CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Pittsburgh Panthers football coach Pat Narduzzi had a good idea what to expect over the past two seasons from every opponent in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division.
Not this year.
After two years with the same seven head coaches, nearly half of that group is gone with Georgia Tech, Miami and North Carolina bringing in new leadership. Now Narduzzi and the reigning division champions – along with Duke, Virginia and Virginia Tech – will face a new set of schemes and coaching tendencies.
“You can watch tape and see what they’d like to do, but really it’s what are they going to like to do against your defensive front, your coverage – how are they going to defend your formations?” Narduzzi said Thursday on the second and final day of the league’s annual football media showcase. “Those are a lot of things you don’t know going into the first season, so that does change things a bit.”
The arrivals of Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins, Miami’s Manny Diaz and North Carolina’s Mack Brown marks the second time in four seasons the Coastal Division will enter a season with three new coaches.