Pat Narduzzi non-committal on Backyard Brawl return for Pitt-West Virginia

A few days ago, I wrote about West Virginia's interest in jumpstarting the Backyard Brawl. Pat Narduzzi made his first ACC coaches conference call appearance and weighed in on the game when asked. His answer?

Mostly a 'we'll see' kind of deal:

"Obviously, the Backyard Brawl is something I've grown up with," Narduzzi said, while acknowledging that a decision on scheduling West Virginia won't come until Pitt hires an athletic director.

"You obviously love to have those rivalries and West Virginia is a great team in a great conference and we want to play the best. We're always going to schedule the best opponents we can and really embrace future and past rivalries."

Narduzzi took the only stance he could have. He remained non-committal since, you know, he doesn't really have the authority to make that decision yet recognized the history of the rivalry.

Pitt has no athletic director, he's new here, and with a new Chancellor, the Panthers will need to decide what direction they go. It was pretty clear to me that Pitt had taken an anti-WVU stance in the past and to be honest, I think the decision to play was completely out of the hands of Paul Chryst. Narduzzi will probably be involved and at least asked about his opinion, but I always think the decision to play is going to come from Chancellor Gallagher and the AD.

If we're handicapping the odds and you're one of those people hoping to see the game played, there's a better chance of it now than there was when Chancellor Nordenberg and Steve Pederson were around. There seemed to be zero movement around playing the game before so even if there's a slight interest now, the chances are greater that it happens. But as has been pointed out, the game can't happen for a while, anyway, so don't hold your breath.

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