​The Pitt Panthers hired Pat Narduzzi after disappointing runs from both Paul Chryst and Todd Graham. The Pitt brass forced Dave Wannstedt to step down after a 7-5 season. Had they known it would be their best season over the next four years they might’ve changed their minds.Since his hiring in 2015, Narduzzi has coached only two losing seasons over the past 10 seasons. The Panthers even won 11 games in 2021, their first double-digit win season since 2009 under Wannstedt (10 wins). Under Narduzzi the Panthers have played in eight bowl games and have been ranked twice to end the season.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWith 80 wins Pat Narduzzi is 2nd to only Jock Sutherland (111) in career wins at Pitt. That includes a list with coaches like Wannstedt, Johnny Majors, Pop Warner, and Jackie Sherrill. Now let’s put the Panthers through The Goal, our 2026 Summer Scheming analysis system.Acquisition: The Pitt Panthers have finished the past three classes 46th in freshman recruiting and 66th in the transfer portal which is good for 56th combined.Development: Over the past two seasons the Panthers have produced eight NFL rostered players, tied with Florida State who has been 41 recruiting spots higher than Pitt. Pitt is always good for a DL, LB and DB to hit the draft lists.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDeployment: This preseason Bill Connelly’s SP+ has Pitt at 41st in overall SP+. The Pitt offense is 40th, the defense is 53rd, and the kicking game is 60th.The bottleneck to success at Pitt is Narduzzi’s uncanny ability to tank the end of the season. I’m not sure if it’s to be blamed on the S&C staff, athletic training department or practice scheduling but the Panthers are 3-14 to end the last three seasons.The Pitt strength of schedule is 63rd of 138 in FBS per CFB News. Pitt’s schedule lines up for an 8-4 regular season, which is on par for their past five seasons.The inventory space includes returning production per Bill Connelly, the On3 top-100 list and the Athlon preseason All-Conference Team honorees. Pitt’s returning production is ranked 41st in FBS per Bill Connelly. The Panthers return 58% from a year ago. They don’t have any players on the On3 top-100 but they do have one All-ACC player per Athlon.Pitt is the type of program that fills in holes through the portal but doesn’t go whole hog on transfers. They return QB Mason Heintschel who threw 16 TD’s with eight INT’s. RB Ja’Kyrian Turner averaged 5.3 yards per carry with seven scores last season and Cataurus Hicks has big play ability with 17.6 yards per catch in ‘25.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLB Braylon Lovelace returns with 17 career TFL’s. DE Jimmy Scott adds eight TFL’s and 4.5 sacks, and Cameron Lindsey had five TFL’s a year ago.Pat Narduzzi has put in his time and taken a program that was mediocre at best and has made them exciting, at least until Halloween. He’s earning somewhere close to $7.2M a season while averaging 7.