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Pitt Football Coach PAT NARDUZZI Talks Ball with David Pollack
00:25:37
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- [00:02]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
And, Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
- [00:12]
Podcast Host
Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
- [00:15]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [00:22]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
- [00:24]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Anyways, get a'@libertymutual.com or with your local agent.
- [00:27]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Liberty, Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
- [00:30]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Protein packed meals in 10 minutes. TikTok's got millions of them. Could you whip one up in under eight? Probably. But hey, it's not a race. Grab the recipes on TikTok and start cooking. All right, Next here on CBall, Git Ball. Another defensive guy, a linebacker. Just, you know, I want to get in the backstory a little bit. Coach with coach Pat Narduzzi from Pitt. It's seems weird to say that you've been there now for 10 plus years, but you've been there for a while. But I. I want to go back first, and I want to know why. First of all, I want to know what the household was like with Coach Narduzzi. Your dad, you know, growing up, he coached for Youngstown. Was that the influence for you that. That really got you into coaching?
- [01:16]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
No doubt about it. You know, I grew up as a little kid, you know, throughout the, you know, he was at Yale with, you know, Calvin Hill back in the day, first rounder, and went to Miami, Florida, the University of Kentucky, then became the head coach at Youngstown State for 11 seasons. So, you know, just, you know, being a coach's kid, I don't know if there's anything better than being a coach's kid, because you grow up with it. I mean, all you care about is ball. I mean, when we lived at the University of Kentucky, we lived 13 houses from the stadium and the practice facility we throw our book bags on. We wouldn't even walk up to the front porch. We'd throw our bags because it got there quicker. And we ran down 13 houses, crawled through a little hole in the fence, and bang. Where we were at practice every day. You know, that's kind of, you know, we didn't do any homework. Now we were.
- [02:00]
Interviewer / Co-host David
I bet that changes as a dad. Now we're like, hold on, we got to get our homework done.
- [02:04]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Yeah, no doubt about it. So never live that close. So we could run down the. Run down the street.
- [02:10]
Interviewer / Co-host David
So. So what was a typical day? You Know, growing up. Besides that, like. Okay, Actually, no, so. So when you go to Youngstown State, you play for your dad. What was that like?
- [02:20]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
That was rough. So, you know, not only I play for him, David, you know, he was a head coach, I'm a linebacker. Okay. Like you. You know, he's the head coach, he's the defensive coordinator calling the calls, and he's the linebacker coach.
- [02:34]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Oh, boy, that's a lot of dad.
- [02:37]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
And, you know, I mean, just first of all, he was a hell of coach. I mean, 1979, he's national coach of the year. I mean, he died at age 51. He died too young again. Was, you know, probably the. The single best coach I've been around as far as fundamental linebacker play. The things we still do today are things I learned as a freshman in 1985. You know, the. The fundamentals of the game have not changed. The stance, the steps, you know, just everything that we did. But, boy, you know, me and Jerry Pacifico, two freshman linebackers, came in in 1985 and started, but it was a long haul to get there. We beat out a couple, you know, bigger linebackers. I don't want to say stiff, but they were pretty stiff. That's why we played. Right. I was about 195 pounds, silk and wet. But you could run and we start. But my dad would meet with the entire defense. So it wasn't like the D line met over here, you know, FCs, you know, linebackers didn't meet another. He had us both. And I'd sit to the left. My dad would sit here. Jerry would sit on the other side. And if I did anything wrong, David, like, I'd get my ass reams. Okay, McBad, like, it was bad. Jerry could do the same stuff. And it was like, hey, Jerry, we'll get that fixed tomorrow. You know, maybe I didn't do a good job job coaching. I'm like, wait a second. So Sunday, I'd walk out of there. I'm not even saying, good night, dad. I'm, like, out of here. Like, I'm gone. Monday, I go in to get the, you know, bits and pieces of the game plan. I ain't saying hello. There's no, you know, dad conversation, you know, father, son conversation. Tuesday, I'm sitting in meetings, taking my notes, whatever it may be. That's about it. Wednesday, now I'm starting to get back a little bit. Thursday, I'm good. You know, my feelings aren't hurt anymore. Friday, I'm great. Saturday, you know, it's an all Conference player as a freshman. And then Sunday, I got my ass ripped again. It was 11 weeks straight. But. But it was the greatest year of my life. I'll never forget it. It was the best year because I got coached hard. Which. Kids don't get coached hard like this. Everybody anymore. But it made me a better player and a better person and maybe the person and coach I am today.
- [04:36]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Well, coach, that's what I think of when I. When I think of you and watching you over the years. Longtime assistant. You get your shot, but. But every time your defenses have an edge, they. They've got something to them. Obviously, dad had something to do with that, but how do you. In today's. And here's another thing, too, that sticks out constantly.
- [04:57]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
You.
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Interviewer / Co-host David
You constantly find diamonds in the rough, or you find the diamond and polish it up. Whatever you want to say. What's. What. What's that secret sauce? Like, how have you done that consistently? How are you able to still push guys in a world where there's more lawnmower parents than ever, for gosh sakes? I mean, they're clearing all the journeys out. Like, they're trying to make it as easy as possible.
- [05:18]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Yeah, it's definitely not like you and I grew up. I'm playing. So, you know, I don't know how we do it again. I think it's being real. I think kids still want to be coached hard. I feel. Still think they want that tough love. And it's. It's how you develop players. I mean, it's the only way we do it. You know, I was talking to a couple coaches and, you know, as a defensive guy, head coach, you know, there's places and programs around the country that in college, you're not tackling in practice, go through entire spring ball and never tackle. Live. Like, our quarterbacks, besides our starter, were live in our spring game, okay? And they loved it. And they were like, coach, can we do that in fall camp, too? Like, they want it, but how do you. How do you develop a player if you're not tackling? Especially for a defensive player, it's okay. All these offensive head coaches, you know, don't tackle our receivers, don't tackle our running back. Let him run. That's some bad defenses. So we've continued to, you know, just play with an edge all the time. And, you know, you talk about C ball, get ball. You know, your. Your deal there. That's really my deal. You stole that from me. Like, I got a patent on it now, and I wasn't smart enough but that's what we do, man. We try to keep it simple and let our guys go play. You know, the seatball get ball is kind of a little bit of our philosophy. You know, we do it a different way here. And I think Kirby down at, you know, at Georgia is doing a lot of the three deep, two under coverage. I mean, that to me is what's equalized. I mean, that's been our option equalizer. I mean, back in the day when you weren't athletic enough to play with everybody else, you'd run the option. And you know, we, we played a lot of three deep, two under. We are getting after people. We're doing stuff. And you know, again, you know, I, I developed the coverage back in, in the 90s when I was at the university Rhode island talking with John Guta Kunst. Just we're drop. Playing the old three deep, three under zone pressures and dropping off your defensive end. And he never made a play. So me and John Goodicut said, let's find a way to do this without it. And it was C ball, get ball. Okay. And the first time I told our secondary coach, Harlem Barnett, when, when we were at Cincinnati trying to teach him, he goes, what? Wait a second, let me get this right. Like wherever the ball goes, that's where you go. And I'm like, yeah, I mean, it's the simplest coverage in the world, but, you know, we're really, really good at it. I think a lot of people copy it, but I don't know if anybody's as good as what we do with it.
- [07:25]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Well, you know, one of the things when, when I, when I listen to coaches and when I talk to coaches and you have the evaluation process and my son's getting recruited now to schools down here and it's just interesting to listen and talk to people and, and everybody's looking for the measurables. But as I've been now a high school football coach for four years and starting to see it and learn it. Coach, I understand, I understand length, I understand athletic ability, I understand ability to jump. And I think all of that is really, really good. But let me tell you something. When this. Yeah, that too. I'm going to get there. But when this, when the eyes and the brain see it now, when I can, first of all, if I can think, it's a powerful thing. I never knew how, like I'm a C ball, get ball guy, like, for sure, but, but to be able to see color, but to put your eyes in the right spot and leave them in the Right spot. Then my steps are correct. Now. I'm not wasting steps. And this. So there's something to that, man. Also where everybody's looking for all these measurables. And I get it, man. But there's also. There's also something to be able to put your eyes where the freak they belong. So you can see ball, get ball.
- [08:32]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
No question about it. You can have the fastest guy, the tallest guy, the biggest guy in the country, but if he doesn't have what you're talking about, then you got a bad player. And that's why we may look undersized at times, but our guys are going to be smart football players. You win with intelligence, period. And those guys that are coachable. I took over Miami, Ohio in 2003 as a defense coordinator. Left Northern Illinois, go to Miami, Ohio. Terry Hepner, late Terry Hepner and I took over one of the worst defenses in the country. We went from being the worst to being in the top 10 in every category in 2003. And, you know, we kept it simple. But let me tell you about that 2003 defense. Ben Roethlisberger was a quarterback offense. They won six or seven games a year before, and they were just terrible on defense. Couldn't win it. And we went 13 1, lost Iowa in the opener. But the, the intelligence of this defense that I took over, and I'll Never forget it, 2003, you know, just a lesson learned, like you don't have to have the biggest, the fastest guys in the country. You better have the smartest guys. And, you know, it's nice to have all the, you know, they, they. It's nice when they look good, but, you know, we're looking. That's what we look for here as football players. Kyle Lewis just got drafted by the Dolphins. He ain't the biggest guy in the world, but that guy is one hell of a football player. And that's what we're looking for. You know, guy probably didn't have many scholarships coming out of high school. I don't remember what he had. Maybe Temple, and we took him and now he's in the NFL. So that's what we're looking for. And again, you talk about smart, athletic, tough, and got a big old heart.
- [09:51]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Coach, I look at defense in all of college football and I, and I. And I'm very happy with this. I feel like defense has finally caught up a little bit. Like, everybody obviously takes their turns, but. But what is defense doing now? That's catching up because I see more confusion, I see more Ability to show something, do something else. I see more hybrid players, but why are defenses now being able to catch up with offenses?
- [10:16]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Yeah, you know, we've been caught up for a while, so, you know, we've been doing the same thing, whether it's the, the 3D200 stuff, you know, changing up your coverages, you know, and again, I think we do it a different way, but I think there's a lot of people are trying to confuse you with different coverages, you know, different looks, lining up in odd fronts and just kind of showing pressure from everywhere and dropping out, you know, seven up stuff. Just, you know, it's a lot of bloating, but I still don't believe it's better for. For, for these development of players. When you put pit tape on, you're going to watch a team that lines up in this. You know, we're going to give you the same look and then we're going to change it on the snap and. But we're teaching them fundamental footballs, which is, you know, you're not gonna trick everybody when you go to the National Football League. You better be able to play football. You better be able to line up and, and take on an A gap or a C gap, whatever, you know, whatever it may be. And, you know, to me, again, I don't feel like we've caught up. You know, we were destroying people at Michigan State when I was there for eight years, and, And I feel like we're still kind of doing the same thing here.
- [11:14]
Interviewer / Co-host David
That scheme was a problem for everybody. Nobody could figure it out. I loved, I loved all the articles written all over the years of everybody trying to. What are they in?
- [11:21]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Are they.
- [11:21]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Are they running quarters? Really? Like what? But they're using their eyes. They're using their eyes really, really well. Who else do you. Who else do you look around the country, coach, that you. You like the way they play defense?
- [11:33]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
You know, I really, you know. You know, and I'm not saying this because you played at Georgia, but Kirby does a hell of a job. And again, I see again, you know, just watching some, you know, game tape last year on them, and I just think he's done a heck of a job with what they're doing defensively. You know, you got to be happy with what Miami did down there last year. They turned it around. And really Indiana, I mean, you think about what Indiana's done, you talk about doing more with less, and, you know, historically they've had less. And I think Signetti's done a heck of a Job there, Indiana.
- [12:02]
Interviewer / Co-host David
All right, this one's a good one. Coach, what's the. Who are a couple offensive coaches that you play against? And I'm going to give you some time. I'm going to buffer this and take a little bit of time that. You like their creativity, you like that they have a plan, you like the way they call the game. And they're some of the best at what they do in the country, you know.
- [12:25]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
You know, I don't need much time to think about that, you know, again, I can go old school on you can go new school, but if I go new school on you, since I've been here, Pit. One of the guys I think does an outstanding job is Rhett Lashley, smu. I think he's really sharp. I thought he did a great job when he was Miami's offense coordinator there. And, you know, and he's, you know, he's done a heck of a job at smu. He's. He's got players, he's got money, and I think, you know, schematically, he does a great job of putting you in a bind on defense. And, you know, I'll go back to my, you know, my days at Michigan State. I mean, Paul Crist, I mean, you talk about Wisconsin. I mean, when he was at Wisconsin, there's nobody that ran that offense like Paul Christian. I mean, I got a ton of respect for him and obviously succeeded him here. Pimp. I mean, defending him. We had some battles, you know, Michigan State versus Wisconsin. I thought Paul Crist, in those errors, you know, shoot, we saw Rich Rodriguez, we saw that spread. You know, Denard Robinson would go into the game being Heisman Trophy candidate, and then they'd have minus, you know, whatever, 48 yards rushing, whatever. But I had to throw that one in there. But. So we've seen all those. But, like, you know, those are two that.
- [13:36]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and stay on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
- [13:46]
Podcast Host
Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
- [13:49]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [13:56]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
- [13:57]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Anyways, get a quote@libertymutual.com or with your local agent.
- [14:01]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. This summer, don't squeeze in, spread out, find homes. Be big enough for your whole guest list on vrbo. That's Vacation Rentals. Done. Right. Book your stay. Now. Just stand out to me from, you know, back in the Michigan State days and Rhett Lashley does an incredible job.
- [14:25]
Interviewer / Co-host David
You, you threw that in there, I think. Is this the first time since 2012 now that there will be no backyard brawl?
- [14:33]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
No, we played one last year, played one last year, but it'll be three more years and we'll get back up with them. But, but, you know, when I first got to Penn 2015, we didn't have one. So it's been, it's been on and off and, you know, it'd be nice to get those rivalries back. That one or the Penn State one?
- [14:48]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Does that rivalry mean something? A little something, something.
- [14:51]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
There's no question West Virginia means something. Penn State means something. They all mean something. I mean, those in state robbers. I mean, really, the one that means the most is that Penn State in State. You know, like the Michigan, Michigan State game. We'd like to get that one going as well. All right.
- [15:06]
Interviewer / Co-host David
When you, when you look at, when you look at your team, like we talk about diamonds in the rust. Mason, last year, he comes off the bench and, and you've had Pickett, by the way, too, who wasn't highly recruited. It was a first round draft pick. Like I saw. I see him, he starts spinning the bean all over the yard, coach. And he can throw it. And what do you like about him? And I think he's a guy that takes to me, feels like could lead this league in passing like this year. I feel like he's that kind of good. And I saw a lot of good from him.
- [15:33]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Yeah, David, you're exactly right. I mean, Mason Hytrol is, is a heck of a quarterback from Oregon, Ohio, you know, the Toledo, Ohio area, you know, came in, you know, in relief after game four with some just, you know, with some need. And, you know, you couldn't ask as a head coach for a freshman to come in and play any better than he did. I mean, we lost, you know, he lost two games to starter. One, you know, team that played a national championship. Miami lost, you know, to a really, really good football team in Notre Dame that could have been in that same position had they had an opportunity to be one of those final 12 teams. So he's a great quarterback. He's even better now than he is. I mean, 2.0. Mason Heitchell is going to be really good. You know, he knows where to go with the ball. He's smart and he's got great eyes, as you talked about earlier. And the best Thing about him is he. He works at it, David. He works at it. Like, this guy is a 6:30 in the morning to 8:00 clock at night. I almost have to kick him out of the office to go to class. I'm like, dude, you got to go to class. You're student athletes. Like, you know, coach, I'm good. Don't worry about it. I got it. Like, you know, and he comes out with a 3 5. You're like, okay, Mason, you did get it. Good for you.
- [16:37]
Interviewer / Co-host David
I. I support that message of not going to class. Watch more tape. Absolutely. What did you, what did you see in him when you were recruiting him? Coach, he wasn't. He wasn't a highly recruited kid, but the way he played, he sure as heck looked like it.
- [16:50]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Yeah, I'll tell you a funny story, David. I don't think he even knows the story, but, like, the first time I watched his tape, it was him running all over the place. Just, you know, his own line was just an okay over line. He ran all over the place throwing the ball. And I'm like, hey, we need to see. I need to see the guy throw from the pocket. Like those guys is a scrambler. I don't need Fran Tarkington. We need a guy to sit in the pocket, man. It's great that he can make plays with his feet. So Kate proceeds to give me 300 clips from him in the pocket that wasn't on his huddle tape. You talk about your son in recruiting. It wasn't. You'd be amazed how many bad huddled videos are out there where these kids make their own tapes and they're bad the first play. They. They loaf on the play, but to make the tackle, they think, that's a highlight tape. That's a bad play. Like, that's your highlight. That's the best you got of your 30 plays. But I watched 300 plays with him just making every throw, and I'm like, holy cow. I said, kate, make sure this tape doesn't get out. Make sure nobody else sees the real huddle tape that it should be. Because we knew he was special. We just had to dig to find it. And Cade Bell did. Our offense coordinator did a great job at finding that video.
- [17:52]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Yeah, my son was putting his tape together and I was like, and I refuse to help, by the way. I'm not going to do this for you if you're not going to go do this. Like, it's not important enough for you to make a tape. Like, I'm not helping you right and he was like, well, what do you think they want to see, Dad? I was like, athletic ability. Can you strike? Do you run to the football like that? I don't care if you make a play, buddy. Show me the. Show me what you can do on the football field.
- [18:16]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
No. No question about it. Again, you know, kids don't realize, like, it's what you put on video. Even receivers, they all want to get all these catches. I'm like, go block. Go run a fast round. When you don't get the ball, it's okay. The NFL is going to see that you ran a, you know, a fast post, it was a great route, and you didn't get the ball. We know that you're not going to get the ball. And the same thing, you know, your effort on videotape is what shows up. It's what shows up when scouts walk out on our practice field, is playing hard, and we coach the heck out of our guys. Playing with effort. Because these kids come from high school and they know nothing about effort. They don't know, you know, and again, we've got to train them. You'd be amazed. It takes a year just to get guys to run to the football like we asked them to do.
- [18:52]
Interviewer / Co-host David
No, I wouldn't be amazed. I've seen it. And, and they think they are. That's the problem. Like, they think they're playing hard. I actually had a coach in high school. He came in my senior year and he was like, hey, what are your goals? And I was like, I want to win a state championship. And I'll never forget, I had offers from big time schools. And he was like, you got to play harder if you want to. If we want us to win a national championship, I'm like, I'm your best player. Like, literally, because I'm a cocky butthole. And he put on a tape, coach, and it showed me, like, jogging to the football, jogging the football. And I was like, oh, my gosh, he's right. And I'll never forget how exhausted I was in spring ball because I started practicing hard and I started running around and I was like, but, but, but it's amazing that, you know, as a coach, you got to keep saying it, right over and over and over again because it's just a matter of when it clicks. But for that moment, it clicked. And I dang sure knew it, man. Like, it was difficult, but how do you deal with now? Like, you're such a good developer. How do you deal with now, coach? When you do develop and now you have this culture where it's like, hey, thanks coach. Not going to mention names about a receiver a couple years ago, like, thanks for developing him, thanks for putting him in a really good spot. Like, how do you deal with that too? And just your dad, you're thinking about your dad in this culture and how he handled it.
- [20:08]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
I mean, yeah, David, it's, it's, it's a different culture. But you know, but I think that, you know, the love that our kids see in this building, I think the culture that we have, the guys know we're taking care of later and you know, and I try to preach the difference between generational wealth and, and not like this nil is great money, it's great. But you know what we're, you know, unfortunately, kids look at where they're going to be next week or where, what do you give me today? Where are you going to be in five years? Are you going to get developed? You know, you become a first rounder, you got 30 million dollar signing bonus. Like, what are we talking about? Like, you better go somewhere, you're going to get developed. So, you know, in recruiting, which we'll get ready to bring some official visitors on here next weekend, it's just, you know, the big thing is about who's going to develop you. And you know, and you know, it's, it's not about the money, but you know, you're going to have, those guys are going to go think they're going to go make more money. You know, you talk about the receiver that got taken. That was one of the early, early stages of some big time tampering. But, and they were called out on it as well by me, not by anybody else. But you know, you look at his numbers, he ended up being maybe the 18th or 19th pick in a draft. He should have been a top five pick. He won the Blitnikov here, Pitt. Yep. You lost $10 million, brother. Like, you lost 10 million. You should have been a top five pick, you know, and you know it. And you know, I see the same things happening now. Even when you do have a guy that's leaving, you know, when you read on Twitter it says, hey, go watch my pit tape after you transfer to an SEC school, pretty much tells you what you need to hear. You know, the evidence is right out there. They put it out there for you. Go watch his pit tape because it made plays there. So that's, that's, but you just deal with it. It's part of the, you know, deal. You know, we'll get just as Good of players. And we'll just keep developing them and. And win football games.
- [21:48]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Yes, sir. All right, last couple. Last one. Maybe The. The. The 2014 playoff. Coach. It's the next iteration. It's what everybody's talking about. What do you say about it? How do you like it?
- [22:01]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
You know, we're 12 right now, and I think anything more than 12 is great, you know? You know, I just. I think, you know, I really love the championship games. I mean, I truly love those. But I see why some teams don't want to play in them because they're thinking, you know, you know, if I go, it doesn't help lose. It's going to hurt me.
- [22:17]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Yeah.
- [22:17]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
But to me, if you go in and win that thing, it can help you. So, I mean, you know, I'm always. I'm not thinking about, you know, what am I doing not to lose. I want to win, you know, and to me, you know, I think about, you know, the playoffs and all these FBS teams out there. At the end of the day, okay, we all want to be wearing a ring somehow, some way, whether you're an SEC champion, a Big Ten, ACC champion. I mean, I got ACC championship, you know, ring summer around here, and, you know, you know, I don't wear it all the time, but, you know, there's some pride you take. But when you think about all the playing that these kids do, you go through an entire season, 12 game season, and at the end of the day, there's only going to be one team that's happy. I mean, it's pretty miserable. You think about it, there's, you know, 69 miserable Power 4 teams, and there's one team that's happy. And Miami goes home a loser this year. Like they had a hell of accomplishment. And I think about even in the NFL, you got afca, AFC and nfc, you know, division champions. I mean, you see the confetti and the celebration and happiness after one of those NFL games. It's no different than being a Coastal Division or Atlantic Division or, you know, Big Ten East, Big Ten west champion. There's those division champions that we've lost as well. So we lost division champions. Now we're going to lose conference champions. We're going to have one champion, and everybody else sucks. You know, I mean, that's the thing I don't like about. I think it's nice to say that we were champions. I think it's something to build off as a head coach. If I'm a young head coach, okay, I'm a young Head coach and you know, some of these 35 year olders out there that they'll never be a champion. I mean, what's the chance of getting to, you know, like, I've won a Big Ten championships as a defense coordinator. I've won an ACC championship. I've been a Coastal Division champion. Lost, lost to Clemson. So I've been there and done that. Like, I feel bad that there's going to be, you know, like maybe 5, 10, 15 teams that are buying themselves to a championship. And some of these other young guys are never going to say, hey, I was a champion at one point. I think that's the bad part about it. But I still think that, you know, the more in the playoffs, the better. I think 24 is the way to go. We voted on that as ACC head coaches a week and a half ago and. But I'd be happy with 16 too. I think, I think just we need to have more opportunities. There's a lot of money being spent out there and if there's no difference between 16 and 24 teams going in there, it sounds like 16 teams are still not going to be a conference championship. And I think, you know, I think there's something to that. And you know, even with Duke last year, I think there should be, you know, if we want to say these conference championships don't matter, you know, Virginia and Duke playing the ACC championship last year, you know, we're tied for second in the division or you know, in the ACC last year as well with a 6 and 2 mark in the ACC. But if you win the championship game, you're in. I don't care if your record seven to five or not. I mean, Duke should have maybe got in. Like, if you want to make those things, those games important, then, you know, if it's Clemson 12, 0 versus a pit 7 and 5, hey, let Pitt go have a chance. And if we win the ACC championship, we're in. It's an automatic bid of one of those 24 teams or 16 teams. I still think we got to make them matter because those are, those are big battles.
- [25:21]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Yeah. If we're going to keep the championships. Dang sure. Might as well. What about, what about group of five teams? Coach, I don't, I'm not meaning it disrespectful. I still think we play them for the budget purposes, but like they can't win. It's impossible. There's no shot, like there's no shot of them even winning one game more or less running the table. And last year we had two to take two spots. I'm fine with them having their own little thing.
- [25:45]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
I think that's the way it needs to be done. I mean, to think that maybe Notre Dame was the next one. And everybody thinks, I hate Notre Dame. I'm actually Catholic, and I love Notre Dame. So you can play. Put that on the record. But grew up. In fact, my daughter's first game was to go to a Notre Dame game. But, you know, but to think that those other teams that didn't play the conference schedule, you know, the competition, get in just to make it, you know, so they get an opportunity. This is not about, you know, everybody gets a ribbon or a star in the paper because they. There's no participation trophies because you did a nice job. And it's the same thing in the top 25 rankings. I mean, they should have a. You know, top 25 should be power four. They should have a top 25 for the group of five and have your own playoffs and do it your way, and then at least there'll be two champions. There's a big group of five champion, an FCS champion, you know, really, you know, a power four champion. I think that's the way to go.
- [26:35]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Yeah. Well, Coach, we thank you for your time, man. It's amazing. You've been there 11 years now, like time, time flies. You've done an unbelievable job with your squad. It's fun to watch you guys, especially as a defensive guy. I love the C ball, get ball. Mentions you gave us more than we could ever imagine, Coach.
- [26:51]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
I love C ball, get ball, period. That's the way.
- [26:53]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Yeah, baby.
- [26:54]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
I always say this. There's only one ball. Like, who's taking you to the ball. There's only one. You better find it. You better see the ball and get the ball.
- [27:03]
Interviewer / Co-host David
Amen. That's going to be our promo. Appreciate you, coach.
- [27:05]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Appreciate you.
- [27:06]
Interviewer / Co-host David
See you, brother.
- [27:07]
Coach Pat Narduzzi
Bye.
- [27:08]
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