Pitt linebackers coach Rob Harley leaving for Arkansas State
After six seasons as an original member of Pat Narduzzi’s staff, Pitt linebackers coach Rob Harley accepted an offer to become defensive coordinator at Arkansas State of the Sun Belt Conference.
Thank you Pitt? ? #H2P pic.twitter.com/EgiJIzVt2D
— Coach Harley (@robharley34) December 24, 2020
Harley also has been Pitt’s recruiting coordinator since 2017. His departure is the first change in Narduzzi’s staff since the end of the 2018 season.
After playing safety at Ohio State, Harley, 38, began his coaching career in 2010 at Ohio Dominican, spending two years as linebackers, defensive backs and assistant special teams coach. He initially hooked up with Narduzzi in 2012 as a two-year graduate assistant at Michigan State.
A year later, he was linebackers coach at Florida International before Narduzzi hired him at Pitt in 2015.
— Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) December 24, 2020
With Harley’s departure, only running backs/special teams coach Andre Powell and tight ends coach Tim Salem remain from Narduzzi’s initial staff assembled in 2015.
Arkansas State finished 4-7, 2-6 in the Sun Belt, last season. Butch Jones, the former coach at Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Tennessee, was hired as head coach Dec. 12.
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Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
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