Unintentional. Didn't notice. Nothing to see here.
Geoff Collins insists that his post-game brush-off of Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi following Collins' Georgia Tech team's 34-20 loss in its home finale was both nothing personal and, actually, nothing at all.
Narduzzi didn't see it that way, neither on the field as the Panthers' coach stood looking as Collins walked away from their split-second shake, and also not in Narduzzi's post-game press conference. “You know, I just said, 'Hey, you got a great team,'” Narduzzi said, “and he said, 'That's baloney,' I guess in nice words, and walked off. “I thought it was a good game.” Both coaches talked about the testy nature of the contest, which was a one-score game, 26-20, with six minutes left before Pitt tacked on a clinching touchdown. “After they had a personal foul, someone stole someone's towel on the other team, our guy grabbed it back, got 15 yards trying to get his towel back,” Narduzzi said. “I think they watch too much NFL football, one of those follies where someone steals a towel. They stole a towel from us and we got 15 yards for getting it back. Just some crazy stuff. “It was a fun game. Chippy is good. We just gotta be smart. I don't want any 15-yard penalties.” Collins spent nearly 90 seconds with his explanation of the post-game encounter – or roughly 90 times longer than the actual shake. “No, to be honest with you, I was focused on our guys, getting our guys to the band to celebrate,” said Collins, noting the YellowJackets' tradition of standing in the end zone in front of their band for a final song. “There were some things throughout the game that got chippy, and I was just making sure, I wanted to get to my guys, and if I came across any type of way, I had no intention of that. I was so focused on our team, so focused on making sure that we go and celebrate with our band that does so much for us and for our program. “I just wanted to make sure that we did that. I didn't mean anything by that in the moment. Our guys were battling all the way down to the end. … I don't think that should be any kind of story. If I was abrupt, I was just solely focused on our guys.” Regardless, Narduzzi fired off a chilly post-game Tweet.