Pitt to hire Narduzzi as head coach

Dec 24, 2014 - 9:02 PM Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi will reportedly become the new head football coach at Pittsburgh, with the university to make an official announcement on Friday.

The Panthers have scheduled a press conference for Friday at 3:30 p.m. (et) to confirm Narduzzi's hire, with ESPN.com confirming through sources that an agreement between the highly regarded Spartans assistant and the school took place on Wednesday.

Narduzzi takes over a position vacated by Paul Chryst, who was named Wisconsin's head coach last week following Gary Andersen's surprising departure for Oregon State.

The 48-year-old Narduzzi constructed one of the nation's top defenses during his eight-year tenure at Michigan State, and was named the 2013 recipient of the Broyles Award honoring college football's best assistant coach.

Michigan State has ranked in the top 10 of the FBS ranks in both total defense and rushing defense in each of the last four seasons. The Spartans' 293.5 total yards allowed in 2014 is the seventh-best mark in major college football, and they finished sixth overall in rushing defense (97.5 ypg).

Narduzzi will be Pitt's fourth head coach since 2010 and inherits a program that has gone 6-6 in the regular season in each of the last four years. The Panthers are currently preparing for the Jan. 2 Armed Forces Bowl, with offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph to serve as interim head coach for the game.

This will be the first head coaching job for Narduzzi, who had previously been the defensive coordinator at Rhode Island (1998-99), Miami-Ohio (2003) and Cincinnati (2004-06) before joining then-Bearcats sideline boss Mark Dantonio at Michigan State.