Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi Remembers College Days at Rhode Island

PITTSBURGH -- Almost all of Pat Narduzzi's coaching stops have had something in common. From Northern Illinois to Pitt, all of them fit relatively neatly into a geographic region that starts on the western egde of Appalachia and spills over into the midwest. This is home for Narduzzi, the Youngstown, Ohio native turned Pitt Panthers head coach, but his career began in a completely different place. 

For Narduzzi, a Week 4 matchup against the Rhode Island Rams is more than just the next hurdle for his current team to overcome. It's a reunion with his alma mater, the place where his football career flourished, coaching dreams materialized and family started

“I played football there, got my degree there, met my wife there and started a family there," Narduzzi said. "Of course, I coached there as well." 

Narduzzi didn't expect to move north. He was happy as a starter at linebacker for his father Bill's Youngstown State Penguins. But when his father left to take the defensive coordinator job at Columbia, Narduzzi decided to transfer. He didn't want to play at Columbia but did want to stay near family. 

Rams coaches saw Narduzzi on film accidentally. They were preparing for a playoff game against Akron, who had played Youngstown State earlier that year. Narduzzi became a priority target for them upon finding out he wanted to transfer. So he chose South Kingston, Rhode Island over New York City, three hours from his dad. 

It turned out to be a successful move for Narduzzi, who started for all three years as a Ram under Bob Griffin, his head coach and mentor. Griffin offered Narduzzi a graduate assistant job upon his graduation and the rest is history. He climbed from the MAC to the Big East to the Big 10 as a defensive coordinator before taking the head coaching job at Pitt in 2014, the conclusion of a decades-long held dream. 

"I knew in high school that I wanted to be a coach. Didn’t know I was going to be one," Narduzzi said. "I was into it, I’ll put it that way. I think I was the only player with a projector in my dorm room.”

Pitt running backs coach Andre Powell, who coaches alongside Narduzzi in Rhode Island, said he couldn't sit still. When he wasn't plugged into film, he was doing home improvement or skirting union rules to renovate offices. The infectious energy is part of why Powell wanted to reunite in Pittsburgh.

"He stayed moving," Powell said. "‘Hey, let’s come in Saturday and paint the offices’. He was just one thing after another. I’d go over to his house and he’d say ‘I cut a hole in the wall and put a closet in’. He was just always on the go.”

That energy persists decades later. Powell said Narduzzi is the same person today that he was as a graduate assistant, just not in playing shape anymore.

“[He was the] same guy, except he had abs," Powell said.

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