Pitt coach Jeff Capel has Guillermo Diaz Graham’s back during shooting slump
If Guillermo Diaz Graham is seeking help — or even sympathy — while trying to recover from his shooting slump, he doesn’t need to go far. Help is available a few decks above the Petersen Events Center floor, inside Pitt coach Jeff Capel’s office. “It happened to me my senior...
Pitt ousted by Louisville in women’s volleyball Final 4, loses 4th consecutive national semifinal match
Pitt’s women’s volleyball team had lived the good life this season, experiencing joy, camaraderie and victory in 33 of its first 34 matches. But hopes for Pitt’s first team national championship since 1976 — in any sport — crashed to the floor Thursday night at Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center. Louisville...
Pitt basketball’s challenging nonconference schedule could look better as season unfolds
Jeff Capel said Thursday he didn’t know he is coaching a team that sits 11th among 363 other Division I men’s basketball programs. “I appreciate you letting me know that,” Capel said when a reporter reminded him where Pitt stands in the crucial NCAA NET rankings. Of course, Capel is...
Pitt volleyball set for another slugfest with Louisville in 4th consecutive trip to Final 4
When Dan Fisher returns to campus — worst scenario Friday, better scenario Monday — he carefully will hang what he referred to as a “really cool” Louisville Slugger baseball bat on his office wall. The bat, a gift from tournament organizers, will serve as a permanent reminder of his Pitt...
Remembering his Pitt roots, Jared Wayne chooses Orange Arrow in the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats campaign
Houston Texans wide receiver Jared Wayne left Pitt after the 2022 season with 146 receptions for 2,038 yards and 13 touchdowns. But he also carried something else that will last with him far beyond his playing days and mean more than mere numbers: a sense of accomplishment off the field....
Pitt All-American running back Desmond Reid says he’ll return for 2025 season
On the day he was named an Associated Press All-American, running back Desmond Reid announced Monday via Instagram and X that he is returning to Pitt for the 2025 season. Let’s run it???? pic.twitter.com/ppfrGEGw5Z— Desmond Reid (@fastboidez) December 16, 2024 The news was not unexpected but qualifies as a significant...
Pitt lands 2 players on AP All-America team
For the second time in three seasons, Pitt has placed two players on the Associated Press All-America team. Sophomore linebacker Kyle Louis and junior all-purpose back Desmond Reid were second-team selections at their positions on the team that was revealed Monday. Louis and Reid previously were named All-Americans by The...
Charles ‘Kamikaze Kid’ Bonasorte, former Pitt football player, Oakland kiosk owner, dies
Charles Bonasorte, a former University of Pittsburgh football player and owner of a popular Oakland kiosk, died Friday. Pittsburgh Sports Now’s Harry Psaros said Bonasorte’s death is “a profound loss for the Pitt community.” Bonasorte was raised “just a stone’s throw from the Cathedral of Learning,” Psaros wrote, and frequented...
Pitt backup quarterback Ty Dieffenbach reveals plans to transfer
Pitt lost a second scholarship quarterback to the NCAA transfer portal when Ty Dieffenbach announced plans to leave the program. He joins Nate Yarnell, who also entered the portal after the season. Dieffenbach (6-foot-6, 220 pounds) arrived in January 2023, from Calabasas, Calif., where he threw for 4,153 yards and...
Pitt volleyball sweeps Kentucky, heads back to national semifinals for 4th straight year
Pitt outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez’s raising her arms with the NCAA regional championship trophy was mirrored by many of the 9,525 spectators in the crowd Saturday at Petersen Events Center. The raucous throng was celebrating what has become a tradition for the Pitt women’s volleyball team. The No. 1...
Feelings matter while Pitt’s women’s volleyball team prepares to confront Kentucky in Elite 8
When the Pitt women’s volleyball team had a chance to relax Friday, the day after a tense, five-set Sweet 16 victory against Oregon, coach Dan Fisher and players Valeria Vazquez Gomez and Bre Kelley stopped for a moment to express their feelings. With an Elite 8 NCAA Tournament game coming...
WVU coach Rich Rodriguez gets Backyard Brawl ’25 off to a thunderous start
Rich Rodriguez opened his second tenure as West Virginia football coach with a volley that went thundering north on I-79. Hired Thursday to return to coach his alma mater — a team he led to four Big East championships from 2001-07 — Rodriguez made an appearance Friday on “The Pat...
Pat Narduzzi short on injury updates for Pitt’s bowl game, but confident opt-outs will be minimized
Pat Narduzzi was in a good mood Thursday when he met virtually with reporters in advance of the GameAbove Sports Bowl, where Pitt will conclude its season Dec. 26 against Toledo. So good, as a matter of fact, that he made a bad joke when asked how quarterback Eli Holstein...
Pitt women’s volleyball defeats Oregon in thriller to reach NCAA Tournament Elite 8
Pitt sophomore Olivia Babcock stands 6-foot-4, with a right arm that can be intimidating when she moves purposely from the back row and swings it with all her strength. It’s almost as if she’s trying to deflate the volleyball with one massive blow. An All-American and ACC Player of the...
Freshman Brandin Cummings scores 30 off bench to lead Pitt past Eastern Kentucky
Pitt’s 96-56 victory against Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday night was special for freshman Brandin Cummings long before he scored 30 points and became only the fourth Pitt player to reach that benchmark in school history. Seated courtside at Petersen Events Center, almost close enough to block one of Cummings’ shots,...
Pitt wide receiver Konata Mumpfield declares for ’25 NFL Draft
After three seasons at Pitt and one at Akron, wide receiver Konata Mumpfield has decided to end his collegiate career and declare for the 2025 NFL Draft. Mumpfield’s decision further depletes the Panthers’ passing game for the GameAbove Sports Bowl on Dec. 26 after wide receiver Daejon Reynolds and quarterback...
Kyle Louis, Desmond Reid named 2nd-team All-Americans by The Athletic, CBS Sports
Kyle Louis and Desmond Reid, who were Pitt’s most consistent performers during the football season, were named second-team All-Americans on Wednesday by The Athletic and CBS Sports. Louis, a first-time All-American, offered a little bit of everything from his outside linebacker position, compiling 96 tackles, 15½ for a loss, seven...
Beach volleyball is king in Dan Fisher’s hometown, but he has carried collegiate version to great heights at Pitt
Dan Fisher grew up in Santa Barbara, Calif., where residents play beach volleyball like Pittsburgh kids play Wiffle ball or Little League. “It is mainstream there,” he said. But it wasn’t on the beach where he learned the collegiate game of volleyball that has lifted him to the top of...
Joe Naunchik remembered fondly as athlete, football coach after 40 years on area sidelines
Bill Rometo was 5 when he first met Joe Naunchik, then a three-sport star at Plum High School. “He was probably the best athlete to ever come out of Plum,” Rometo said of Naunchik, who was a football standout under Rometo’s father, Bill Rometo Sr. “At that time, my dad...
Pitt kicker Ben Sauls named to PFF All-America team
After a season of reliability, Pitt senior kicker Ben Sauls was named Tuesday to the Pro Football Focus All-America Team. He is the only kicker on the 27-man squad. With one game to play — the GameAbove Sports Bowl on Dec. 26 in Detroit — Sauls has converted a team-high...
Pitt Take 5: After long road stint, Panthers return for 1st home game since Nov. 18
Under normal circumstances, Pitt men’s basketball plays eight games in a month. That’s what the schedule will demand in January and February and how it was structured in November. But this is December, and there must be allowances made for final exams, family and, realistically, an opportunity for players to...
Pitt senior setter Rachel Fairbanks determined to end 4th NCAA Tournament with titleVideo
While she was being recruited by Pitt volleyball coach Dan Fisher four years ago, Rachel Fairbanks informed him she was able to jump and touch as high as 10 feet. Fisher admitted he was skeptical. Besides, he was recruiting the Los Angeles-area native to be a setter, not an outside...
Tennessee grabs No. 1 in AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll; Pitt falls out of rankingsVideo
Tennessee is the new No. 1 in men’s college basketball after a massive shakeup in the AP Top 25. The Vols received 58 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel Monday to reach No. 1 for the first time since the 2018-19 season. Tennessee climbed two spots from last week...
Pitt defensive linemen David Ojiegbe, Thomas Aden enter NCAA transfer portal
The number of departing players from the Pitt football roster climbed to 12 on Monday, the first day the NCAA transfer portal officially opened. The two most recent players to announce their intentions to leave are reserve defensive linemen David Ojiegbe and Thomas Aden. Ojiegbe, a redshirt freshman, will be...
Pitt accepts invitation to play Toledo in GameAbove Sports Bowl in Detroit
No matter how poorly Pitt played in its final five games of the regular season, that 7-0 record at the outset matters, too. The Panthers were rewarded Sunday for their 7-5 record when they were invited — and accepted the bid — to the GameAbove Sports Bowl at Ford Field,...
