary coach, his first full-time job at a Power 5 school. Williams, a freshman at the time, enrolled with an aggressive demeanor coaches demand from...
Pitt season-opening winning streak ends in loss to Florida
Not only was Florida the better shooting and more experienced team during its 86-71 victory Wednesday night against Pitt in the Preseason NIT Tip-off, but the Gators threw an element at the Panthers that other teams might try to mimic. “Their physicality really wore us down,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel...
Nate Yarnell, Bub Means hope to grow their unspoken bond when Pitt concludes season at Duke
Nate Yarnell and Bub Means grew up 815 miles apart. Yarnell is a piano-playing sophomore from Austin, Texas, who has patiently, quietly waited his turn as Pitt’s quarterback carousel kept spinning. Means, a senior wide receiver, is a 100-mph talker from Lovejoy, Ga., whose legs move fast too, and who...
Pitt assistant Andre Powell keeps running backs grinding through difficult season
When Pitt travels to Durham, N.C., to confront Duke on Saturday, Andre Powell will mark nine full seasons on coach Pat Narduzzi’s staff. They met when both were assistant coaches at Rhode Island in the 1990s, and their career paths crossed again in 2015 when Powell was one of Narduzzi’s...
Confronting Florida in NIT Season Tip-Off presents challenge for Pitt’s big men
One of the most-discussed storylines during the first four games of Pitt’s basketball season has been the growth of big men Federiko Federiko and the Diaz Graham twins, Guillermo and Jorge. Growth, in terms of production on the court and physically, as big men, slightly bigger men than they were...
Pitt will open its 2027 football season in Dublin, Ireland, against Wisconsin
Pitt football will cross the Atlantic Ocean for its 2027 opener. For only the second time in history that dates to 1890, Pitt will play a game outside of the United States. The team will open the 2027 season against the Wisconsin Badgers in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic...
Despite Nate Yarnell’s strong outing, Pitt QB situation unsettled for ’24
Before you can criticize Pat Narduzzi for failing to properly stack his quarterback room since Kenny Pickett’s departure, you have to give him credit for how he rebuilt the position during the first two seasons of his Pitt tenure. • Nathan Peterman — win. He threw five touchdown passes in...
Pitt’s Bub Carrington ‘thinks’ the game before he plays it at a high level
The son of a coach who taught him to “think” the game as much as play it, Pitt freshman point guard Bub Carrington is trying to keep his instant celebrity under control. “Same old,” he said Monday while chatting with reporters at Petersen Events Center. “Class, practice, games. Just trying...
Pitt women’s soccer blanks Memphis, advances to program’s first Elite Eight berth
Pitt women’s soccer team made more history Sunday night, earning its first Elite Eight berth with a 3-0 victory against Memphis in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 in Fayetteville, Ark. Next up for the Panthers will be a date with No. 1 Florida State at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Tallahassee,...
‘The place to be’ on Saturday nights, Duquesne club football won national championship 50 years ago
Players dressed for practice in a maintenance shed on Quarry Field on the South Side Slopes. The field was a mixture of dirt, rocks, glass, maybe some green grass. The coach handed out equipment from the back of his Cadillac. Sometimes, only 11 players showed up for practice, but Duquesne...
Pitt women’s soccer defeats Arkansas to reach NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
Pitt women’s soccer reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the second time in school history — and second consecutively — when Ellie Coffield’s header off a corner kick from Sarah Schupansky eluded Arkansas goalkeeper Phoebe Carver to give the Panthers a 4-3 second-round victory Friday night in Fayetteville, Ark....
Pitt basketball improves to 4-0 with 107-56 victory against Jacksonville
The time has come for Pitt’s basketball team to step into the big leagues. So far, coach Jeff Capel likes what he has seen from his rebuilt roster. Four victories in four outings against mid-majors, most recently an easy 107-56 win Friday night against Jacksonville (2-2) in front of a...
Analysis: Pitt’s victory against Boston College doesn’t mask offseason problems Pat Narduzzi must confront
After Pitt finally did what it’s supposed to do — defeat one of the series of mediocre (or worse) teams on its schedule — Donovan McMillon talked about being “terribly sad the season’s ending.” Will he feel the same way after the Duke game Nov. 25 if Pitt’s victory against...
Jaland Lowe, Will Jeffress define teamwork while coming off Pitt’s bench
Jaland Lowe and Will Jeffress have not been starters through the first three games of the season, but Pitt coach Jeff Capel values their contributions as part of his effort to recreate the team that won 24 games last season. In the victory against Florida Gulf Coast, Lowe and Jeffress...
With help from Rodney Hammond, QB Nate Yarnell leads Pitt to victory over Boston College
Unless he calls upon a first-year freshman, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi can’t dig any deeper into his quarterback depth chart than he did Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium. Third-string sophomore Nate Yarnell made his second collegiate start count, leading Pitt (3-8, 2-5 ACC) to a 24-16 victory against Boston College...
Nate Yarnell starts at quarterback for Pitt against Boston College
Sophomore Nate Yarnell started at quarterback for Pitt on Thursday night against Boston College, marking the third different player this season to man that position at the outset of a game. It will be Yarnell’s second career start after leading Pitt to a victory at Western Michigan last season. In...
Pitt seniors take possible last walk across Acrisure Stadium grounds
Several days before Pitt’s last home game of the season Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium, Pat Narduzzi met with his team. It’s a regular weekly meeting, but this one meant a bit more than the others to Narduzzi. He is in the midst of his final days with the team’s...
Analysis: Change is coming to Pitt football program, like it or not
After the 2022 season, Pat Narduzzi had the luxury of keeping that desk drawer locked where he stores his list of assistant coach candidates. It would be a big surprise if he doesn’t go looking for the key this offseason. There is always collateral damage when a team has a...
