The NCAA on Thursday placed the Pittsburgh football and men’s basketball programs on three years probation for multiple coaching violations committed from 2015 to 2018.
Former Panthers basketball coach Kevin Stallings and current football coach Pat Narduzzi both allowed non-staff members to regularly perform coaching duties, thus exceeding the permissible number of coaches, according to a negotiated resolution agreement between the NCAA and the university.
The probation extends through Feb. 19, 2023. The university, which self-reported the violations and cooperated in the investigation, did not suffer any scholarship reductions or postseason restrictions in either sport.
“While disappointed in the violations, I am confident that our already-strong culture of compliance will help each of our programs avoid such situations in the future,” Pitt director of athletics Heather Lyke said in a statement.
Stallings, 59, was fired in March 2018 after going 24-41 in two seasons with the Panthers.
According to the report, Stallings developed an alert system to ensure that non-staff members would not be caught coaching the players. He also ordered the deletion of practice videos to prevent the school from discovering the violations.
“The former men’s basketball coach was involved directly in the violations, and he did not end the violations after being warned by athletics department administrators,” read the NCAA report.
The basketball program also impermissibly produced personalized recruiting videos for 12 prospects to watch during campus visits.
Narduzzi, 53, has posted a 36-29 record since taking over at Pitt in 2015, including 8-5 in 2019.
Narduzzi allowed three former quality control staff members to perform coaching duties. They escaped the detection of the university’s spot checks by playing music whenever outside parties were present at the practice facility.
“As head coach of the University of Pittsburgh football program, I am wholeheartedly committed to following NCAA rules and preventing these types of issues from happening again,” Narduzzi said in a statement. “I fully recognize my responsibility in what occurred and, equally important, how those missteps will be corrected as we proceed forward.”
Other penalties include:
–A fine of $5,000 plus 0.5 percent of the men’s basketball and football budgets.
–A show-cause order for Narduzzi withholding him from two days of team practices in August 2020.
–A three-year show-cause order for Stallings. If he is employed by a member school during that time, he must be suspended from 30 percent of the first season of his employment.
