Pitt basketball will open Nov. 25 against St. Francis (Pa.) at The Pete
Pitt’s men’s basketball team will open its season Nov. 25 against St. Francis (Pa.) in the first of at least three nonconference games at Petersen Events Center. Tip-off for the opener is 7 p.m. The Panthers also will play Drexel on Nov. 28 and Gardner-Webb on Dec. 12, and are...
Pitt’s good fortune runs out in abnormal season
Pat Narduzzi prayed. But he now knows the awful truth: The opponent, inevitably, was too strong. Pitt played eight games over two months before Saturday’s game at Georgia Tech was postponed out of respect for covid-19 concerns. Considering what has happened across college football all season — 59 games have...
Pitt women’s basketball to play George Mason, Hofstra, Delaware in nonconference games
The Pitt women’s basketball team will open the season when it hosts George Mason on Nov. 25 at Petersen Events Center, the first of three nonconference games in a 23-game schedule. The Panthers also will host Hofstra on Nov. 29 and Delaware on Dec. 6. The Hofstra game will involve...
Pitt-Georgia Tech game postponed because of covid protocols
After playing most of this season uninterrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, Pitt postponed its game Saturday at Georgia Tech because of covid-related issues on both teams. Football injuries at Georgia Tech also were cited by its athletic director, Todd Stansbury. The ACC said in a statement the game was postponed...
Paris Ford explains decision to leave Pitt
Ten days after he opted out of the final four games of Pitt’s season, All-ACC safety Paris Ford explained his decision and declared for the NFL Draft on Thursday in a message on Twitter. Forever, Thankful. ??#H2P— 12OUT. pic.twitter.com/XpRCud4NHb— Pᴀʀɪs Fᴏʀᴅ (@DiddyBop12_) November 12, 2020 Ford was one of the...
Norwin’s Lacey Bernick, Katelyn Kauffman among those to sign with Pitt soccer
Lacey Bernick and Katelyn Kauffman were a dynamic one-two punch for the Norwin girls soccer team. Fast on the outside, nimble on possessions and often marked, the forward/midfielders drew college attention early in their careers as they helped the Knights remain a top-end team in WPIAL Class AAAA. The All-WPIAL...
Pitt’s Australian-born punter Kirk Christodoulou enjoys life in ‘his second home’
If Kirk Christodoulou thought it was traumatic to have Notre Dame’s 257-pound Isaiah Foskey bear down upon him to block a punt, imagine how he felt the day he walked into his first class in Pitt’s Katz Graduate School of Business. Yes, two different levels of trauma, but Christodoulou handled...
Pitt women’s basketball will open 20-game ACC schedule Dec. 10 at Virginia Tech
The Pitt women’s basketball team will open a 20-game ACC schedule Dec. 10 at Virginia Tech, with the Panthers playing their home opener three days later against Clemson at Petersen Events Center. The ACC announced its 20-game schedule Wednesday, a two-game increase from last year because of the coronavirus pandemic....
Pitt picked to finish 13th in ACC preseason basketball poll
Pitt will enter the 2020-21 basketball season with something to prove after the Panthers were picked in the ACC preseason media poll to finish 13th in the 15-team league. Since Jamie Dixon left after the 2015-16 season, the Panthers have a 13-61 ACC record. They have finished tied for 13th...
North Huntingdon man details Pitt football coach, Carnegie native who died in World War IVideo
A World War I history buff from North Huntingdon shed light on the University of Pittsburgh football coach who quit patrolling the Panthers’ sideline at Forbes Field more than a century ago so he could become a lawyer, only to be killed a month before the Armistice took effect on...
Pitt elder statesmen Rashad Weaver, Jimmy Morrissey focus on final stretch
When Rashad Weaver was asked how he’s changed after five football seasons and more than four years at Pitt, he laughed. How could he not change? “I was fresh out of high school (in 2016 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.),” Weaver said, “not doing any type of technique (as a pass-rushing...
Pitt will allow 1,250 inside the Pete for basketball games
Employing an abundance of caution and in accordance with state and local covid restrictions, Pitt will allow 1,250 people in the Petersen Events Center for each of its 14 home basketball games this season, 10% of capacity (12,508). School officials released the details Tuesday morning. The capacity number is subject...
Pat Narduzzi would welcome Irish into ACC, but on a permanent basis
In this upside-down college football season, Notre Dame, an independent since 1887, has climbed into first place in the ACC. The undefeated Irish, No. 2 in the Associated Press poll, agreed to join the conference only for the 2020 season to facilitate scheduling in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic....
Pat Narduzzi’s gray hair byproduct of 2020 season
Pat Narduzzi is 54 years old, not old by anyone’s standards. But when asked about the special problems associated with coaching a young team, he turned his head to reveal some gray peeking out from the temples. “They give us a lot of gray hair. That’s for sure,” he said....
Pitt notebook: Run game makes a modest comeback
The numbers were modest but productive. Pitt running back Vincent Davis averaged 4.0 yards per carry, and his 28-yard run was Pitt’s longest of the season and set up a touchdown in a 41-17 victory Saturday against Florida State. A.J. Davis recorded an 18-yard run among his five carries for...
Hobbled Pitt recovers, snaps losing streak at Florida State
Kenny Pickett returned, courageously and triumphantly, completing 78% of his passes while moving on a heavily bandaged left ankle. The defense, missing six players who were starters at the outset of training camp, threw a shutout in the second half and intercepted three passes. Alex Kessman hit from 51 yards,...
Pat Narduzzi believes Pitt players will remain hungry against Florida State
The game presented by the ACC Network at 4 p.m. Saturday will match Pitt (3-4, 2-4), the conference’s ninth-place team, against Florida State (2-4, 1-4), mired even deeper in the standings at 12. It will be Pitt’s first game after safety Paris Ford opted out. Given Ford’s love for the...
Pat Narduzzi knocks on wood, hopes Pitt stays covid-free for another week
There is a large, wooden table in a meeting room inside the Pitt football offices, and Pat Narduzzi makes frequent use of it. The coronavirus has infested college football with repeated cases nationwide, but Pitt’s players have had no positive covid-19 tests over its past five games. “Our kids need...
Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi suggests playing injured Kenny Pickett might be ‘risky’ choice
After barely a nudge from reporters, Pat Narduzzi — a coach who stubbornly avoids discussing players’ injuries — quickly turned the topic toward quarterback Kenny Pickett’s sore left ankle Thursday afternoon. The initial question concerned tight end Lucas Krull and middle linebacker Wendell Davis and whether they might play Saturday...
Dick Groat, celebrated two-sport athlete, turns 90
Dick Groat, a two-time World Series champion, MVP, basketball and baseball All-American and a member of three Halls of Fame, reached another milestone Wednesday. He turned 90. Groat, a Swissvale native, celebrated with a private dinner, seated with family at Champion Lakes, the golf course he owns in Fairfield Township,...
Covid protocols put Pitt’s swimming, diving teams on pause
Pitt’s swimming and diving teams have paused all activities among their athletes because of “covid-related protocols,” the athletic department announced Wednesday. Pitt’s meet at Notre Dame, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, has been canceled. The swim team is the third Pitt athletic program affected by covid concerns during the fall...
Injuries, opt-outs force young Pitt team into on-the-job training
Perhaps it is a good sign Pitt defensive coordinator Randy Bates didn’t want to discuss Paris Ford’s decision to opt out. It’s also not a surprise. Win or lose, Pitt’s final four games will create waves at least as important as any past developments, and Bates said it is “absolutely”...
Mind games: ACC schools ramping up mental health services
Tre Tipton felt off. Yet the Pitt wide receiver spent years wrestling with his inner demons in silence, assuming it was up to him to sort things out on his own because, well, that’s just how things worked. “We have to be the manliest of men,” Tipton said. “From a...
Florida State coach Mike Norvell made quick, meaningful stop in Pittsburgh
Mike Norvell arrived in Pittsburgh nearly 10 years ago, brimming with energy and ambition. Named co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, he was part of the Todd Graham’s first and only staff at Pitt. Winning more and more of Graham’s trust through the 2011 season, Norvell called the plays in...
Pitt notebook: Players get day off Tuesday to vote in the election
Division I athletes throughout the NCAA will take a break from their sports Tuesday, so they will have time to vote in the presidential election. Coach Pat Narduzzi, who conducted practice Monday to compensate, said about half of his players already have cast a ballot. “Everybody talks about wanting change,...
