Pat Narduzzi responds to NCAA penalties for violations

The NCAA put Pitt on probation for three years on Thursday after the Pitt athletics department self-reported Level II coaching violations by former Panthers basketball coach Kevin Stallings and current Panthers football coach Pat Narduzzi. The violations by Stallings were severe, as the former coach attempted to cover up his transgressions and set up “an alert system” to prevent their detection. As a result, he received a three-year show-cause order.

Narduzzi’s violations were relatively minor, as they involved too many coaches being present at practices and there were no attempts to perpetuate the malfeasance. Because of that, his penalty was not as harsh as the one issued to Stallings, and he will only miss two practices in August. Nevertheless, Narduzzi opted to comment on the matter after Pitt’s probation and the other penalties were announced.

“As head coach of the University of Pittsburgh football program, I am wholeheartedly committed to following NCAA rules and preventing these types of issues from happening again,” Narduzzi said in a statement. “I fully recognize my responsibility in what occurred and, equally important, how those missteps will be corrected as we proceed forward.”

The announcement issued by the NCAA on Pitt’s violations specified that Narduzzi “was present at the practice facility when three former quality control staff members performed coaching duties, resulting in the program exceeding the allowable number of permissible coaches.” This violation led to the conclusion that the coach “did not promote an atmosphere for compliance.”

In addition to sitting out the two practices this summer, Narduzzi also abstained from off-campus recruiting for one week during the contact period that ran from Dec. 1 to Feb. 1 as part of his punishment. Pitt will not face any scholarship restrictions or postseason bans due to the violations.