Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi Offers Condolences for Virginia Football Program
PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi stepped to the podium for his weekly press conference, he didn't really want to talk about football.
In the wake of a shooting in Charlottesville, Virginia - where his team played this past weekend - that left three men dead, three of them active Cavalier players, and two more University of Virginia students wounded, Narduzzi wanted to extend his condolences on behalf of the Pitt program.
"I'm shocked," Narduzzi said. "I don't even care to talk about that game. ... Our hearts and our prayers go out to [Charlottesville], University of Virgina, Coach Tony Elliot and his football team."
Narduzzi said the losses were especially stirring given that the Panthers had just played that team. He said he saw one of the victims, injured standout receiver Lavel Davis Jr., after the game and wished him well in his recovery.
The other two victims, wideout Devin Chandler and linebacker D'Sean Perry, were on the field when Virginia played Pitt. Perry recorded two tackles.
Narduzzi, clearly emotional, said he "couldn't fathom" what it's like to lose players like this.
"Growing up, we lost 1 player after a workout at North Illinois. I lost my dad in '88. You think about what that football team is going through. That's a brother [they lost] in that room. You can't even fathom what those kids are going through. ... It's unthinkable. You go from playing a football game to that. Our prayers go out to everyone who's involved in this. It's sad."
One suspect, Darnell Jones Jr. - a former walk-on running back for the Wahoos - has been taken into custody according to local authorities and charged with three counts of second-degree murder, three counts of murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony.
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