Narduzzi and Bates talk about how the new DC got to Pitt

MORE HEADLINES - Video: Narduzzi and Bates meet the media | What did one of Randy Bates' best former players have to say about Pitt's new DC? | PODCAST: Looking at the new DC | Recruiting rundown: The visit weekend, top targets and more

What led Pat Narduzzi to Randy Bates? And what led Bates to Pitt? Here's the full rundown of everything Pitt's head coach and new defensive coordinator said on Friday.

NARDUZZI: I’m honored and excited to introduce our new defensive coordinator, Randy Bates, who spent the last 12 years at Northwestern. But beside the last 12 years at Northwestern playing against each other, Randy and I go back to when he was at Louisiana Tech and I was at Northern Illinois - just a lot of different ties. He’s got Miami of Ohio ties that I’ve had in the past, and he’s always been a guy that I’ve leaned on, talked to through the years, whether it’s fundamentals at a convention and techniques, coverages, pressures, whatever it may be. And then even in the Big Ten, just talking about other people in the Big Ten, just a guy that you trusted.

The thing that’s always impressed me was the details, the things that he was always interested in. Maybe on a Sunday night, we’d have a conversation about somebody - the things he was interested in gameplan-wise for their staff was the same thing I was interested in. So when you talk details, I think he brings a high degree of those to the University of Pittsburgh. I’m excited.

BATES: I’m very excited to be here. I’ve had a couple questions about how I like Pittsburgh. Just so you guys know, I’m originally from Zanesville, Ohio. So Pittsburgh was a destination as a kid to come to the museums. When I was really young, my dad was a coach at Warren Harding and we would come over to Pittsburgh and go downtown and go to the Macy’s and all the stores downtown and see the animation and all that. You guys are probably all too young for that.

So coming to Pittsburgh is coming home to me, and I’m very excited about it. I’m also very excited about - I met the players pretty much for the first time today, but as you guys know, I stood out in Yankee Stadium and got to see the players just about a year ago and was extremely impressed. And when Coach and I talked about this position and I did a bit of research about the staff, the experience they have and the players, I was even more impressed.

I stood with the players just awhile back as Coach introduced me, and I made the statement to them that I’ll make to you, and that’s that I picked Pitt to come to. I’ve been there 12 years at Northwestern, we’ve had some success, and to be very frank with you, there’s been other opportunities. But this is one that I believe we can take it to the next level. Having national championships here, having the facilities and having the passion of the city of Pittsburgh for football just really gets me excited. So this opportunity, I jumped at, and I looked at the players this morning, and I get even more excited.

We had our first staff meeting; the staff is experienced. And I believe I’ll fit in well with the guys. I know many of them.

Probably the most exciting thing about this is I have another defensive coach. To have another defensive coach as a head coach, as I’ve had for the last 12 years, I believe lends us to having an outstanding defense and an outstanding team.

In college football today, not too many coaches are at a school for 12 years. What was the main thing that you thought this was the one you could take to the next level?
BATES: I think it started for me when we played in the Pinstripe Bowl last year. I couldn’t have been more impressed with Coach’s players and everybody else around the program. You get to meet the staff; we have a staff social. I got to meet all the perimeter people that are involved with athletics, so that was probably the start for me. I didn’t realize how many of the coaches on Coach’s staff I actually knew personally. Then the next step was when we talked and I got to do a little research on the youth of the defense and how they improved toward the end of the season. That was probably a big draw to me, because I believe that, with what they’re doing and maybe some things that we’ve done, we can take this defense to the next level.

I noticed you were a Navy lieutenant; do you bring any of that military persona into football meetings and practices?
BATES: I say ‘Yes sir’ and ‘Yes ma’am’ a lot, so that’d probably be number one. But I studied a lot about the military. I actually went to the Naval Academy and that’s when I became an officer. I was a military assistant. Having been non-Navy going into the military and getting thrown into that, it’s an incredible experience. So that experience and then I actually coached a Navy SEAL last year at Northwestern. With all of those tied in, I use that a lot.

We talked to the DB’s and wide receivers today about attention to detail and the Marines, the SEALs, those guys - the difference probably between athletics and the Navy, the SEALs and all of that, it’s life or death.

How is a coach like an officer and how is an officer like a coach?
BATES: I think it’s very similar because in most of the opportunities that I have in dealing with the athletes, you’re trying to get your personnel motivated. Thank God it’s not life or death, like it is in the military, but in a lot of ways, it’s getting a group to work as a team. With the SEALs, especially, that group have to know what each other are doing before they even take a step left or right. I think in defense and in athletics, that’s what we’re trying to do: get a group of people - football being probably the largest team sport still where you have to work in coordination as a group of 11.

As we’ve seen in a lot of other sports now - you know, I watch NBA basketball and stuff like that, and it’s a little more individualized sport. Football, you can’t win with a couple people. You have to win as a group. You have to win coordinated. That’s where I think it’s very similar.

You mention about having a defensive coach. How much overlap do you feel like there is between what you want to do with the defense and what Pat likes to do with the defense?
BATES: Quite a bit, actually. We spent a lot of time talking about what we’re doing here and what I’ve done previously, so there’s a lot more overlap than anything else. What we’ve talked about is maybe throwing a few little changeups in that I’ve used, maybe to make the defense better, to enhance the defense. But over the years, Coach and I - I was the defensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech - we have very similar philosophies. We might call it apples here and we might have called it oranges there - that’s probably the hardest thing about taking a new job is, we spoke French and they speak Spanish. That’s probably my hardest part of transitioning. Fortunately there will be no change for the players from that standpoint.

You’ll keep all the same terminology?
BATES: Yes sir. Absolutely.

Pat, how important was that for you to find someone who has a similar philosophy to what you want to do?
NARDUZZI: It was obviously something - we wanted to bring a guy as intelligent as Randy is in to run the defense. I think when you look at it, we did some good things, but the game changes every year and we need to do better things. I think Randy brings that experience to us. I guess the reason we’ve talked through the years when he was at Northwestern and I was at Michigan State was we were so similar. If Northwestern had played a team before us, we were putting that in our cut-up. If you have seven games in a season, you don’t put all seven in there; we’re watching Northwestern. Northwestern’s watching us, because we are similar. There’s a lot of things that we do different that things he does can help us. And then I think there some things that we do that he hasn’t had a chance to do before that we can mesh it together and really create a great chemistry there on defense.

So I’m excited. He’s taking over the defense and it’s his defense. I want to make the next step and I think Coach Bates can take us there.

Pat, famously this is your defense and your philosophy and your baby; how much control, authority, power does a defensive coordinator have?
NARDUZZI: He has all the power. I just got done saying that. And it’s been that way in the past. I think it goes to what you do and how you do it. Just looking back three years ago, we hired Josh Conklin - who, congratulations, I don’t know if we had a chance to congratulate him officially on the news here - when we brought Josh here, he was running the same exact defense, so it was a great marriage there. He hired Rob Harley, who was our GA at Michigan State, to go down and help him do it. So they had done it and made some great strides. I think we’re just tapping the edge on where we were with what we were doing, but it was really almost identical to what we were doing at Michigan State, a lot of the things, but it was identical to what Josh wanted to do.

To me, Randy brings in another - like, he knows what we’ve been doing. He’s studied us for years. We studied them at Northwestern for years during the offseason. So now it brings us to another point where we can do a lot more things and really take it to the next level, and that’s what it is. Coach Bates, it’s his defense, it really is. I was fortunate enough at Michigan State to never have the head coach ever make a defensive call. I don’t know if he even made a suggestion; every once in awhile he might say, ‘Hey, why don’t you go get him?’ which would mean ‘blitz.’ Very rarely would he ever interject and I want to be the same type of guy. If I wanted to continue to be a defensive coordinator, I would have stayed at Michigan State.

I want it to be his defense. If I didn’t have to go in there all week, I’d be happy. You want to be able to leave that room and know it’s under control, and I think with his experience, his attention to detail, everything he’s done with his resume, that I think we’ve got the right to take us to the next level.

Randy, will you coach the linebackers or not take a position?
BATES: We haven’t made that decision yet. Obviously, this was my first real day, first staff meeting. I want to get to know the coaches, get to know the players. But that decision will come pretty quickly here as we go along. The biggest thing for me right now is to fit in: get to know the staff, earn their trust, get to know the players, earn their trust, have them trust me, me trust them. We’ll spend the next six months more or less doing that, more than anything. Where everything falls, where I coach and all of that, I don’t care. Wherever it is to make the team the best and make the defense the best.

Pat, you mentioned Randy’s experience and your connection to him that you’ve had for a long time, but what was it specifically that made you think he’d be a better choice for this role than a sitting DC somewhere else or even someone that’s been on your staff the last few years?
NARDUZZI: We looked at a lot of guys. It wasn’t like I looked at one guy. I talked to acting head coaches, defensive coordinators and really just chose the best guy for the job, period. Really, the thing that hit me the most was the details. And it’s his ability to teach. He’s a teacher. I think you can have a ton of knowledge over here but if you can’t get it to the kids who sit in these chairs, then we’ve got a problem.

I think his ability to teach, break it down into pieces and make sure those guys know what’s going on, that to me was the critical part. We interviewed twice, really, and when I walked out, I go, ‘That guy’s a teacher.’ That’s what we are as coaches. It doesn’t matter how much we know; it’s how much they know. And I think he gives our kids a chance and I think he’ll be a great motivator. I think he brings a ton of energy into our defensive staff room, into our defensive team room. When we sit down with the defense, I think he brings that. He’s got the ability to lead that half of the room, those 50 guys, and take us to that next level.

On the recruiting side, it seems like you’ve done a lot of recruiting in the state of Texas. Pitt doesn’t currently have a scholarship player on the roster from Texas. Do you feel like that’s something you can continue here?
BATES: We’ve discussed that. We haven’t - we’re obviously still working on this year’s class, but I’m sure that will be something that will be discussed. I’ve recruited pretty much all over the country at some point. Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton - that’s another area that I know we do recruit - Atlanta, places like that I’ve been also. That’s something to look at for the future. I enjoy recruiting. I’ve had my share of success, I believe, and I hope that I can bring maybe a different outlook on recruiting. Just having a fresh face come in and throw some new ideas and things like that, which we’ve discussed, might even help us maybe a little bit more in recruiting. But to answer your question, whether I going to go to Texas or somebody, that remains to be seen.

Pat, how much of an emphasis did you put on recruiting ability in making this hire?
NARDUZZI: I think when you’re looking for a coach, the first thing I’m looking for is a great person. Talk about, hey, what were we looking for? I’m looking for great people. Because again, go back to that ‘knowledge’ word up on the wall back there: you can have a lot of knowledge, but if you’re not a great guy, if you’re not somebody the players will respect and trust, it doesn’t matter how much you know.

So the first thing you’re looking for is a great person. Then you’re looking for a teacher, and we found that as we talked about already. And then the ability to recruit. I think it comes down - when you think recruiting and you sit in a living room and you have to go cold into a house or jump onto a phone and pick it up and be able to call a kid, you have to have a guy with some charisma, some enthusiasm, to be able to do that and he brings that to the table. I think he’s an excellent recruiter. We’ve recruited against him in the past and they’ve beaten us and we’ve beaten them. I can tell you this: he adds to our staff as a great recruiter. We didn’t just get a football coach.

I think all coaches better be recruiters. You better be able to relate to the guys in the room, not only when you’re recruiting them but then when you’re coaching them for the next four or five years.

Randy, the Northwestern staff stayed together for a long time; how was your departure received?
BATES: I give Coach a lot of credit, because he was at Michigan State for 11 years, so he gave me a couple days to do it right. There’s nothing worse than recruiting kids - and after 12 years, I’ve seen kids from the day I saw them the first time as a 14-year old sometimes all the way to the point where they’re bringing their own children back now. So I was able to say goodbye to everybody.

We as a defensive staff went out to dinner the other night, and the unique thing about that whole situation is, I go from being the youngest on the defensive staff to probably one of the older ones in the entire staff. It’s quite an interesting thing. Jerry Brown, our secondary coach, had been there 25 years, just retired. So there’s more flux that happened this year on the staff than happened in the last - I think the last coach was seven years ago that had left.

To be honest with this whole group, I didn’t choose this job lightly, if that makes sense. I did all my research. I’m here because we can win. I’m not coming here to fail. I know this guy very well. I know he’s got the right idea. He’s got the right goals. And that’s why I chose to come to Pitt, because we do have a chance to take this as far, in my opinion, as to the national championship.

And I know - what was it? ’76 was the last national championship? I was collecting Iron City beer cans back then. Am I allowed to bring those back out now? I have several of them. I still have my Pirates ‘We are family” album. I have Willie Stargell’s autograph at home; I can bring that back out. Roberto Clemente, I have his autograph.

How’d you get those autographs?
BATES: I was in the Three Rivers Stadium, so you’re talking to a kid who knows Pittsburgh pretty well. I was trying to remember whether this is the Ohio River or the other two. The only reason I know is it used to be Three Rivers Stadium, so I was looking for that point where it became the Ohio River the other day, but when you fly in, you lose contact. But I’ve been through that tunnel many times on the way to New Concord, Ohio. So I’m excited about that part, for sure. And my wife’s from Cincinnati; Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are very similar.

Pat, do you anticipate any more movement on your staff?
NARDUZZI: We’ve obviously got a tenth coach to hire, but you never know. I think, with this tenth coach, when you think about the tenth coach, we’ve been able to hang onto some guys and sometimes you’re going to lose some guys. This tenth coach - and I knew it a year ago when they said we’re going to have one - it’s going to cause a stir, and I don’t think the stir is over until, I think really, February with that signing period. But there’s always going to be movement; I think when you’ve got good coaches, things will happen. We’re able to hang onto whoever we’re hanging onto - I won’t get into that - but we’re plugging away.

Have your guys gotten some interest?
NARDUZZI: Yep. Of course. Every year. You’ve got to fight them off. I’ve got bigger sticks now than I had three years ago. It’s good.

Pat, have you decided on a position for the tenth coach?
NARDUZZI: We’ll sit down and talk. We’ve had discussions already. I’m closer to where that position’s going to be. I’m not going to throw that out there today; my phone will blow up as soon as I direct it toward a position. It will blow up more than it already has. But I’ve got a great idea of where it’s going to be now, compared to what I had mid-year. Let’s put it that way. There’s more direction now. I wanted to really see what happened with the staff: who do you lose? I think that tenth spot is one that you look at, you know, where’s our need? Where can we help ourselves? I think I know where that is right now.

You said you’ve been talking to [Bates]; is it a safe assumption it’s a defensive position?
NARDUZZI: We’ve been talking as a staff. I’ve talked to everybody. I get to drive with somebody different every day. It’s nice. They pick me up, we drive to the next school, then someone else scoops me up. They pass me off. So we talk as a staff.

It makes sense. Usually it’s a special teams guy or a defensive guy. Right now, you’re at nine assistant coaches; you can go to 10 now and the easy thing is to make it five on offense, five on defense. But a lot of people are going with a special teams coordinator, and then it could still be five on offense, four on defense and a special teams coordinator. So there’s all kinds of different ways to move that thing around.

Recruiting-wise, do you have a feel for how many players you might add?
NARDUZZI: It’s a number that you play with every day. We just got out of a recruiting meeting and we’ll continue to look at that.

Randy, you coached a guy who used to be across the hall in James Harrison at Kent State.
BATES: Are we allowed to still say that?

I guess so. What’s it been like having him back then and seeing what he did over the years?
BATES: Ironically, James wasn’t playing at Kent State when I got there. We talked him into - it was a new staff, we talked him into coming out to play. He was at Kent State. Over the years, we’ve kept in touch and he’s turned into every bit the player that he was becoming when I left to go to Louisiana Tech.

I love the - I say ‘kid’ now, but my gosh, what is he? Probably 40? Pretty close - I’m not at all surprised with his success. I can remember - my youngest is a senior in college, and I can remember him throwing my children, they were that young, up in the air and catching them and my wife panicking that he was going to throw them too far or something, and he was just laughing. Just a fine young man. Always been impressed. His work ethic is second-to-none, as you guys have seen in the weight room. I point to him all the time when I talk about a guy who, work ethic-wise, when I first coached him, he maybe didn’t have that. But he learned real quick what it took to be a great person and really a tremendous athlete, a tremendous football player.