Pat Narduzzi speaks of his apology to Pitt's players after post-Notre Dame remarks

Saying “I’m sorry” couldn’t have been easy for Pat Narduzzi in the aftermath of his remarks questioning the makeup of Pitt’s roster and, in effect, his players’ ability.

But he shouldered that burden almost as soon as he boarded the plane Saturday night after the epic 58-7 beatdown by Notre Dame, speaking privately to some players, he said. Then, back home 24 hours later, he stood in front of the entire team and apologized again. On Monday, he spoke of his postgame remarks a third time at his weekly news conference.

Narduzzi cracked open a new and unwanted controversy for his 2-6 team when he was asked Saturday to explain what has placed Pitt into this miserable situation. The loss was Pitt’s worst to any opponent since a 60-6 defeat in 1996, also at Notre Dame.

“As a football coach, you lose a lot of good players a year ago,” he told reporters in South Bend, Ind., after the game. “You think, as a coach, you have to replace them. We, obviously, haven’t.

“It starts with me. I didn’t do a good enough job coaching today. Put it on me.”

The second part of that remark wasn’t enough to mitigate his initial words, triggering social media reaction by some players and the subsequent apology from their coach.

Narduzzi always meets with his players Sunday, but this meeting started a bit differently than the others.

“First thing I said as I sat here at the podium was apologizing to our guys about my postgame comments,” he said, “which didn’t, obviously, come out the way I intended them to come out. Sometimes that happens.”

He spoke emotionally Monday but never lost composure.

“When I look at it, there’s nothing worse than a loss. The loss hurts. Everybody in that locker room is hurt,” he said. “When you feel like your players are hurt by something the head coach said, that hurts even worse. It makes you sick to your stomach. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep Saturday night, I promise you that.”

Narduzzi said his relationship with his players is important to him. “The No. 1 thing we talk about all the time.”

“That never, ever can change. When you don’t have a relationship with your team, you got an issue. They know where I was coming from. I think they get it. Relationships are everything. It’s why I coach. It’s what I do. It’s what I’ve done for years. Players love the coaches, and coaches love the players.”

Culture. Loyalty. Accountability. All the reasons this team will ultimately persevere under Coach Narduzzi. https://t.co/fONPmDG6n3

— Byron Floyd Sr. (@CoachBFloyd) October 30, 2023

Narduzzi believes he defused any friction with the players that his postgame remarks might have created. Eliminating distractions is especially vital this week, with No. 4 Florida State coming to Acrisure Stadium on Saturday.

“They were all great. They said, ‘Coach, I totally understand.’ I feel really good where we are going into this week,” he said.

When asked what he intended to say after the game, he declined to elaborate.

“I don’t even think it’s up for discussion,” he said. “I really don’t need to get into it. I, obviously, did a poor job of it. And it doesn’t even matter at this point. So I would rather just move on.”

He also said he doesn’t expect the controversy to tarnish his reputation with recruits or what he has accomplished over nine seasons at Pitt, including building the second-best record in the ACC since 2015, his first season.

“Nobody is graded on one night, whether it’s a player or whether it’s a coach. Whether it’s your play or what you say,” he said. “There is always another Saturday. There is always another (news conference).”

“You’re defined over time, and I think over time my guys are my guys. I love my guys. I know how bad they’re hurting after that loss.

“You’re graded over what you’ve done for nine years. It’s loyalty. I always have loyalty to our football team. You can look at that and then you can look at one six-second snippet. Which one are you going to go with? It’s up to you.”