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Jerry DiPaola stories | TribLIVE.com

Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 72

Jerry DiPaola
Jerry DiPaola
Former Pitt coach Jackie Sherrill eager to return to Tennessee's noisy Neyland Stadium
In a football sense, Jackie Sherrill grew up at the knee of Bear Bryant. His cradle was the SEC. He played fullback and linebacker from 1962-65, before serving as a graduate assistant for the legendary Alabama coach in 1966. When Sherrill walks into Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday...
Linebacker Phil Campbell III says Pitt keeping egos in check
Back in Kendall Park, N.J., Phil Campbell III compiled a long list of honors that demand too much time and space to chronicle here. MSG New Jersey Player of the Year was just one. Campbell rushed for 848 yards and 14 touchdowns and recorded 110 tackles during his senior season...
Pitt notebook: Pat Narduzzi seeks more consistency from kicking game
Walk-on Sam Scarton was awarded the first opportunity to kick field goals and extra points, and Ben Sauls handled kickoffs in the opener. But it doesn’t appear Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi is satisfied with his kicking game. “Ben Sauls did a good job. First one he knocks out (for a...
Despite the big victory, Pitt has plenty of work to do 
When speaking to reporters and his team this week, Pat Narduzzi will choose his words carefully. He wants everyone to know more good news than bad surfaced after video review of Pitt’s 51-7 victory last Saturday against a weak UMass team, but he also doesn’t want to give the impression...
Pitt notebook: John Petrishen carves out spot on defense by combining skills of linebacker, safety
John Petrishen put Pitt’s 51-7 victory against UMass into terms anyone locked inside training camp for a month can appreciate. “We were waiting to hit somebody else,” he said. After Pitt players collided only with teammates almost every day since early August, there was a game to play Saturday and...
Pitt notebook: Tight end becomes a position of interest 
Almost from the minute Lucas Krull stepped on the Pitt campus, he felt a connection with quarterback Kenny Pickett. “Our relationship has been building, truthfully, since my visit here,” Pitt’s senior tight end said of his recruiting visit last year when he was transferring from Florida. “He hosted me. I...
Pitt rolls over UMass in opener 
The numbers were so outrageous — 597 yards, 35 first downs, seven touchdowns and 51 points — that Pitt’s opening day victory against UMass didn’t ever look like a fair fight. The defensive line overwhelmed and overran the UMass offensive line and quarterback Kenny Pickett propped up the offense with...
Pitt Take 5: Pat Narduzzi says his flavor of the week is not vanilla
With no preseason games to test their training wheels, college football teams march right into the action with a real game that counts. Sometimes, it’s against an obviously weaker opponent. Sometimes, it’s a Power 5 team that generates buzz. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi is 5-1 in season openers, but the...
After long days, short nights, Pat Narduzzi says Pitt prepared for opening day
College and NFL coaches might be the only people who won’t get offended or embarrassed if you ask where they sleep at night. “In the couch, over there,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said Thursday afternoon in a conference room adjacent to his office. But he emphasized he hasn’t done so...
Pitt football receives historic $20 million gift from 1997 graduate Chris Bickell 
Chris Bickell graduated from Pitt in 1997, and he remembers all too well the 72-0 loss to Ohio State and many, many others during his time on campus. But he was a fan then, and he is a fan now, and he proved it Thursday. The IT businessman made a...
Habakkuk Baldonado fights off homesickness for his native Italy by embracing family at Pitt 
With arms and legs that look like logs and a 6-foot-5, 260-pound frame, Habakkuk Baldonado fits his role as a ferocious hunter of quarterbacks. But Pitt’s junior defensive end is 7,322 kilometers from his native Rome, Italy, and he is only human. Perhaps it’s no surprise that he admits to...
Mark Whipple still fond of UMass, but stays focused on improving Pitt's offense 
Mark Whipple spent some of the best years of his life at the University of Massachusetts. He twice was hired as the Minutemen’s head coach, spent a total of 11 years there and won a national championship in 1998. He was fired after the 2018 season — after he was...
Penn State names 6 captains, including 3-timers Sean Clifford, Jonathan Sutherland
Quarterback Sean Clifford and safety Jonathan Sutherland, both redshirt seniors, became the first three-time captains in Penn State history Tuesday when coach James Franklin named six players to the position for the 2021 season. Joining Clifford and Sutherland as captains are senior safety Jaquan Brisker, senior defensive tackle PJ Mustipher,...
Pitt notebook: Fans will be able to see Pat Narduzzi's entire face in Saturday's opener
Don’t be surprised at Pat Narduzzi’s answer if you ask him to name five things he’s most anticipating in Saturday’s opener against UMass. One of them might have nothing to do with football. For the first time since the Quick Lane Bowl on Dec. 26, 2019, he won’t be required...
Pat Narduzzi pleased with Pitt's depth as he attacks Season 7 
Almost seven years after he rocked back and forth while answering reporters’ questions at his introductory news conference, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi stood up straight Monday. With his seventh season only days away, he appeared more confident in his team than he did the day after Christmas 2014, when he...
The final score matters, but Pirates GM Ben Cherington also has a bigger picture in mind
Ben Cherington has been a baseball executive long enough to know the importance of the game’s numbers, whether they are as simple as the won/loss record or as complex some of the new analytics. But at this stage of the season, you can bet Cherington hasn’t done the math on...
Pirates GM Ben Cherington: Gregory Polanco's release best for both parties
The Pittsburgh Pirates could have sent Gregory Polanco to the minors or banished him to a lesser role on the major-league bench, but general manager Ben Cherington explained Sunday that releasing the team’s longest-tenured player was the best option. “We feel like we got to the point where, if we...
Yoshi Tsutsugo's 3-run homer in 9th leads Pirates to victory against Cardinals 
Throw Yoshi Tsutsugo’s name onto the growing pile of questions facing the Pittsburgh Pirates when this season ends. Tsutsugo, who can become a free agent in the offseason, stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday after most of his teammates had failed with a bat...
Pitt's 21 seniors hope to break program's cycle of mediocrity
Oldtimers like to say with age comes wisdom, and Tre Tipton has plenty of both. Tipton, a senior wide receiver from Apollo-Ridge, is the second-oldest player on the Pitt football team, 42 days younger than linebacker John Petrishen. Tipton joined the team in 2015. Coach Pat Narduzzi and assistants Andre...
Pitt Take 5: Hall of Famer Jimbo Covert shows Panthers how to build a winning culture
They cleaned up nicely, this Pitt football team. After nearly three weeks of practice, Pitt’s seniors combed their hair, dressed up in their Sunday best — tight end Lucas Krull wore a bowtie — and were honored guests at the Kickoff Luncheon at the Westin Pittsburgh, downtown. For a long...
Pitt's 4 captains represent offense, defense, special teams
On a Pitt football team with 21 seniors, including 14 who decided to come back for the bonus year granted by the NCAA, the four captains this season will represent all three units — offense, defense and special teams. After a vote by the players, quarterback Kenny Pickett, defensive end...
Athletic director Heather Lyke 'expects' to remain at Pitt after she was contacted by Michigan State
Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke said Friday she has been contacted by Michigan State about its opening for the same job, but she said she doesn’t expect to leave. “There has (been contact),” she said before Pitt football’s Kickoff Luncheon at the Westin Pittsburgh. “I’m very happy at Pitt. I’m...
Unwanted after high school, Pitt defensive end Chris Maloney awarded scholarship
Gracious thank-yous kept pouring from Chris Maloney’s lips after an emotional team meeting Thursday morning. On the last day of training camp, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi awarded Maloney a scholarship after three seasons as a walk-on defensive end. That ended the need to write tuition checks and triggered a barrage...
Duquesne's nonconference schedule includes trip to Virgin Islands, renewal of series with DePaul
With seven new players and a renovated home court, the Duquesne men’s basketball team will open coach Keith Dambrot’s fifth season Nov. 9 against Rider. Duquesne released its nonconference schedule Thursday, and Rider of the Metro Atlantic will be one of four first-time opponents, including UC Irvine (Big West), Weber...
Pitt notebook: Pat Narduzzi believes NCAA limit on padded practices won't hinder Panthers' physicality 
The look from Pat Narduzzi said it all Wednesday morning. He turned his head and looked askance at the reporter who asked about his team’s physicality. It was as if Narduzzi wanted to say, “How dare you?” “We’re going to be physical, no doubt about it,” he did say, finally....


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