Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi Reacts to James Franklin Hiring

PITTSBURGH — Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi and James Franklin used to be the head coaches of two bitter in-state rivals.

The two have traded distant shots at each other's programs in the past, like when Narduzzi called out Penn State numerous times for dodging its rivalry with Pitt, and when Franklin compared Pitt to beating Akron.

But now that's all history, because Narduzzi and Franklin will now be coaching in the same conference — Narduzzi still at Pitt, and Franklin now at Virginia Tech.

"I'm excited about him," Narduzzi said at his end of the week press conference. "I mean, he's obviously a tremendous football coach. Outside of the rivalry game, we've texted back and forth. I'm excited for him and congratulate him. Welcome to the ACC. But he's an elite football coach. He's won a lot of games. Been in the playoffs last year."

Narduzzi and Franklin History

Narduzzi and Franklin became the head coaches at Pitt and Penn State around the same time as one another — Narduzzi in 2015 and Franklin in 2014. Pitt and Penn State played four times from 2016-19 during their coaching tenures. Those were the first meetings since the previous series, which spanned from 1997-2000.

Pitt defeated Penn State once in the most recent meetings, with a 42-39 home win in 2016. That win tasted a little bit sweeter when it eventually caused the Nittany Lions to miss the College Football Playoff later that season.

But after that, it was all Penn State. The Nittany Lions outscored Pitt 101-30 in the last three meetings, mostly due to the 51-6 route at Heinz Field in 2018.

Sep 9, 2017; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin (left) and Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi (right) congratulate each other at mid field following the competition of the game at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Pitt 33-14. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

The two coaches will now see each other more frequently, starting next season when Pitt and Virginia Tech play for the first time since 2023. And Narduzzi is excited to see what Franklin can offer in the ACC.

"He'll bring a lot of flavor and he'll bring a lot of ideas to our ACC head coach meetings," Narduzzi said. "And again, I love when you get different coaches coming in from different conferences who could say, 'Hey, this is how we did it. Why are we doing it like this?'"

"He'll be a guy, whether that's Bill Belichick coming in from the NFL or James coming from the Big Ten, to kind of spruce up the meetings a little bit," he continued.

Franklin was fired from Penn State on Oct. 12 after the Nittany Lions suffered three consecutive losses to No. 6 Oregon, 0-4 UCLA and 3-2 Northwestern to start conference play. Franklin led Penn State to a 13-3 season in 2024 that featured a Big Ten Championship appearance and a trip to the Orange Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

"James Franklin’s a great coach, and it’s a business we’re in," Narduzzi said of Franklin's firing. "I say business, it’s business, and places gotta do what they gotta do. I’m not concerned about that, we don’t play ‘em, and James will be OK. Got a lot of respect for him, and it’s a shame because he’s a great coach. We all know that, he’s won a lot of games, he was in the playoffs a year ago."

Franklin was hired at Virginia Tech just over a month after his firing on Nov. 17.

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