ACC Football: 5 moves that would spark change in 2019

2. Pitt hires Candle

Longtime Michigan State assistant coach Pat Narduzzi took over the Pitt Panthers as head football coach in 2015. His tenure started off with back-to-back 8-5 seasons but took a sharp decline in 2017 after Matt Canada fled to Baton Rouge. The Panthers were 5-7 in 2017 with a big win over the Miami Hurricanes at Heinz Field.

The Panthers are currently sitting at 3-3, but with one win being over Albany. Pitt has two epic losses, one being destroyed by the Central Florida Knights and another being at the hands of a really bad UNC team.

Narduzzi’s biggest issue is Pitt’s struggles on defense, his own side of the football. While at Michigan State, Narduzzi took second-tier talent and won Rose Bowls yet at Pitt, the Panthers’ defense is currently ranked 90th per the S&P+.

Toledo head football coach Jason Candle is a native of Salem, Ohio. Candle played his college football at Geneva in Pennsylvania before transferring to Division III power Mount Union where he won two D3 national championships. He broke into coaching at Mount Union before moving on to Toledo and working his way up the coaching ranks. Once taking over the Rockets, Candle has posted a 24-9 overall record behind stellar offensive play.

Candle has done a great job of recruiting three key areas the Panthers would need to become a player in the ACC in Florida, Ohio and Pittsburgh. If the Panthers could pull a coup and bring in a young upstart head coach it would finally revitalize a program that’s been on the cusp of being competitive.