Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh punished for head coach's postgame attack on officials
Due to commentary following their win over West Virginia on Saturday, Pat Narduzzi and the Pittsburgh Panthers have received a punishment from the ACC.
Per a release by the conference, Pitt received a $5,000 fine for their head coach’s words on the officials. The Atlantic Coast Conference has also publicly reprimanded Narduzzi for the words. These are both part of a violation of the ACC’s Sportsmanship Policy.
“The Atlantic Coast Conference issued a public reprimand of Pitt’s football coach Pat Narduzzi for violating the ACC Sportsmanship Policy following Pitt’s win over West Virginia on September 14. In addition, the league announced that an institutional fine has been issued to Pitt ($5,000) as a result of the violation,” the statement read. “The funds from the imposed institutional fine will be placed into the Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship account.”
“The ACC considers this matter closed and will have no further comment,” the release closed.
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This comes after Narduzzi criticized the officiating and said that Pittsburgh had to beat them as much as they did the Mountaineers to get the victory this weekend.
“I mean, some of the calls we got? Late hit out of bounds, they catch a ball with a hands in the face. I’ve never seen anything like it, you know. Wow!” said Narduzzi afterward to the broadcast on ESPN2. “We beat West Virginia in The Backyard Brawl and we beat the officials too in one game.”
However, Narduzzi also gave plenty of credit to his team for finding a way to win over WVU.
“The comeback kids, man. I tell ya. That football team right there has got that right in the chest cavity. We talked about it last night. I mean that’s a gut win again. Just tells you what kind of character we have in that locker room. They never gave up,” said Narduzzi. “I can’t say enough about the players in that locker room.”
“Again, the players in the arena made the plays. They made enough plays to win the football game,” Narduzzi said. “It’s personal and we’re going to have a damn good time in the locker room. Hail to Pitt!”
This rivalry once again lived up to its namesake in its 107th edition, especially for Pitt. The Panthers had to battle back from down 10 with under five minutes to go on their own home field against West Virginia. They completed the comeback, though, with a 40-yard touchdown pass less than a minute later, a stop in a three-and-out, and another drive leading to the winning score by Derrick Davis Jr.. They then forced a turnover on downs that ended the game at 38-34 for the Panthers.
With that, Pittsburgh has won both home games to be 2-1 against West Virginia since the series came back in 2022.
Narduzzi might have been fired up but, in the end, he got his penalty and cost his school some money with what he had to say postgame.