Dunlap: Narduzzi Has Pitt's Program Feeling Bigger
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) - It is tough to quantify.
Yes, it is just about impossible to enumerate, compute, tally or boil down into some number.
But doesn't Pitt football just feel bigger with Pat Narduzzi leading the program than it has in quite some time?
The speed on offense, the bruising force with which the offensive and defensive lines play, heck, the way the Panthers came out wearing those throwback uniforms everyone just loved so much.
It just all feels so much bigger than it has in the recent past as Pitt readies for a showdown against Virginia Tech tonight at Heinz Field in a key ACC game.
Now, if the Panthers could just get the back end of that defense fixed …
Anyhow, back on task.
When Narduzzi took over the program before last season, it had been undergoing a period of tumult, with 79 coaches in the span of 10 seasons (I'm exaggerating … I think) and a general uneasiness. There was no clear and defined identity, no true sense of direction or pride within a program that had, long ago, been mighty.
What was Pitt?
Who was Pitt?
What was the program all about or what were the steadfast pillars it was built on?
No one knew.
The only thing one could count on with Pitt was there was bound to be change and unsteady footing at the head coaching position --- and that's not something, at all, to be excited about being recognized for.
Again, wins and losses are the true barometer and will ultimately define everything with Narduzzi, but on days like this as we get set for Pitt to kick off against the Hokies in a nationally televised game, doesn't it just feel as if Narduzzi has single-handedly forced much of the belief back around Pitt football?
He has for me, I'll admit it.
Maybe it was the Penn State win.
Perhaps it is the no-nonsense, plain-speaking way he uses that so many of us from these parts can appreciate so much.
Maybe it is the fact Pitt (5-2) has at least five wins in its first seven games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the Panthers did it in 2008 and then followed it up in 2009.
That's no small thing for this program.
Maybe it is the way you don't feel like the sky is going to come crashing down when Pitt gets out to a lead now; that there's a decent chance they might actually hold on and win. Sure, there's still a chance at some "Pitt-ing" but the probability seems to have dropped way down.
Maybe it is Narduzzi's real attempt to connect with the community, university and fan base or the way he didn't run from the Penn State rivalry as being a big deal, but embraced the magnitude of it.
Who knows? It is probably all of those things, to be honest.
On this autumnal late-October day though, as Pitt prepares for Virginia Tech on the North Shore, I have been doing a little thinking. I guess the 5-2 record is a bit of a way to catalog some things and put a number to it, but from a bigger picture standpoint it seems to have been awhile where there's been this much energy around Pitt's program, where it has felt this big.
Simply put, this is because of the job Pat Narduzzi has done.
Where it goes from here? Who knows.
But I do know he's positioned the beginnings of some solid groundwork as he at least has the program feeling like a bigger entity right now than it has been in a time.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
