The Pittsburgh Panthers football team is looking to make a playoff run after improving to 3-0 after fighting tooth-and-nail to beat their bitter rivals, the West Virginia Mountaineers. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the focus of the game afterward.
Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi laid into the officiating crew immediately following the victory in his on-field interview, saying that the Panthers had to beat West Virginia along with the referees.
“Some of the calls we got. Late hit out of bounds. They catch a ball with a hands to the face. I ain’t never seen anything like it. We beat West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl. And we beat the officials too, in one game.”
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi slams the officials after beating WVU.
"Some of the calls we got. Late hit out of bounds. They catch a ball with a hands to the face. I ain't never seen anything like it.
We beat West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl. And we beat the officials, too." pic.twitter.com/tnTZdm4vc7
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 14, 2024
Narduzzi let his emotions get the best of him after the game, and it looks like now he and the university will have to face the consequences. According to The Spun, the Panthers’ conference, the ACC announced a punishment on Sunday.
“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 university will look to nip this in the bud early. If Narduzzi continues to grill the officials, the team will likely be punished in increasingly severe ways.
It’ll be interesting to see if Narduzzi manages to keep a level head in the team’s next matchup against Youngstown State.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.