Pat Narduzzi
Followed Paul Chryst. Pat Narduzzi moved Pittsburgh from National Program I to Power Program III in 12 seasons.
In his own words
We try to coach him in a good way anyway
I think there’s competition all over the place — corner, linebacker, safety, I think running back, for sure
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Power Program in his 7th career season — faster than 21% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #297 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
2–5 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Larry Fedora.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
8th-best Pittsburgh tenure of 23 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed Paul Chryst (2012–2014).
| Season | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||||||||
| Record | 8–5 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 7–7 | 8–5 | 6–5 | 11–3 | 9–4 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 0–0 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | L bowl | — | CFP loss | W bowl | — | L bowl | W bowl | — | L bowl | L bowl | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #46 | #30 | #37 | #47 | #58 | #44 | #26 | #76 | #51 | #41 | #51 | #44 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||||||||||
| Pass rate | 40.2 | 37.4 | 44.0 | 35.6 | 53.8 | 52.3 | 50.9 | 43.0 | 50.3 | 54.2 | 51.9 | 49.7 | |
| Coordinators | |||||||||||||
| OC | Jim Chaney | Matt Canada | Shawn Watson | Shawn Watson | Mark Whipple | Mark Whipple | Mark Whipple | Frank Cignetti | Frank Cignetti | Kade Bell | Kade Bell | Kade Bell | |
| DC | Josh Conklin | Josh Conklin | Josh Conklin | Randy Bates | Randy Bates | Randy Bates | Randy Bates | Randy Bates | Randy Bates | Randy Bates | Randy Bates | Cory Sanders | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||||||||||
| Offense | 62 | 90 | 43 | 74 | 20 | 30 | 76 | 49 | 12 | 19 | 39 | 69 | |
| Defense | 25 | 27 | 56 | 67 | 89 | 77 | 93 | 89 | 79 | 73 | 88 | 26 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | 35.6 | 29.5 | 37.3 | 29.9 | 49.5 | 48.2 | 54.1 | 36.0 | 46.7 | 47.4 | 46.2 | 43.1 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 40.0 | 25.3 | 23.5 | 14.6 | 51.9 | 39.4 | 54.0 | 33.3 | 40.4 | 58.3 | 60.4 | — | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 20.0 | 30.6 | 29.4 | 24.2 | 17.9 | 29.5 | 37.8 | 32.5 | 33.3 | 17.9 | 42.6 | — | |
A typical amount of portal roster-building.
Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.
A typical class-year mix of incoming transfers.
33 NFL Draft picks: T.J. Clemmings (2015), Tyler Boyd (2016), James Conner (2017), Dorian Johnson (2017), Nathan Peterman (2017), Adam Bisnowaty (2017), Ejuan Price (2017), Brian O'Neill (2018) + 25 more
9 player-seasons honored (All-America / national award): Patrick Jones II (2020), Rashad Weaver (2020), Kenny Pickett (2021), Jordan Addison (2021), Cal Adomitis (2021), Israel Abanikanda (2022), Calijah Kancey (2022), Kyle Louis (2024) + 1 more