Pitt hires Frank Cignetti as offensive coordinator

Frank Cignetti Jr. is Pat Narduzzi’s choice as Pitt’s next offensive coordinator.

Cignetti, 56, has been offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Boston College the past two seasons. He will replace Mark Whipple, who left for Nebraska after the season. Cignetti will be Narduzzi’s fifth offensive coordinator in eight seasons.

Cignetti coordinated Pitt’s offense and tutored its quarterbacks in 2009 and ’10 when Pitt won 18 games, and quarterbacks Bill Stull and Tino Sunseri threw for a combined 5,205 yards and 37 touchdowns. Pitt was ranked 15th in the final Associated Press poll in ’09, the most recent season before 2021 the Panthers won 10 games.

Dorin Dickerson, who became an All-American tight end while playing for Cignetti in 2009 and later played six seasons in the NFL, said Pitt hit the jackpot.

“He made my career,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson wasn’t playing as much he liked going into his senior season of ’09. But during a preseason conversation, Cignetti said that would change.

“I’ll never forget. He looked at me (and said), ‘Dorin, you’re 6-2, 230 pounds, and you run a 4.4. It’s not rocket science.’

“I looked at him and I was like, ‘Yeah, I heard that before.’

“He said, ’We’re going to get you the damn ball.’ ”

Dickerson finished that season with 49 receptions for 529 yards and 10 touchdowns, including a score in five consecutive games.

“He kept his word. He knew how to get me the ball,” Dickerson said. “He made us see something that we didn’t see before, and it was real.”

Dickerson said the current group of Pitt players should be excited with Cignetti calling the plays.

“He gets the best out of all the players he coaches,” Dickerson said.

“I’m ecstatic right now. There’s a sense of comfortability for guys like myself who played on that (2009) offense that he is going to be back and (for) what he’s going to do for the group of kids he has now. They should feel like they have a chance to do something, not just individually, but as a team.”

Under Cignetti, Bill Stull became an All-Big East quarterback and running back Dion Lewis was named conference Rookie of the Year.

Dickerson added, “This is one of the greatest hires since Pitt hired him back in 2009, to be honest with you.”

But those two seasons at Pitt represent only a small part of Cignetti’s travels, achievements and connections since he graduated from Indiana High School.

After a playing career at IUP where he was an All-PSAC safety for his father, Frank Cignetti Sr., he began his coaching career in 1989 as a graduate assistant at Pitt under coach Mike Gottfried.

Cignetti coached with his father at IUP from 1990-98, serving as offensive coordinator his final two seasons.

After IUP, he served a variety of teams in the NFL and college. He has been with the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, St. Louis Rams, New York Giants and Green Bay Packers. He coordinated the Rams offense in 2015 and also worked with quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning with the Packers and Giants.

He has been offensive coordinator at IUP, Fresno State, North Carolina, California, Pitt, Rutgers and Boston College. With Boston College the past two seasons, he tutored former Pine-Richland quarterback Phil Jurkovec while installing a pro-style offense.

Jurkovec, who will bypass the 2022 NFL Draft and return to Boston College next season, suffered a hand injury in Week 2 of the ’21 season and underwent surgery. He played in the final four games, throwing for 589 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions.

In 2020, Jurkovec passed for 2,558 yards, 24 touchdowns and five interceptions in 10 starts for Boston College, including a 31-30 overtime victory against Pitt. Jurkovec threw for 358 yards and three touchdowns against the Panthers and later became the first BC quarterback with four or more 300-yard passing games since Matt Ryan in 2007.