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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCENCEApril 22, 2015Pat NarduzziPAT NARDUZZI: Obviously, it's great to be on my first conference call here, teleconference with the ACC. We're excited up here in Pittsburgh to compete in another season in the ACC. As a new head football coach, can't tell you how excited we are. I've been on the job for almost four months now, since being hired in December, the day after Christmas. It's been a whirlwind, but I've been able to put together a topnotch staff here that's currently on the road, and day by day, we've built to put this program back where we expect it to be here in Pittsburgh and the ACC. Again, recruiting's going well. Spring ball, just finished up last Saturday and had a great showing. Although Heinz Field was under construction, we couldn't have a spring game there, I had it down the road in a beautiful setting at Highmark Stadium and had a ton of excitement there. Had a lot of former great Pitt players there like Larry Fitzgerald and Aaron Donald were coaches for us, and LeSean McCoy and Curtis Martin were in attendance as well as Bill Fralic. So I think there's a ton of excitement here with the little change we've had here in the staff, and I'm excited for September 5th to come. Q. I was wondering about Artie Rowell, and what do you expect from his recovery, and when do you think he'll be fully functional this summer? PAT NARDUZZI: Thanks, Jerry, long time no talk to. Jerry is the first to ask a question, and I see him every day. Artie, we expect to have him back here full go, going through our summer conditioning program, which will start, I believe, May 10th. Coach will‑‑ you know, after the nondiscretionary time is over with. So we'll expect him to be full go as we go forward. He's going to, again, compete for that center spot as well as those guard spots. We're going to find a way to get him in there. I think Artie, one way or another, competition‑wise is going to find himself somewhere in that guard/center position. Q. Hi, Coach. You and Coach Dantonio built quite a successful program at Michigan State. I was wondering what lessons, if any, you took from Coach Dantonio with you to Pittsburgh. PAT NARDUZZI: You know, I worked with Coach for 11 seasons. Obviously, you pick up a lot, especially having the success we had really from the three years at Cincinnati and then eight seasons at Michigan State. So you pick up a lot. We'd have to have a heck of a lot longer teleconference to go through all the different things, but I guess the first thing is you win championships with defense would be the number one thing. Being a defensive coordinator for so many years, you just realize how important that is as you go through the years. We've been pretty dominant up there through the years, and, again, even down to Cincinnati, I think we're pretty good. That's one of the major things, I think. And the other thing I'd say is really the way we practiced up at Michigan State, and we'll do the same thing here at University of Pittsburgh, is just setting up situational defense, situational offense, and really working those situations, practicing those situations in a practice setting. And also working all the different types of offenses that we need to see. It's good to have a multiple offense like we had at Michigan State, so you're seeing a little bit of the spread, a little bit of a pro offense, which is what you're going to have to see throughout the ACC. Q. I wanted to ask you about comments West Virginia's athletic director made recently about wanting to renew the rivalry with Pittsburgh. I'm just curious, I know you've got a lot on your plate your first four months on the job, but I'm curious what are your thoughts on that series. PAT NARDUZZI: I did read those articles on the West Virginia game, and obviously, the Backyard Brawl is something that I've grown up with. I think that's something the new athletic director here will have to answer that, and I'm sure we'll have that conversation when he gets here and also with Chancellor Gallagher as well on campus here. Obviously, you love to have those rivalries, and West Virginia is a great team in a great conference. We want to play the best. So we're always going to schedule some of the best opponents we can and really embrace future and past rivalries. Q. Good morning. Now that you've been at Pitt for some months now, what have you learned about why this school is going to be a good fit for you and vice versa? PAT NARDUZZI: I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, which is an hour from us. I just loved the tough city of Pittsburgh and everything it has. You talk about a Power Five conference school in the ACC conference and how great of a conference it is, and to be able to get your first head coaching job at a place like this is incredible. Again, so close to home in such fertile recruiting territory with, obviously, the WPIAL being right in our backyard, state of Pennsylvania recruiting, being an hour from the border of Ohio‑‑ probably half hour from the border of Ohio really, the closest point. And then being able to dig into West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, D.C. area. I think there's so many great players in a 150, 200‑mile radius, that it's easy to get them on campus here so they're able to see the university. Q. And you hired Kevin Sherman as your receivers coach. What about him kind of got your attention there? PAT NARDUZZI: We played Purdue when I was at Michigan State, and schematically speaking, I thought they did a great job. I really liked the way the receivers played and what they did. I heard a lot of great things about him. I know he's got ACC ties. Besides all that, probably the number one thing, which is the number one thing I looked for in all of our staff hires, which is, number one, they're good people, and everything checked out on Kevin. Really enjoyed the last few months with him. Q. Just curious, what's the best thing you saw out of your defensive guys last spring that will allow them to thrive in the system that you're bringing in there? PAT NARDUZZI: There's so many things, when you take over a defense that, I guess, hasn't been as good as it needs to be in the past and really has held back the great things our offense has done. There's so much to learn. Right before I got on the conversation here, as we were waiting on the line to get on, one of our middle linebackers just called me, and I'm kind of watching the spring game‑‑ you've got so many duties to do here, but trying to get through the rest of the spring game, and I'm texting him back and forth on some little things he didn't do well in the spring game and some front adjustments and checks that he needed to make up front and just trying to teach him. So there's so many little things. Our kids are anxious to continue to learn. I don't know if I can pinpoint one thing, but the one thing I did like is their attitude and their engagement in spring ball. They're willing to learn. And the thing, I've talked to probably 15 kids the last few days, they're excited about what they're doing on defense, how we're doing it, and they like it. If they like what we're doing defensively, then I think that's obviously the first step. Q. I just wanted to ask you, what did you see from Chad in terms of growth and picking up the offense this spring? And how much do you expect Peterman to challenge him when he gets here over the summer for that starting job? PAT NARDUZZI: I expect all of our freshmen or our new incoming signees to come in and compete at every position, I can tell you that. There's going to be open competition, not only with the new guys coming in but the current guys on our squad. Hopefully, they're competing all summer. To answer your question about Nate Peterman coming in here, we're going to come in here‑‑ he's going to come in here to compete. Chad knows that. Chad's embraced that, and Chad's got to look at it As, hey, this guy is going to make me better. I think it's always good when you can look in that rearview mirror and see that someone's there on you. I don't know that Chad had that throughout the spring, to be honest with you. So he'll have that in fall camp, and they'll learn together, and it will make us a better football team. Q. Thanks a lot. Happy birthday. PAT NARDUZZI: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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