How Pitt offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti turned Bill Stull into an All-Big East quarterback

The most memorable conversation Bill Stull had with Frank Cignetti Jr. during their season together at Pitt was the time the coach barely spoke a word.

Oct. 10, 2009: A season that became Pitt’s best this century until 2021.

The Panthers were playing UConn at Heinz Field. In the second quarter, Stull, the senior quarterback, threw an interception into the end zone — from the Huskies’ 4 — that probably should have been a touchdown.

Stull and teammates trudged into the locker room at halftime, down 7-3 to a team they believed they could beat.

Stull, a Seton-La Salle graduate, had been around long enough to know the drill. He was prepared to face the music, and he suspected it wouldn’t be pretty.

“Am I going to finish this game? What happens if I throw a pick?

“I see him come in. I see his demeanor,” said Stull, vividly remembering his coach 13 years later. “He’s serious. He speaks to the team. He’s all positive. Not a peep about the interception.

“ ‘You ready? You good? Let’s execute. It’s an us thing,’ “ Stull remembers Cignetti saying to him just before they returned to the field.

“Holy crap. You’re not even going to yell at me?” Stull thought. “I’m losing the game for us right now.”

Apparently, Cignetti knew when to push his players’ buttons and when to back off.

“He understood the personality of his team and especially the individuals,” Stull said.

As it turned out, Stull threw a pick-six after halftime but also touchdown passes to Jon Baldwin and Dorin Dickerson and a 2-point conversion to Cedric McGee. In the end, he led Pitt on a winning field-goal drive to salvage a 24-21 victory. At the end of the season, Stull was named All-Big East.

That’s just one example of why Stull said guys who played under Cignetti at Pitt in 2009 and ‘10 are excited about Pat Narduzzi’s new offensive coordinator. Cignetti officially was named to the position for the second time in 13 years Friday.

“What Frank Cignetti meant to me was a fresh restart,” Stull said. “It was a look-yourself-in-the-mirror type of thing to do some self-evaluation and see how bad I really wanted this.”

In the 2008 season before Cignetti arrived, Stull completed 57% of his passes for nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions under coordinator Matt Cavanaugh. A year later under Cignetti, the percentage rose to 65.1 and touchdowns to 21 while interceptions dipped to eight in 13 games.

Stull credited Cignetti with using his players “rather than imposing his will.”

“We were able to execute at a very high level consistently throughout that year. We definitely took more chances down the field. We definitely pushed the ball down the field and over the middle of the field, which we didn’t really try to do as much in the previous years for whatever reason. That could be another conversation.

“Coach Cig was a players’ coach, and he found that between myself and Baldwin, there was a connection, between myself and Dorin, obviously, was another type of connection.”

He also didn’t ignore the running game. Dion Lewis was Big East Rookie of the Year in 2009 when he rushed for 1,799 yards on 325 attempts, the most by one Pitt back in a season since Craig “Ironhead” Heyward’s 387 in 1987.

Stull said Cignetti’s plan was to teach the offense so thoroughly that players could use their athletic ability more efficiently.

“Every type of drill we did, we were talking about a specific play. We weren’t just saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this footwork just because.’

“Everything was literally brought back to a game scenario. ‘Hey, we’re going to focus on this type of footwork because this week we’re going to put in this type of play.’

“It was extremely detailed of what we were doing and why we were doing it.”

Cignetti retained many of the basics Cavanaugh had been teaching over the previous four seasons.

“It meant a lot when he came in and didn’t necessarily want to wipe out everything and kind of restart everything,” Stull said. “He changed a little bit himself. He was able to adapt to his players. He was able to recognize ground rules and ground formations, and he didn’t want to mess with that.”

Stull said he can’t recall any arguments with Cignetti. “He was up in the (coaches’) box (during games). Maybe that’s why we didn’t have any altercations,” he said, laughing.

Yet, there was one Stull tendency that irritated Cignetti. “He would get (upset) with me when I wouldn’t call timeout on the field. The competitor in me, I always thought I had enough time,” he said.

Cignetti surprised Stull in the days leading up to a nationally televised game against Notre Dame. Pitt was 8-1, ranked No. 12 in the nation. Notre Dame was 6-3. Stull would be compared to Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

“There’s a lot on the line. I’m meeting with him every second that I possibly can,” Stull said of Cignetti. “Coaches are getting irritated because players are late for meetings because they’re getting pulled to do interviews.”

One day, Stull and Cignetti crossed paths in a hallway, and the coach looked at him and said, “Do you like football or do you love football? Jimmy Clausen or Bill Stull? Who do you want on your team?

“I took my eyes off him to think about it,” Stull said, “and he was like Batman. He was gone.

“He knew how to get the best out of his players.”

Stull keeps in touch with many Pitt teammates who played for Cignetti, and he said there’s universal approval.

“There are a lot of happy people. With the players he has now, wait to see what he can do with the offense.”