Pat Narduzzi Calls Out Signal Stealing in College Football

Pitt Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi is worried about how sign stealing affects the sport.

PITTSBURGH -- The NCAA has launched an investigation in the Michigan Wolverines for allegedly stealing signals from other teams and Pitt Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi was neither surprised, nor happy to hear the news when Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellinger broke it this week. 

As the Wolverines brace for an investigation to rain down from college athletics' governing body, Narduzzi is wary of how his Pitt program could be affected by the same practices. 

"I think it’s ridiculous what goes on," Narduzzi said. "That doesn’t shock me if that happened. I’m not accusing anybody but, you know, to me, that’s been happening for a while and I think it can happen with someone going to other games and watching stuff and stealing stuff."

Sign stealing has been a staple of college football scouting since it's inception. But in 1994, the NCAA established rules to cap how teams go about this quasi-legal practice. Michigan is alleged to have violated NCAA Bylaw 11.6.1, which states that “Off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents (in the same season) is prohibited,” according to Dellinger. 

NCAA bylaws introduced just this season also forbid the use of electronic equipment to record a team's signals, although a corresponding penalty for doing so is not specified. 

Teams have been forced to get creative with how they hide their signals to keep up with attempts to decipher them. Some, like Pitt, use tarps to shield their coaches and team personnel from the view of opponents while they give signals and use wristbands to communicate calks. In the past, former Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett would jog over to the sideline where then-offensive coordinator Mark Whipple would deliver the call directly. 

Narduzzi claims that while he was at Cincinnati from 2004 to 2007, another Big East team (not Pitt, he added) was known to have stolen signals from the Bearcats. Now leading the Panthers, he still worries about how opponents could pick things out from right under his nose by using the tactics Michigan is accused of using.

"I’ve heard of that stuff going on," Narduzzi said. "There’s been other teams that have gotten busted for that. It’s crappy sportsmanship. It’s not what’s supposed to happen, whether you travel to a stadium and do it, whether you do it in your own stadium. I think it’s tough." 

Narduzzi said his team is constantly trying to come up with new ways to keep their signals secret but he'd feel more comfortable if a body like the NCAA was able to police it more comprehensively. 

"It definitely happens and it would be nice if someone put a stop to it," Narduzzi said. "Because it’s not good for the game."

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