Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 82

You can be sure Andre Powell shook Vincent Davis’ hand — or offered another form of dignified congratulations — after the Pitt running back gained 247 yards last season against Georgia Tech. A bear hug might not be Powell’s style as an assistant who’s been in the business for 34...

Pat Narduzzi and assistant coach Dave Borbely pieced together a new-look offensive line last week for Pitt’s game against New Hampshire. Center Owen Drexel wasn’t available – if he was injured, Narduzzi wasn’t saying – and that forced new snapper Jake Kradel (Butler) to move from right guard, Gabe Houy...

At one point while Pitt was crushing New Hampshire — and making a case for the permanent elimination of Power 5/FCS games — defensive end Habakkuk Baldonado put his arm around Wildcats quarterback Bret Edwards. No one was close enough to hear the conversation, but it appeared Baldonado, as friendly...

After overpowering New Hampshire and winning by the outrageously historic score of 77-7, Pitt still has plenty to prove and eight upcoming ACC games in which to do it. What was proven Saturday on the Heinz Field turf is New Hampshire (3-1), a nationally ranked FCS team, should not have...

Duquesne University and iHeartMedia Pittsburgh have entered into a broadcast partnership to air the school’s football and men’s basketball games. The partnership kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday with the Dukes’ game against Virginia University of Lynchburg. Play-by-play of the games will be available regionally and nationally on 104.7 HD2,...

Painfully proven by the 44-41 loss to Western Michigan, Pitt (and most teams) can’t win without singular focus on that week’s opponent. The beauty of sports, however, is there is almost always an opportunity for redemption, and Pitt can grab it Saturday at Heinz Field against New Hampshire. But what’s...

Football teams constantly seek improved efficiency in everything they do. Defenses are asked to hold the opposition to three downs and a punt. Offenses are asked to score as quickly and as often as possible. Makes sense, right? But Western Michigan last week accepted a trade that appeared to be...

Joe Schobert met T.J. Watt when both Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers were playing for the University of Wisconsin. Schobert was a walkon from Waukesha, Wis., Watt from 4 miles down the road in Pewaukee. Schobert remembers how injuries could not stop Watt from reaching his goals with the Badgers. “When he...

The Pittsburgh Steelers listed three of their four starting linebackers on the injury report Wednesday, but the good news is Devin Bush (groin) was a full participant at practice and T.J. Watt (groin) also practiced, but in a limited capacity. Alex Highsmith (groin) was one of five Steelers who did...

Hines Ward, who made 1,000 receptions not counting the touchdown grab that helped win Super Bowl XL, is among five former Pittsburgh Steelers named Wednesday as modern era nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022. Ward, who has been a semifinalist five times, is joined by...

For nearly 10 minutes Wednesday morning, Ben Roethlisberger spoke with reporters on topics ranging from his painful left pectoral muscle to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ no-huddle offense (apparently a shell of its former identity) to offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Of course, the question that matters most is whether Roethlisberger’s pec —...

Pat Narduzzi and Sean McDonnell will be standing on opposite sidelines Saturday at Heinz Field, working against each other as head coaches of Pitt and New Hampshire. But in the summer of 1989, they put their heads — and paint brushes — together as young guys trying to make an...

The feeling you get listening to Pat Narduzzi discuss the Western Michigan game is this: Those around him in the days after Pitt’s 44-41 loss didn’t have a great weekend, and that appears to include his assistants and the coach himself. During his weekly news conference Monday, the head coach...

Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi made a point Saturday afternoon aimed at keeping hope alive after the 44-41 loss to Western Michigan. “It’s one game. It’s not an ACC game,” he said. “All our goals are still ahead of us.” That’s one way to look at it, and that’s probably...

Not only did Pat Narduzzi admit he and his staff were “outcoached” in Pitt’s 44-41 loss to Western Michigan on Saturday, he also received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the second quarter. Asked about it after the game, he said, “It was so long ago I don’t remember. It was...

Pat Narduzzi and Kenny Pickett offered the obligatory praise for Western Michigan, and it was undeniably well deserved. Yet, on this day, it was not the point. Not even close. After Pitt (2-1) stumbled to a 44-41 loss Saturday before an announced crowd of 40,581 at Heinz Field, some of...

Carl A. DePasqua, who scouted Joe Greene for the Pittsburgh Steelers, recruited Dave Wannstedt to Pitt and coached the Panthers for four years before the arrival of Johnny Majors, died Wednesday in Mt. Lebanon. He was 93. Born in Williamsport, DePasqua was a three-sport athlete at Williamsport High School (football,...

Western Michigan coach Tim Lester wants to know what’s up with the No. 8 in Pittsburgh. Every time he flipped on the video machine to prepare for his team’s game against Pitt on Saturday at Heinz Field, No. 8 jerseys were going in both directions — quarterback Kenny Pickett throwing...

After seven nonconference games, Pitt will open its ninth season in the ACC on Dec. 3 at Virginia. The entire Pitt men’s basketball schedule was released Thursday night on the ACC Network. The Panthers’ final home game March 1 will be a historic event — Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final...

Robert Morris will open its 46th season of NCAA Division I basketball with a three-game road trip that will take the Colonials to Orlando, Fla., Lexington, Ky., and Athens, Ohio, before they finally return to the UPMC Events Center for the home opener. The season starts Nov. 10 at Central...

The conversation started as a job interview, but it ended with two coaches “talking ball,” according to Western Michigan coach Tim Lester. Pitt was looking for an offensive coordinator when Matt Canada left after the 2016 season, and one of the candidates to replace him was Lester, then the quarterbacks...

Therran Coleman and Bricen Garner are in agreement. They won’t walk onto the grass in Heinz Field’s south end zone (the one in front of Pitt’s student section) and try to relive history, even in their minds. “We’re past that,” Coleman said. “I’m looking to make new moments.” “I’m going...