In terms of personnel and oversight, Pitt enters a new era on special teams in 2026.
That’s the result of former coach Jacob Bronowski departing Pitt for a job at Auburn in early December, coupled with the Panthers losing their starting kicker to the transfer portal and long snapper, punter and returners to graduation.
Taking the reins as the Panthers’ new special teams coach is Mike Priefer, who joined Pat Narduzzi’s staff after spending last season at North Carolina under Bill Belichick.
While Priefer got his coaching start in the college ranks, he established himself in the NFL from 2002-2022, coordinating special teams for six franchises, most recently the Cleveland Browns (2019-22).
With spring ball a few weeks away, Priefer looks to instill his four-pillar philosophy into Pitt’s specialists.
“No. 1 is toughness,” Priefer said. “We’ve got to be mentally and physically tough. No. 2 is effort. Special teams is all about want-to, and especially in the NFL, guys come in and they’ve rarely played special teams. We have to convince them to play special teams and play it at a high level. The third word is discipline … (and the) last thing is enthusiasm. I think you have to love football if you’re going to cover a kickoff. You’ve got to be a bit nuts, and you’ve got to love football.”
Once Pitt gets underway with its 15 spring practices in early March, Priefer will have competition aplenty at numerous positions.
Following Trey Butkowski’s transfer to Michigan, Pitt brought in Sam Hunsaker (Northern Arizona) and Antonio Chadha (Western Illinois) from the portal.
Multi-year starting punter Caleb Junko graduated, leading to Gabe Russo’s arrival via the portal from Idaho State.
Pitt also lost long snappers Nico Crawford (portal) and Nilay Upadhyayula (graduation), with Thomas Jefferson alumni Justin Schmidt joining the program via Purdue as a result.
Finally, Pitt lost Desmond Reid and Deuce Spann (both of whom graduated and declared for the NFL Draft), as well as Kenny Johnson (transferred to Texas Tech), leaving Priefer to start from scratch on punt and kick return.
However, spring ball will be more of a time for basics as Priefer gets settled.
“No. 1 goal is fundamentals,” he said. “I want them to be able to do the things we’re going to ask them to do on Saturday afternoons at a high level. You can’t just draw up a scheme and hope you’re going to be good at it. You have to put (players) in position to be successful, so the big things for me are fundamentals and technique.
“Kickoff, kickoff return, punt return — it’s going to be all fundamentals all spring. We won’t even put in a scheme. … It’s going to be fundamentals and technique from Day 1 through Day 15.”
Priefer spent the most time in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings from 2011-18, where he oversaw return men Cordarrelle Patterson, who owns the NFL record for most career kickoff return touchdowns (nine), Percy Harvin and Marcus Sherels.
But with Cleveland, he enjoyed a career highlight and made NFL history Jan. 10, 2021. He became the first acting head coach to win a playoff game as the Browns defeated the Steelers at Heinz Field for their first postseason victory in 26 years.
Priefer took the helm when coach Kevin Stefanski was forced to watch the contest from his basement because he contracted covid-19. Stefanski returned to the sideline for the Browns’ Divisional round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
In the 2023 offseason, Priefer was fired by Cleveland and did not coach that fall.
After a year as a volunteer high school coach, he joined Belichick’s inaugural staff at UNC, staying in Chapel Hill for just the 2025 campaign.
“The positives were mainly that I learned a lot,” Priefer said. “(Belichick) is a great head coach. His football IQ is incredible. I learned a lot in that regard. It was a tough year for a lot of different reasons. … We went 4-8, first of all. We didn’t play good enough special teams, second of all. I think at the end of the day, it was good that I left. It’s worked out well for me.”
When the time came to interview at Pitt, Narduzzi was a familiar face, having coached with Priefer at Northern Illinois from 2000-01.
Whereas Bronowski coached special teams and tight ends, Priefer preferred to oversee only the specialists.
“People say ‘only special teams,’ and this drives me crazy a little bit, but it’s a big job,” Priefer said. “I didn’t want to coach offense or defense. That’s not my specialty. I’ve been coaching special teams solely since 2002.”
Also enticing for Priefer was Narduzzi hiring his son, Mike Jr., as an assistant special teams coach.
The younger Priefer formerly worked at Pitt for two seasons (2019-2020) as a graduate assistant and coordinated special teams at Division II Northwood and Western Illinois of the FCS.
“The combination of working with Pat, working here at the University of Pittsburgh in a program that he’s built really well with a culture — those combinations are many of the reasons I’m really excited to be here,” Priefer said.
