This was the image that haunted Kade Bell when he first spoke with Narduzzi about Pitt's vacant offensive coordinator position last December. Bell didn't want to scare Narduzzi away from a job offer by admitting he hoped to completely reimagine Pitt's offensive game plan, so he sanded down the more progressive edges of the playbook.
"You want to be careful with your words," Bell said. "We go fast and are really aggressive, but I was telling him how we change tempos and all that."
After about 15 minutes of talking, Narduzzi interrupted.
"Look," Narduzzi said, "I just want to score points."
Bell took a deep breath and started his pitch over again.
"Now," Bell said, "he was talking my language."
...Pitt seems to have found a strange alchemy with its aggressive, young coordinator, a QB transfer from Alabama and a 5-foot-6 wrecking ball of a running back.
On Saturday (noon ET on ESPN2), the Panthers travel to North Carolina searching for their first 5-0 start since 1991 by being, perhaps, the least Pitt-like team in recent history.
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With Pitt trailing by 21 in the second half against Cincinnati in Week 2, Narduzzi paced the sidelines like a caged tiger...
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In Narduzzi's nine seasons at Pitt before 2024, the Panthers had blown as many fourth-quarter leads (12) as they had fourth-quarter comebacks. They were 0-35 when trailing by 10 or more in the game's final frame.
By the end of Week 3, they'd already erased two double-digit fourth-quarter deficits.
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NARDUZZI WAS STALKING the hallways of Pitt's football facility the Monday after beating West Virginia, armed with an intimidating scowl, and passed by safety PJ O'Brien.
"Smile," O'Brien told his coach. "We won the game."
That, Narduzzi said, was the first time in 10 years a Pitt a player had the gall to tell him to smile.
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"I wasn't happy," he said.
Yes, it's a new era in Pitt...