'I'm a Pitt man': Pat Narduzzi becomes Pitt's longest-tenured* head coach

Pat Narduzzi made Pitt history when he led the Panthers onto on Thursday night.

The tilt with Syracuse was Narduzzi's 144th as the Panthers' head coach, breaking a tie with Jock Sutherland for the most games leading the program. Narduzzi still has a ways to go to catch Sutherland in terms of total seasons (15) and victories (111); now in his 12th season, the 27-13 win over the Orange brings his record to 83-61. 

After the game, Narduzzi reflected on the occasion by remembering his father. The elder Narduzzi carried a quote by the American philosopher Elbert Hubbard in his wallet, and Narduzzi now carries the same quote with him today. "It said, 'If you work for a man, in Heaven's name, work for him. If he pays your wages which supplies you bread and butter, work for him. Speak well of him, stand by him, stand by the institution he represents.' That's what it comes down to," Narduzzi said. "My dad was big on loyalty, and I inherited that from him. That's what it comes down to, is being loyal. I came here in 2015 to coach at Pitt. I've had opportunities to leave, I've stayed. It's because I love being here, I'm a Pitt man, and I'm proud to lead this program."

Hubbard and his wife were among the 1,197 souls who lost their lives when the German Navy sunk the RMS Lusitania in 1915, a turning point in drawing the United States into World War I. Sutherland, meanwhile, went 111-20-12 as Pitt's head coach from 1924-38, leading the 1937 Panthers team to the AP national title.

In other words, these are old, old men I'm referencing here, which makes sense because the Narduzzi story is based around an ancient idea. The idea that a coach and a school would stick together this long without Ryan Day-Ohio State-like success seems like a relic of a bygone age. Narduzzi, a Connecticut native who played at Youngstown State and Rhode Island and never coached at Pitt before taking the job, has won 8-plus games six times at Pitt, and he's also endured two losing seasons. The Panthers went 20-7 with an ACC title and two AP Top 25 finishes from 2021-22, and then went 3-9 in 2023. 

That's the deal at Pitt, where you're not going to go 11-1, or 10-2, or even 9-3 every single year. Narduzzi is on his sixth offensive coordinator in 12 seasons. But stability at the top has immunized Pitt from the boom and bust cycle that would be fatal in a town like Pittsburgh, where the battle for attention is always uphill.