Pat Narduzzi is down in Dallas about to coach his final game as defensive coordinator for Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl new year's day vs Baylor. As if Baylor's offense wasn't enough to think about; Narduzzi also has that night job of building his staff at Pitt.
We recently spoke with a number of sources who have spoken with Narduzzi about what he is looking for with regards to his staff and a couple of things stood out to us. First and foremost, Narduzzi is looking for relentless and passionate recruiters. Multiple guys said to us, "Pat believes a lot of guys are good coaches; but not everyone loves to recruit." Pat wants coaches who enjoy in home visits, who want to connect with the players and their parents. During the season and when they are at Pitt, Pat's philosophy is very family aware (meaning coaches won't be there all night, every night). When they are on the road recruiting though, we hear Pat is looking for guys who are eager to spend as much time as possible working on the next generation of Pitt football recruits.
There has been a lot of internet speculation that Syracuse defensive line coach Tim Daoust will be the pick for defensive coordinator. Per our checks, we don't expect that to happen. While, I haven't heard anything to rule out the possibility that he might be offered a position on the staff, the feel I got from checking with a few sources was that if it will be a coach from Syracuse, it more likely could be Syracuse defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough; but have also heard a few other names in contention and don't know where those stand.
On the offensive side, I have heard through the years that Pat always found Nebraska's offensive scheme to be a very challenging one to attack and address from the defensive side. With Nebraska's offensive coordinator Tim Beck available the connection is a potential; but again, sources we checked with said this was not a slam dunk noting that again others were in play for the position as well. One logical possibility that we hear Narduzzi is considering is Don Treadwell; but as with defensive coordinator we hear a few other guys are being considered too in addition to Beck and Treadwell.
As more becomes clear, we'll update things on The Scoop.