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Friedlander: Pat Narduzzi and Tony Elliott are off the hot seat and into the Coach of the Year conversation
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Ever notice how the clock always seems to tick faster when your team is behind in the 4th quarter than when it’s ahead?
Time flies at an even greater pace for coaches whose jobs are on the line.
Athletic directors might have a little more tolerance for losing than disgruntled fans in the stands or on the internet. Especially when there are extenuating circumstances involved.
But even they have limits to their patience.
At a certain point, you better start winning. Either that or hope you have a nice buyout.
It’s a choice Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi and Virginia’s Tony Elliott were staring squarely in the eye when this season began. Though it’s tough to gauge the exact temperature beneath their seats, let’s just say that Sean Evans might well have been scouting them for his popular show “Hot Ones.”
Both have since slowed the clock down by getting off to fast starts.
Narduzzi’s Panthers surpassed last year’s win total by Week 4 and at 5-0 are ranked for the first time since Kenny Pickett was leading them to the ACC championship 3 seasons ago. Elliott’s Cavaliers, at 4-1 (2-0 ACC), already have more wins overall and in the conference than in each of the past 2 seasons.
Their early success has elevated their status from the 2 most likely coaches to get fired to 2 of the leading candidates for ACC Coach of the Year.
That’s about the only similarity between their situations.
Narduzzi had a little more leeway than Elliott because of a resume that includes 6 winning seasons, the 2021 conference championship and a contract that runs through 2030.
But coming off a 3-9 season in which he publicly threw his players under the bus following a lopsided loss to Notre Dame, with a new athletic director about to be hired, he wasn’t in a position to take any chances. That urgency prompted him into doing the 1 thing coaches hate more than a 3rd-and-long situation with a game on the line.
Change.
And not just a minor tweak. We’re talking about a dramatic shift in offensive philosophy that goes against everything old-school defensive coordinators like Narduzzi hold dear.
No more playing to win games 17-14. No more line ’em up, smash ’em in the mouth and wear ’em down. With his stock plummeting and his future at Pitt suddenly in doubt after 9 seasons on the job, he decided it was time to take a giant leap into the 21st Century.
He did so by hiring 31-year-old Kade Bell as his new offensive coordinator. And like a father handing the keys to his Buick land yacht to his newly licensed 16-year-old son, Narduzzi turned the kid loose.
Bell didn’t just bring a diverse, up-tempo spread offense with him from Western Carolina. He also brought his top 3 playmakers – leading rusher Desmond Reid and receivers Raphael Williams and Censere Lee – with him. All have made immediate contributions.
But the biggest reason for the Panthers’ transformation from the lowest-scoring team in the ACC in 2023 to the 6th-highest-scoring offense in the nation this season at 45.6 ppg is the emergence of quarterback Eli Holstein.
After spending the entire offseason hyping incumbent Nate Yarnell, a move that was a shrewd job of sandbagging or simply a case of Holstein showing he was a better fit for Bell’s offense during preseason camp, Narduzzi surprised everyone by starting the Alabama transfer in Pitt’s opener against Kent State.
It’s turned out to be the right decision.
Holstein has thrown for 1,186 yards and 12 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions. After Saturday’s win at North Carolina, he became the first Pitt quarterback to start his college career 5-0 since Hall of Famer Dan Marino in 1979. His play has elevated Pitt into an unlikely ACC championship contender.
“We’ve got a helluva football team,” Narduzzi said after his program’s first win in Chapel Hill.
The book is still very much out on how good UVa really is. Not even Elliott knows for sure.
“I don’t know yet. I’m trying to get to the end,” he said when asked about the significance of Saturday’s win against Boston College, in which the Cavaliers rallied from an early 14-0 deficit to score the game’s final 24 points.
“What I think it shows is that the guys in the locker room are buying into what we’re trying to build as a program. … I believe it shows that the foundation that we paid in those first 2 years is starting to produce results.”
No coach in recent memory has had to deal with as much off-the-field adversity as Elliott during those first 2 seasons in Charlottesville. His leadership and compassion in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of 3 of his players in November 2022 helped guide UVa’s program through the most unthinkable of circumstances.
It’s a performance for which he should and has been commended. But at a certain point, life returns to normal and winning once again becomes the top priority.
So far, Elliott is delivering.
In contrast to Narduzzi, he’s done it by resisting the urge to panic and make major changes. He’s remained patient, trusted his players and coaches to grow and learn, and laid a solid foundation on which to build.
With a demanding upcoming schedule that includes games against ACC frontrunners Clemson, Louisville, SMU, Pitt and rival Virginia Tech to go along with a nonconference clash at Notre Dame, the Cavaliers are anything but a lock to find the 2 remaining wins they’ll need to earn bowl eligibility.
But at least they’re showing tangible signs of finally heading in the right direction.
That’s enough, for now, to turn down the temperature on Elliott’s hot seat. And like Narduzzi at Pitt, buy a little more time to finish the job he’s started.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
