Pitt promotes safeties coach Cory Sanders to assistant head coach

Pitt assistant coach Cory Sanders, who has sent three safeties to the NFL and has one of the top crops at that position this season, has been promoted to assistant head coach. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi made the announcement Tuesday.

Sanders, 39, is approaching his seventh season at Pitt. While replacing Charlie Partridge as assistant head coach, he will continue working with the overall secondary, specifically safeties. Partridge left after last season to join the Indianapolis Colts’ coaching staff.

Congrats @coachcsanders You earned and deserve this promotion!! Proud of you https://t.co/HA0b4V0hM4

— Charlie Partridge (@CoachPartridge) June 18, 2024

“From the day we hired Cory back in 2018, he has been an outstanding resource for our entire program,” Narduzzi said in a statement released by the university. “This promotion reflects the deep impact he already makes on our players, coaches and staff. Cory is an excellent teacher and mentor who makes everyone around him better. He sees the larger picture in everything we do. Everyone in our building will benefit from his expanded role with our program.”

“I am incredibly grateful to coach Narduzzi for giving me the opportunity to make an even greater impact for Pitt football,” Sanders said in a statement. “The University of Pittsburgh is a tremendous place and it has been such an honor to work on behalf of the Pitt football program the past six years. I truly believe our best is yet to come and I’m excited to work with our coaches and players to bring another ACC championship trophy back to Pitt.”

Sanders was tasked with replacing both starting safeties for the 2023 season, and he developed Donovan McMillon, Javon McIntyre and Phillip O’Brien Jr. into productive players. All three return for 2024, giving Pitt one of the best safety groupings in the ACC. Before 2023, Sanders lost Erick Hallett II, Brandon Hill and Damar Hamlin to the NFL.

McMillon led the Panthers in tackles with 105, the most by a Pitt defender since 2015, and earned honorable mention All-ACC last season. McIntyre was second with a career-high 85 tackles and second with seven pass breakups. O’Brien intercepted three passes.

Previously, Sanders was defensive backs coach at Western Michigan in 2017, sending cornerbacks Darius Phillips and Sam Beal to the NFL. He was defensive coordinator at an NCAA Division II program, the University of West Florida, in its inaugural season of 2016.

He also spent five seasons (2010-14) coaching at Division II Saint Joseph’s (Ind.) College, his alma mater, where he was the team’s defensive coordinator and later head coach in 2011. As a player at Saint Joseph’s, he earned all-Great Lakes Valley Conference honors in all four seasons.

Sanders’ coaching career started at North Central (Ill.) College (2007) and Elmhurst (Ill.) College (2008-09).