Pitt Head Coach Pat Narduzzi Was Given A Great Opportunity To Explain His, "I'd Gladly Get Beat 110-10" by Notre Dame Comments... And He Blamed It On Being Italian... Kind Of...

Somebody, somewhere should really hire me to work in PR. I don't have a lick of prior experience. I don't even think I would be especially good at it. But I'd be better than whoever's been advising Pat Narduzzi on what the hell to say in front of a mic. Although I'm guessing that person probably doesn't exist. Pat Narduzzi doesn't strike me as a guy who steps up to a microphone with any plan whatsoever. Let alone one crafted by a PR professional. 

To be fair, his response to McAfee's question started out great. The Italian excuse has been a tried and true method of digging yourself out of a hole ever since Andrew Cuomo showed us the playbook with his famous, "I'm not perverted. I'm Italian" line, when defending sexual harassment allegations. 

If Pat Narduzzi had fully leaned into the Italian thing, he'd probably have won me over. That would have been pretty funny. Unfortunately, he didn't. He proceeded to go straight into his bag of coach speak and said nothing whatsoever. Didn't even really try to answer the question, or defend his insane Notre Dame comments. His response barely had anything to do with the question at all.

Pat McAfee tried to lead him to water. Twice. He started with, "I think what you were trying to say is our season doesn't completely come down to Saturday… right coach? Right???". To which Pat Narduzzi said… nothing. Then he tried to give him the, "You were playing mind games with him weren't ya, coach?"… to which again… Pat Narduzi said nothing.

If Pat Narduzzi had simply responded with,  "Honestly man, I don't know. I wish I could take that one back. I didn't think my words through and got trying to make a point about conference games being important. Obviously one of our primary goals at the beginning of each season is to win the ACC. But we're 7-2 right now. If we can beat Notre Dame, we can beat anyone. We're a playoff team. We need to win this game to prove that to the world."

Anything to show the world that he "gets it". And maybe a college football coach showing the slightest bit of humility, or giving even the slightest admission of, "Yeah, I fucked up.", might actually make him more likable. Crazy thought, I know. All Pat Narduzzi would have had to do was show a tiny bit of his human side, then proceed to advocate for his team, and I bet people would have loved it. Anything to show his fan base that he actually does desperately want to beat Notre Dame this Saturday. Because that's what college football coaches have to do nowadays. They have to advocate for themselves. That's the world they live in. The college football playoff rankings are a subjective thing. From head coaches to conference commissioners, as annoying as it can be, they're all out there lobbying, and trying to convince the voters that they deserve a shot at the national championship over whoever else.

Imagine if Lane Kiffin, or Curt Cignetti, or Nick Saban were in this spot with Pitt right now? They'd have shoved their team's resume down McAfee's throat. Even if it was non-existent. But Narduzzi didn't do a lick of that. Not a single mention of the playoffs. Not a single mention of how his football team can compete with the best in the nation (which they probably can't… but their head coach isn't supposed to think that). And he said nothing that came close to clarifying, or making up for that crazy shit he said earlier this week. Which was truly one the most ridiculous soundbites we've ever heard from a college football coach.

I'm afraid this Pat Narduzzi guy might just be kinda dumb. At least media wise. He's a solid football coach. If Pitt wins out (and Virginia or SMU loses a game, one of which will likely happen) they're gonna make the college football playoffs. And even if they can sneak into the college football playoffs without beating Notre Dame… a win over the Irish this Saturday would be so huge for that program. It would be so huge for their confidence going into their final two conference games of the season. I'm just not sure Pat Narduzzi is aware of that.