Pitt's Pat Narduzzi said he prefers Detroit's dome to bright lights of Manhattan

In New York City, Pat Narduzzi could have caught a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, perhaps basked in the glow of Christmas lights in Times Square.

In Washington D.C., maybe Pitt’s coach could have invited President Trump, who once owned a professional football team, to practice.

Photo-ops everywhere, but none of that appealed to Narduzzi, who said Tuesday he is happy in Detroit, playing Eastern Michigan (6-6) of the Mid-American Conference in the Quick Lane Bowl the day after Christmas. Pitt played in Detroit in 2013, two years before Narduzzi arrived in Pittsburgh.

He’s also out of the cold.

“I’m happy to play in a dome (Ford Field),” he said.

Pitt finished the regular season 7-5, falling flat in the final two games after contending for the ACC Coastal championship in the previous weeks. That’s still one victory better than 6-6, but three ACC teams with the inferior record leapfrogged the Panthers and landed berths in higher-ranked games.

One is the Sun Bowl, where Florida State will play Arizona State, but Pitt was there last year and automatically was eliminated.

Another is the Independence in Shreveport, La., where Miami tangles with Louisiana Tech — also Dec. 26 — but that’s more than 1,100 miles from Pittsburgh. Fans would have howled in protest.

The Pinstripe in New York City was a possibility, but Pitt did not jump over Wake Forest (8-4) like the 6-6 teams did to the Panthers. Pitt played in the Pinstripe in 2016, but a return might have been considered too soon, Narduzzi said.

“It’s the bowls selecting. It’s not the ACC, which is kind of disappointing,” he said. “New York doesn’t want to see a team again that they saw three years ago.”

Actually, the Pinstripe made an exception with Boston College, who went there in 2014 and ’17, but Boston fans regularly travel to Yankee Stadium during the baseball season.

Pitt might have had a beef with the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Md., where North Carolina, which lost to Pitt, will play Temple. But Narduzzi said that wasn’t his first choice, anyway.

“I didn’t really want to go back to D.C. because our kids have already been there,” he said. (Pitt lost to Navy in 2015.)

“The (Pitt seniors) who sit in these front rows (in the meeting room), if they’ve been to those other places, they probably don’t want to go back, either. They’ve been there. They want to go do something else.”

The bottom line for Narduzzi is playing in a bowl — any bowl — is better than staying home.

“Too many people worry about what bowl game they’re in. It doesn’t matter. There are a lot of teams out there that don’t get to play that extra game.”

Plus, he gets to conduct nine practices, giving young players opportunities that weren’t available during the regular season.

Narduzzi said last week no one has come to him begging out of the game to get a head start on preparing for the NFL Draft. That hasn’t changed, he said.

“It’s all the culture of the football team you have,” he said. “That’s not the culture of Pitt football right now.”

Meanwhile, Narduzzi declined to identify those juniors and three-year players who have filed paperwork with the NFL to determine where they might get drafted if they leave school early. Second-team All-American defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman, All-ACC safety Paris Ford and defensive end Patrick Jones might have been curious enough to hear what the NFL says about their chances.

“Some guys have sent their stuff in,” said Narduzzi, noting answers might come back as early as next week. “We’ll get a letter, and we’ll get first round, second round or stay in school.”