Narduzzi surprises, sacks coordinator
WR coach out in shakeup, as well
Just days after Pitt’s 14-13 loss to Stanford in the Sun Bowl, Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi announced offensive coordinator Shawn Watson will not return.
Watson, also Pitt’s quarterbacks coach the past two seasons, is joined on the chopping block by wide receivers coach Kevin Sherman. Sherman was one of Narduzzi’s original hires.
“I want to thank Shawn and Kevin for their efforts and dedication to our program,” Narduzzi said Friday in a statement. “Certainly we wish them and their families the very best in their future endeavors.” No reason was given for what the news release referred to as Pitt and Watson “parting ways” but sometimes, you need only to look at the obvious.
▪ The Panthers were hit-or-miss offensively in their two seasons under Watson, who had big shoes to fill after his predecessor, Matt Canada, left for a three-year, $1.5 million contract at LSU. In 10 games the past two years, Pitt’s offense produced 14 points or fewer. Six of those came this season.
▪ In 2018, Pitt’s offense actually regressed. There was the 34-13 win at Wake Forest to clinch the ACC Coastal Division Nov. 17, but that was the only game all season quarterback Kenny Pickett passed for more than 300 yards. Rather than build on that showing, the Panthers instead made it look like a fluke, scoring 3, 10 and 13 points in their final three against Miami, Clemson and Stanford.
▪ Speaking of Pickett, he didn’t show much development as a sophomore under Watson’s tutelage, the lower-profile half of Watson’s job title but one that’s also significant. Pickett completed 29 of 67 passes for just 274 yards with zero touchdowns and one interception in the final three games. He threw for under 100 yards three times this season.
All of that said, Narduzzi was asked explicitly about his confidence level in Watson directly after the Sun Bowl Monday, with athletic director Heather Lyke sitting in the same interview room in El Paso, Texas.
“High,” Narduzzi said twice, then pointed to his offense’s 344 yards, by far the unit’s most in three outings after back-to-back 200-yard totals.
But those 344 came in a loss, and the offensive output was once again more a product of a bruising running game than a reasonably balanced attack. Pickett rolled out on 21.2 percent of his dropbacks entering the bowl game, most of all qualifying quarterbacks in Football Bowl Subdivision, and had an average depth of target of just 5.1 yards on those plays, according to Pro Football Focus.
While Narduzzi and Watson could point to their rushing success as a positive, it stands to reason that the passing game should have benefited from so many opponents geared to stop the run. On their biggest stage of the year, the Panthers managed just 8 yards through the air against No. 2 Clemson in the ACC championship, and fan gripes about Watson reached a fever pitch.
The Sun Bowl didn’t do much, if anything, to quell those complaints. “I’m not going to talk about that right now,” Narduzzi said Monday on the topic of staff changes. “I like our staff right now, I like our players, and we’re going to digest this football game.”
For whatever reasons, perhaps those detailed above, Narduzzi didn’t like the state of his offense as much four days after that game.
Watson and Sherman departures means Pitt has had at least one coaching change each offseason under Narduzzi, who has had to replace a coordinator every year. Last year, Pitt parted ways with defensive coordinator Josh Conklin, who took the head coaching job at Wofford. The year before that, Watson replaced Canada, who succeeded Narduzzi’s original offensive coordinator, Jim Chaney.