PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – In an era where roster turnover is so prevalent, why was Pitt able to keep most of its roster intact? The players they wanted to keep, stayed. Head coach Pat Narduzzi joined the Fan Morning Show and explained it’s not about the money.
“Our guys have fun playing the game,” Narduzzi said on 93.7 The Fan Friday morning. “We play football and we are not just out there to make money. We go play football and have fun. We make it fun. To me, if you are practicing every day and you are not having fun at practice, you have a problem.”
“When it becomes strictly business and it becomes transactional, I think that’s when you have problem. We play the game like pee wee football, we are having fun at Pitt.”
Panthers starting quarterback Eli Holstein also joined his coach and host Adam Crowley during the interview. Crowley said after Holstein’s season he had no doubt other teams were coming after him with bags of money. The redshirt sophomore quarterback would only say he’s built relationships with his teammates and coaches that kept him at Pitt.
“This team has a lot of fun,” Holstein said. “This is the most put together and well-bonded team that I’ve ever been a part of. We are always hanging out outside of the locker room, outside of the facility. Doing everything we can just to be around each other. We love each other. When you have a team like that, it makes football that much more fun.”
“I think it’s how we are every day in the office,” Narduzzi said on the Fan Morning Show. “I think it’s just the culture we’ve built. I think that culture word is used all over the place, but it's how we are around out kids. They are getting offered from different places, people are tampering all over the place, but I think they know how we treat them in our building.”
“They know there is a real relationship. It’s not fake. It’s not a what can he do for me today. Let me love him up today and be nice to him. It’s everyday that’s what we do. That’s why I coach football is to be around our kids. I enjoy it. I love doing this. That’s the fun part of it.”
Narduzzi also said practices are so much sharper this year compared to last in year two of offensive coordinator Kade Bell’s radically different concept. Now in his 11th year at Pitt, Narduzzi said he’s watched the growth in Holstein where he can tell players where they need to be, it doesn’t have to be on the coaches. That’s when you know you’ve got something, when the locker room corrects themselves.
Holstein said he’s finally back to full health after dealing with injury that limited him to parts of 10 games last year, tying a Pitt freshman record with 17 touchdown passes, seven interceptions with 2,228 yards and 328 yards rushing and three scores. He feels like he’s able to play free and just go out and ball. He also said part of the great relationship is having someone like All-American linebacker Kyle Louis keep it real with him. If his head gets big, Louis is there to keep his feet on the ground.
The second-year starting quarterback said Pitt will be 10 to 20 times better this year than last and great things are going to come.
Fall camp starts next week with the first game August 30 hosting Duquesne.