Pitt HC again speaks out on tampering issue in college football

Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi spoke up about college football's tampering problem last season when he lost Biletnikoff-winning wide receiver Jordan Addison to USC. He did not like the way USC handled it, called out Lincoln Riley and spoke his mind on the situation.

He not only has no regrets on that decision to speak out, but he added to it again this week.

Narduzzi was quoted in an article published in The Athletic looking into the tampering issue that has been created in college football due to the transfer portal and NIL deals.

Narduzzi was the only coach in the article willing to be quoted and said he thinks no other coaches are willing to speak out because they are also cheating.

From The Athletic:

“Whether it does any good to speak up, I don’t know,” he said. “But the more people speak up, the better. I think not speaking up is wrong. If we don’t speak up, what voice do we have? I talked to some of those NCAA guys, and they’re like, ‘No one wants to talk.’ They haven’t done anything with the Jordan Addison thing so, really, what does it matter? Everybody wants to be hush-hush, but why? The only reason to be hush-hush is if you’re breaking the rules yourself and you don’t want someone else to turn you in, and maybe that’s the problem: They’re cheating too. Let’s not turn each other in. That’s what I think it is. I got no problem talking, because we’re doing it the right way here.”

He added that coaches need to hold each other accountable, while he also attributed speaking up to the fact that nobody tried to tamper with any of Pitt's players this offseason. 

The transfer portal and NIL deals have completely changed the landscape around major college sports. Players now have the freedom to go where they want and make money off of their names and abilities.

The issue that coaches like Narduzzi have is when programs approach players and attempt to poach them away. If Addison decided he wanted to transfer for his own benefit and by his own choice, that is very different from USC approaching him and attempting to lure him there.

After winning the Biletnikoff Award as college football's best wide receiver at Pitt, Addison abruptly transferred to USC for the 2022 season. He played a major role in helping quarterback Caleb Williams win the Heisman Trophy and pushed USC to the top of the national rankings. 

USC's 2022 roster was significantly built through transfers. Addison ended up being a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, joining the Minnesota Vikings, while Williams is the early favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.