“PITT IS IT! #H2P” That’s what Pitt’s new head football coach Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) tweets whenever he gets a new verbal commit for next season. This is just one part of a much larger social media blitz coming from Pitt football this offseason.
In order to understand this new development in Pitt football, we must first understand what started everything. Back in December, the University of Wisconsin offered the position of head football coach to Pitt head coach Paul Chryst. Chryst, a Wisconsin alum and former offensive coordinator for the Badgers, took the job after much consideration. This left Pitt with a vacancy to fill and after many interviews, Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi was announced as the new head football coach for Pitt. Fans rejoiced at the announcement. Narduzzi’s defense at Michigan State was consistently one of the best defenses in the country and Pitt had struggled on defense the previous season. What fans weren’t expecting, myself included, was just how active Narduzzi and his assistants would be on Twitter during offseason recruiting.
Coach Narduzzi and his assistants tweet almost every day and it isn’t generic stuff like, “Hail to Pitt.” They actually post pictures of where they are or graphics of where each of the assistants is recruiting across the country. One of my personal favorites is when Coach Narduzzi tweets, “PITT IS IT,” his assistants will post a picture that has become known as the “Pat Signal.” Similar to the Bat Signal from Batman, the Pat signal is a graphic with a Pitt script light coming off the Cathedral of Learning. It’s really a cool thing what the coaches are doing.
So the big question many of you may be asking is why is Twitter important for the Pitt football coaches? Well, the purpose is two-fold. The first part is recruiting. Coach Narduzzi and his assistants are recruiting 17 and 18 year old high school kids to play football at Pitt. These days, virtually every high school and college-aged person is on Twitter. So getting your name and your football “brand” out on social media is important for attracting recruits. These guys like seeing their coaches advertise how passionate they are about bringing young men into the football program. The second aspect of this is the fans. Under the Paul Chryst regime, none of the coaches were on twitter. The only twitter updates fans would get would be through the Pitt football Twitter page and even those updates were bland. Now, under the Narduzzi regime, the fans are starting to see where all the coaches are going and when we get verbal commits. It’s a lot more exciting as a fan and it keeps me up to date on where my team is going in the next season.
So give Coach Narduzzi and his assistants a follow on Twitter and get excited for the new era in Pitt football. And don’t forget: PITT IS IT!!
Here’s a list of all the coaches’ Twitter accounts.
Pat Narduzzi: @CoachDuzzPittFB Head Football Coach
Tim Salem: @CoachTimSalem Offensive Coordinator
Josh Conklin: @CoachConklin Defensive Coordinator
Andre Powell: @CoachAPowell Running Backs Coach & Special Teams Coordinator
Tom Sims: @CoachTomSims Defensive Line Coach
Rob Harley: @robharley34 Linebackers Coach at Pitt (He’s incredibly active on Twitter)
Renaldo Hill: @CoachillPITT Cornerbacks Coach
John Peterson: @coachjpete Offensive Line Coach
Jim Chaney: @CoachJimChaney Tight Ends Coach
Mike Shanahan: @MikeShan_PITT Graduate Assistant (And former Pitt wide receiver)
Scott McKillop: @smckillop59 Graduate Assistant
Ben Mathers: @bmathers_88 Director of Football Operations
Image Credit: 2, Others are the author’s own photos