PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – There are lots of stories out there about outrageous NIL money now in what has, in essence, become NCAA free agency. Pitt Head Coach Pat Narduzzi telling the PM Team on 93.7 The Fan Tuesday one of them is true.
Narduzzi confirming there have been multiple offers to current North Carolina freshman quarterback Drake Maye. There was scuttle the ACC Player of the Year could fetch a NFL-type contract for his third, and likely final, season of eligibility.
“I heard five million (dollars),” Narduzzi told Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller on 93.7 The Fan. “I heard two schools, five million. I know the schools. I can’t tell you, but I know the schools, too.”
Last year Narduzzi had it out, allegedly, with USC Head Coach Lincoln Riley, accusing him of buying Biletnikoff Award winning receiver Jordan Addison from the Panthers.
“We lost one of the first players to this whole thing,” Narduzzi told 93.7 The Fan as the Panthers struggled to find consistency at receiver beyond Jared Wayne. “Now there’s more leaving daily. It’s a sad, sad deal, but that’s what we’re dealing with I guess.”
Schools can’t contact players directly with financial offers. Now if a booster were to call independently and make offers, whether it’s a transfer or high school student, how do you regulate that? It seems as if there aren’t any rules. For the few that do exist, are they being policed?
“It’s called tampering,” Narduzzi told The PM Team Tuesday. “It’s really bad guys. The NCAA has us all in a bad spot right now and I think it’s only going to get uglier because there are no rules on the road.”
“I’m hearing all kinds of things. I’m hearing guys are getting paid, bonuses for signing tomorrow (National Letter of Intent Day December 21). Kids are being paid in high school now a certain amount of money. Then when you get there, we give you this amount.”
“It’s bad. It’s not something that I’m real proud as a member of the American Football Coaches Association of being a part of. It’s the world we are living in.”
The eighth-year Pitt head coach says he works to follow what few rules there are. He tells 93.7 The Fan he instructs his coaches to what now might be considered the old-fashioned way, selling an education and the opportunity to get rich in the NFL.
“I’m trying to keep our guys in line and make sure they understand they are coming for an education and that is the priority,” Narduzzi told 93.7 The Fan. “I want them to get coached hard. We want to take care of their Name Image Likeness the right way and do things the right way.”
There is pressure. Fans want to win. Boosters want to win. Coaches want to win. How can you do that when some are law abiding and others aren’t?
Pitt has had success with underrecruited players (two and three stars) and making them better and some play at the next level. Narduzzi can only do so much of that if they want to stay up with the elite in the country. Pitt AD Heather Lyke said earlier this month their goal is to win the ACC and get into the college football playoff.
What is Narduzzi’s selling point? Without cheating, how does he convince players, high school or transfers, to come to Oakland?
“One of the things I try to say, this is chump change when you think about ultimately about where you want to go,” Narduzzi told the PM Team of players getting big offers. “Do you want to go play for a secondary coach that is going to develop you into a first, second or third rounder where you are going to make millions? Or would you rather go to a school that is going to pay you and do a crappy job coaching you and developing you as a coach and a player?”
“Make your money through your first three or four years of your college career and get absolutely nothing after that and go to the regular work force and be like you and me.”
The message is come here, get an education and you have a chance to make big money in the NFL. Those NIL dollars will be offset by what you can do after they coach you at Pitt.
Narduzzi told Poni and Mueller, he’s not against players getting money. Not at all. He wants the athletes to benefit off their name, but he said there have to be rules. Or maybe one day the NCAA will need what three of the big professional leagues have; a salary cap.
It’s hard to believe it’s come to this so quickly. There are many to blame-the NCAA, some school administrators, some coaches, boosters, agents. Everyone who can profit off the sport.
As a college football fan, you may not be happy with the changes. Neither is Narduzzi.