Pat Narduzzi is entering his ninth season leading the Pitt program after over a decade as an assistant coach and coordinator under Mark Dantonio at Cincinnati and Michigan State.
Known for not being one to bite his tongue, as evidenced by his hot-take on how Deion Sanders is building the Colorado program (followed by Coach Prime's clap back), Narduzzi joined Byran Fischer and Bronco Mendenhall recently on their Head Coach U podcast to share some perspective and advice and was asked about advice for young and aspiring head coaches.
Narduzzi opened up with lesson learned working for Mark Dantonio at Michigan State sharing how important it is to hire good people first, so you don't need to be looking over their shoulder all the time.
"The first thing is, don't micromanage your coaches."
The second piece of advice centered on the importance of knowing how to communicate, something young coaches may not be as well versed in because of technology.
"Some of the young coaches that are out there, aspiring to be head coaches, have forgotten - or maybe never figured out what it takes to communicate. Communication is so important," he shared.
"I think communication skills are lacking nowadays because everyone wants to talk on the phone and not be face-to-face, or they want to text you."
"This isn't high school anymore. We're not in college. This is real communication. I think open lines of communication are critical."
"Whether it's by phone, or face-to-face communication, I think we've had some success here because there's a path to communication. Even with the young coaches, I've got to teach them how we are going to communicate."
Lastly, Narduzzi talked about how being detail oriented around everything from how something is set up in the facility before a big recruiting day, to how his DFO has things set up will serve you well as a head coach.
"To me, a young guy that wants to be a head coach better pay attention to detail, because if we don't pay attention to those details, you're going to lose it all because it all goes downhill."
After Narduzzi's response, Mendenhall shared some insight from Andy Reid (who had appeared on the podcast a few weeks ago) and communication and hiring quality people were both main themes of the defending Super Bowl head coach's answer as well.
Hear Narduzzi's full response in the clip.