Pat Narduzzi Apologizes for Critical Postgame Comments
PITTSBURGH -- Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt Panthers were flying home from South Bend, Indiana following a brutal 58-7 loss to No. 14 Notre Dame when a remark Narduzzi made, which was critical of his players, in his postgame press conference began to circulate on social media.
Narduzzi's comments about the team's failure to replace the NFL talent that has been graduating and departing over the past two seasons were criticized as overly harsh by not just fans and media but by multiple of his own players as well, who responded with disappointment and surprise. Narduzzi has spent the time since trying to make amends with the Panthers for those comments and he addressed it in his first press conference of the week.
“First thing I said as I stood at this podium was apologizing to our guys, to our football team about my postgame comments which did not come out the way I intended for them to come out," Narduzzi said. "When I look at it over the last 24 hours, 48 hours, There’s nothing worse than a loss. A loss hurt and the first thing I do, I jump on the plane and I’m watching the video on my iPad, but the loss hurt, everyone in that locker room hurt, but when you feel like your players are hurt by something the head coach said, that hurts you even worse. That makes you sick to your stomach."
Narduzzi said he talked to some players on the plane ride home that night following the game and even more individually after addressing the team as a whole the following day. He claimed the reaction from the players was positive and understanding.
He underscored the importance of relationships, saying that if a coach can't build positive ones with their players there will be issues. Narduzzi tried to reiterate that he has shown loyalty to the program and the team and cares about the players in the locker room who took offense to those comments.
"To me, you’re not defined in one game or one afternoon," Narduzzi said. "You’re defined over time and I think, over time, our guys are my guys. I love my guys. My message to them, and I know how bad they’re hurting after that loss, so my big, major message to them was ‘I don’t care, period.’ Those are my guys and that’s how it always will be.”
Narduzzi added that he hopes the body of work he's put forth over the past eight-plus seasons as head coach of the Panthers provides enough evidence to the current players that he does care about them.
He believes he's done enough to earn their trust, and even cited the commitment to former starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec despite his struggles earlier this year as proof that Narduzzi will stick by his players.
“I think you get graded on what you’ve done over nine years and you can go back to Phil Jurkovec over five weeks or whatever it was where it’s loyalty," Narduzzi said. "I always have loyalty to our football team, period. You can look at that or you can look at one six-second snippet. Which one are you going to go with? That’s up to you.”
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