Pitt Using Full-Staff Approach for Recruiting

PITTSBURGH -- College football's regular season leaves little time for coaches to focus on anything but the game directly in front of them. Still, coaches and staff members have to make sure they carve out time for the future within their weekly preparation. The Pitt Panthers talk about recruiting every time they meet as a full coaching staff, according to head coach Pat Narduzzi and they discuss everything from who to contact to how to contact them.

The age of smartphones and social media makes keeping in touch with high school prospects, easier, but NCAA rules that restrict coaches to one phone call per week force programs to divide the labor. Narduzzi said his weekly meetings consist of this kind of logistics. They figure out who needs to call who when and how to make sure the player gets a holistic look at how might coach them.

"We’re allowed one phone call a week," Narduzzi said. "We can text a kid and the coaches get extra phone calls by saying ‘Hey, call me at five o’clock or whenever’s free for you’. So we get those extra phone calls in that way where the kids are calling us but we get one phone call a week. We have to split up who we’re calling.”

As head coach, Narduzzi tries to have an iron in every fire. He's not confined to one position or side of the ball, so he wants to talk to each of the prospects his program is pursuing.

"I think you always want to split it up, whether it’s the offensive coordinator talking to an offensive player or a defensive coordinator talking to a defensive player. The head coach is trying to touch everybody," Narduzzi said. "I don’t just call the same guy. You want to share the love and you want to make sure there isn’t always one coach in constant communication with a player."

Narduzzi wants a holistic approach to his recruiting. If a player only has a relationship with one coach, his attachment to the program is flimsy. A player who commits, signs and enrolls will be around everyone every day and should get to know everyone who has his career in their hands.

"That happens sometimes and if a coach leaves, then he’s lost everything," Narduzzi said. "You want to have multiple people getting in touch with them so they don't feel like they have a relationship with just one guy."

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