Narduzzi calls to allow Pitt parents to attend games

As Pitt prepares to face Louisville at Noon this Saturday at Heinz Field, Pat Narduzzi is well aware it's the team's third consecutive home game and that they only have three more home games scheduled against Boston College, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech for the rest of the season.

And Narduzzi feels passionately that his players' parents should be given the chance to watch their sons play at Heinz Field before those games are over.

"You guys got any connections with the governor?" Narduzzi said Thursday via Zoom. "I guess I need to do a PSA for the governor. But I'd just like to ask Governor [Tom] Wolf if he would please let us have a few fans in the stands? Governor, please. I plead and feel bad for our kids. You look around our country and see people have fans in the stands. He made a decision that was for the safety for everyone in Pittsburgh, which I agree with, but there's fans all over the country in stands."

Narduzzi continued in his request to Governor Wolf that he understands measures must be taken to protect the citizens of Pennsylvania from COVID-19, but that he thinks allowing a parents to attend games in the stands safely would be a manageable feat.

"We want to continue to be safe in Pittsburgh," Narduzzi continued. "I still want to make sure the numbers are going down and not going up. So I understand why he's done it, but I feel there's a safe way to have the kid's parents at the game. Our kid's parents. My wife and kids can stay home. It's about our kids and our parents after the game. It's about our kids and our parents after the game. Heinz Field is good enough and big enough to have ten parents in each section and keep 60 feet distance and still take care of our parents."

We got a glimpse of what Kenny Pickett's family was willing to do when they drove from their home from New Jersey to meet Pickett before the team's home opener against Austin Peay, and Pickett got to hug his mother before entering the stadium. 

"Special moment to have my mom there," Pickett said after the team's win over Austin Peay. "She's at every game and it means the world to me. I love my mom to death. Being able to hug her before the game means everything to me. I'm actually about to go meet her outside, they watched [the game] at the hotel."

Pennsylvania's number of daily reported cases of COVID-19 has gone down since spiking earlier in September. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the most first-reported cases in a single day in September has been 1,051 reports on September 14th. That numbers has dropped to as low as 792 first-reported cases on Wednesday, September 23rd. That's also down from the highest spike of first-reported cases on April 8th, which had 2,059 reported cases. 

In total, the Pennsylvania Department of Health as of Thursday as totaled 148, 658 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 8,079 reported deaths from the coronavirus. You can find the latest weekly report with more specific information from Friday, September 18th, here.

Narduzzi also questioned the NCAA's policy on its 'dead period,' which describes the period of time that collegiate coaches and staff are prohibited from meeting face-to-face with high school recruit. That period was extended through January 1st, 2021 last Thursday, September 17th. You can read more about those policies here.

"I still don't know why the NCAA made that decision so quickly," Narduzzi said of the NCAA's decision to extend the dead period until the end of the year. "They've done it month by month but all of a sudden they took the whole Fall and really shut it down. I feel bad for our kids and all the recruits out there. The one rule is to come on campus they can purchase a ticket. But to me, why can't we give our kids a ticket? Why do we have to make them pay for it? Some kids can't pay for a ticket? How about if any kid's committed to you they get two tickets? Wouldn't that be nice? The NCAA comes up with some rules sometimes that I wonder where they came from." 

"We like to see them," Narduzzi continued in talking about the potential high school recruits. "They like to see us and Oakland and the city of Pittsburgh. But we'd also like to see them and have that relationship that's hard to build over Zoom or Facetime. But it's 2020 and we're getting used to it. I signed a petition and I'd appreciate if anyone would sign it as well that I tweeted about to let these kids visit. I really don't understand the decision making. There's a way to do it safely in December when the season's over with masks and the whole deal."

The petition Narduzzi mentioned is for the NCAA to lift the dead period so that in-person recruiting could begin earlier for collegiate staffs and high school recruits:

Narduzzi also addressed how his team would respond if faced with a similar situation as Florida State, whose head coach, Mike Norvell, tested positive for COVID-19 and has to miss their rivalry game against Miami this Saturday.

"We've had conversations and made a plan for every position," Narduzzi said. "We'll deal with that when we get there. We have a great staff. Randy Bates does a great job on defense. If I went down it would be the easy part. If Bates or [Mark] Whipple went down, that's where you'd have a problem. But they wouldn't even miss me on game day. We've got things running so smoothly right now."

Narduzzi also commented that the team hasn't considered the possibility of players returning because of the NCAA's blanket waiver that allows students to not count the 2020 Fall season against their eligibility and potentially return next season.

"We haven't had the discussion on needs yet because we just finished week two," Narduzzi said. "We've got plenty of commitments already. Whoever stays is a bonus. Whoever leaves is expected to leave and we'll bring a new guy in to take that scholarship. When you look at it, Jimmy Morrissey and Kenny Pickett with another year, wouldn't that be fun? We don't know but we're going to still take another quarterback and another offensive lineman."

• In preparation for Louisville's dual threat as a mobile quarterback with a good arm in Malik Cunningham, Narduzzi said the team's used redshirt freshman wide receiver Will Gipson as a mobile scout team quarterback to simulate how the defense should react.

"We've mixed it up and put an athlete back there that can throw," Narduzzi said. "Malik can really throw too, he's got a great arm, quick release and knows where to go with the ball. We've got Will Gipson who did an outstanding job. He loves it. He was begging to play quarterback and did a great job. We know whenever we need an athletic quarterback we can go to Will Gipson, who not only can do it, but wants to do it. Will Gipson would be my pick of the rock of the week for everything he did. Will did a tremendous job. It's really his first opportunity to show what he's got and it's going to make him a better football player."

• Narduzzi mentioned that the Panthers are aware of the situation in Louisville, Ky. where protests have erupted after only one of three police officers involved in the March 13th shooting of Breonna Taylor were indicted for "wanton endangerment" this Wednesday.

"We've had discussions," Narduzzi said about the subject. "But we're locked into a football game right now. We had a little bit of a discussion today with our regular leadership meeting today like every Thursday. We discussed that and some other issues about what impact we're trying to make in the community. That's something we touch on every Thursday with my captains."

• Narduzzi maintained that with everything else going on in the world, his focus has been on his players and team and improving in 2020. The few things he keeps track of includes the Steelers and specifically how James Conner is doing for them.

"I don't listen to the guys nationally," Narduzzi said. "I don't look at ESPN. As long as we have respect of our local guys, that's what I care about. I maybe look at USA Today, that's about it. They give nobody respect though. I read about the news and the tragedy in the city of Louisville. I see what's happening in college football and the whispers of what's happening with Notre Dame when games are cancelled. Other than that, I don't watch basketball or anything like that, I don't even know who's in the NBA Finals. I watch the Steelers and I didn't even get to watch the Steelers [this weekend] until my guys told me James [Conner] got 106 yards. That's all I care about. My guys, the Steelers and our Panthers."

• Addressing the offense, Narduzzi noted the team's had a good week of practice, and that they plan to take a moderate amount of big shot plays against Louisville, but with their goal to move the ball consistently throughout the game.

"We're going to take what they give us," Narduzzi said. "If you look at Syracuse's defense and how they didn't give us much on the back end. It was nice when Jordan Addison scored, and that would've been a touchdown from anywhere on the field. We missed another opportunity on a touchdown but we just didn't throw it to him. That's the coaches job to judge how many times we take deep shots. There's nothing worse than missing on the deep shot and then it being 2nd and 10 and you're behind the sticks. We just want to move the sticks and score touchdowns, I don't care how long or short they are."

"We had a nice week of practice," Narduzzi continued. "We're going to find out how good, but we've got a great atmosphere at Heinz Field even without fans. But our kids our excited to get rolling into week three. Knock on wood for everything to go well and we keep playing. Looking forward to this game against Louisville, a talented team as you know. We played in an ACC game last week, so you saw everybody that's going to play. Can't tell you there's going to be a whole lot of surprises. Danny Maraga's had a great week and I'm excited to see him catch a ball or two because he's made great plays and he's tough, but the cat's out of the bag for most of them."

• Narduzzi mentioned that he's had a lot less interactions with the Steelers this year because of COVID-19 protocols and his not wanting to put anyone at risk.

"I've actually stayed away from the Steelers," Narduzzi said. "They've got business going on and usually I'd come on the field once a week and walk around and say hello but I've been hesitant. I don't want to get into their bubble, I know they've got stuff going on and everyone's worried about their bubble. I just want to be smart and cause any problems that way. I've texted coach Tomlin back and forth. But I stay away, even though I just want to go out there and give James Conner a hug. I wouldn't do that right now, which is really no fun."