Feelings matter while Pitt’s women’s volleyball team prepares to confront Kentucky in Elite 8
When the Pitt women’s volleyball team had a chance to relax Friday, the day after a tense, five-set Sweet 16 victory against Oregon, coach Dan Fisher and players Valeria Vazquez Gomez and Bre Kelley stopped for a moment to express their feelings. With an Elite 8 NCAA Tournament game coming...
WVU coach Rich Rodriguez gets Backyard Brawl ’25 off to a thunderous start
Rich Rodriguez opened his second tenure as West Virginia football coach with a volley that went thundering north on I-79. Hired Thursday to return to coach his alma mater — a team he led to four Big East championships from 2001-07 — Rodriguez made an appearance Friday on “The Pat...
Pat Narduzzi short on injury updates for Pitt’s bowl game, but confident opt-outs will be minimized
Pat Narduzzi was in a good mood Thursday when he met virtually with reporters in advance of the GameAbove Sports Bowl, where Pitt will conclude its season Dec. 26 against Toledo. So good, as a matter of fact, that he made a bad joke when asked how quarterback Eli Holstein...
Pitt women’s volleyball defeats Oregon in thriller to reach NCAA Tournament Elite 8
Pitt sophomore Olivia Babcock stands 6-foot-4, with a right arm that can be intimidating when she moves purposely from the back row and swings it with all her strength. It’s almost as if she’s trying to deflate the volleyball with one massive blow. An All-American and ACC Player of the...
Freshman Brandin Cummings scores 30 off bench to lead Pitt past Eastern Kentucky
Pitt’s 96-56 victory against Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday night was special for freshman Brandin Cummings long before he scored 30 points and became only the fourth Pitt player to reach that benchmark in school history. Seated courtside at Petersen Events Center, almost close enough to block one of Cummings’ shots,...
Pitt wide receiver Konata Mumpfield declares for ’25 NFL Draft
After three seasons at Pitt and one at Akron, wide receiver Konata Mumpfield has decided to end his collegiate career and declare for the 2025 NFL Draft. Mumpfield’s decision further depletes the Panthers’ passing game for the GameAbove Sports Bowl on Dec. 26 after wide receiver Daejon Reynolds and quarterback...
Kyle Louis, Desmond Reid named 2nd-team All-Americans by The Athletic, CBS Sports
Kyle Louis and Desmond Reid, who were Pitt’s most consistent performers during the football season, were named second-team All-Americans on Wednesday by The Athletic and CBS Sports. Louis, a first-time All-American, offered a little bit of everything from his outside linebacker position, compiling 96 tackles, 15½ for a loss, seven...
Beach volleyball is king in Dan Fisher’s hometown, but he has carried collegiate version to great heights at Pitt
Dan Fisher grew up in Santa Barbara, Calif., where residents play beach volleyball like Pittsburgh kids play Wiffle ball or Little League. “It is mainstream there,” he said. But it wasn’t on the beach where he learned the collegiate game of volleyball that has lifted him to the top of...
Joe Naunchik remembered fondly as athlete, football coach after 40 years on area sidelines
Bill Rometo was 5 when he first met Joe Naunchik, then a three-sport star at Plum High School. “He was probably the best athlete to ever come out of Plum,” Rometo said of Naunchik, who was a football standout under Rometo’s father, Bill Rometo Sr. “At that time, my dad...
Pitt kicker Ben Sauls named to PFF All-America team
After a season of reliability, Pitt senior kicker Ben Sauls was named Tuesday to the Pro Football Focus All-America Team. He is the only kicker on the 27-man squad. With one game to play — the GameAbove Sports Bowl on Dec. 26 in Detroit — Sauls has converted a team-high...
Pitt Take 5: After long road stint, Panthers return for 1st home game since Nov. 18
Under normal circumstances, Pitt men’s basketball plays eight games in a month. That’s what the schedule will demand in January and February and how it was structured in November. But this is December, and there must be allowances made for final exams, family and, realistically, an opportunity for players to...
Pitt senior setter Rachel Fairbanks determined to end 4th NCAA Tournament with titleVideo
While she was being recruited by Pitt volleyball coach Dan Fisher four years ago, Rachel Fairbanks informed him she was able to jump and touch as high as 10 feet. Fisher admitted he was skeptical. Besides, he was recruiting the Los Angeles-area native to be a setter, not an outside...
Tennessee grabs No. 1 in AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll; Pitt falls out of rankingsVideo
Tennessee is the new No. 1 in men’s college basketball after a massive shakeup in the AP Top 25. The Vols received 58 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel Monday to reach No. 1 for the first time since the 2018-19 season. Tennessee climbed two spots from last week...
Pitt defensive linemen David Ojiegbe, Thomas Aden enter NCAA transfer portal
The number of departing players from the Pitt football roster climbed to 12 on Monday, the first day the NCAA transfer portal officially opened. The two most recent players to announce their intentions to leave are reserve defensive linemen David Ojiegbe and Thomas Aden. Ojiegbe, a redshirt freshman, will be...
Pitt accepts invitation to play Toledo in GameAbove Sports Bowl in Detroit
No matter how poorly Pitt played in its final five games of the regular season, that 7-0 record at the outset matters, too. The Panthers were rewarded Sunday for their 7-5 record when they were invited — and accepted the bid — to the GameAbove Sports Bowl at Ford Field,...
Jeff Capel’s timely timeout helps Pitt rally to victory, come home with 8-2 record
The second half was only 101 seconds old, and Pitt already had started whittling down Virginia Tech’s eight-point halftime lead to six. But this game — this moment — was not about Pitt shaving a couple points off its deficit. Jeff Capel wanted physicality. He wanted rebounding, defense and pressuring...
Pitt women’s volleyball sweeps Oklahoma, advances to 5th straight round of 16
The Pitt women’s volleyball team can count on the totality of its talent to pull it out of tight situations. The Panthers needed their ability to solve puzzles to sink eighth-seeded Oklahoma during the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night at Petersen Events Center in front of...
Vermont stuns Pitt in quarterfinals of NCAA men’s soccer tournament
Vermont advanced to the first final four in program history and spoiled No. 2 Pitt’s hopes of a national title in the regional final, defeating the Panthers, 2-0, on Saturday at Ambrose Urbanic Field. The Panthers dominated possession in the first half and were on the attack the majority of...
Jaland Lowe carries Pitt to 2nd-half rally in victory at Virginia Tech in ACC opener
Before Pitt found its shooting touch, before the Panthers started to play with the necessary physicality and focus, before Jaland Lowe decided the floor was his, Pitt looked like a team headed for defeat. Suddenly, the momentum shifted and Lowe scored 15 points in the second half Saturday to lead...
No. 1 Pitt sweeps Morehead State in opening round of NCAA Tournament
Senior libero Emmy Klika and her teammates huddled together in front of the net after the Pitt women’s volleyball team swept Morehead State on Friday night at Petersen Events Center. The Panthers’ tradition of taking a photo after every match is the program’s simple way of documenting the steps along...
QB Nate Yarnell reveals transfer plans after up-and-down Pitt career
In four seasons at Pitt, Nate Yarnell has served four distinct roles at the game’s most important position. He has been a quarterback-in-waiting, hope for the future, an afterthought and, finally, an insurance policy. But all of that will end for Pitt’s bowl game and in 2025 after he revealed...
Pitt has something to prove, and process begins at Virginia Tech
Pitt fans have seen this act before, or at least something similar. What’s worse, it’s back after first revealing itself less than a week ago. Two of the fans’ favorite teams won seven games to start the season, with the help of late dramatics that only served to heighten the...
First Call: Bill Belichick to the ACC?; Russell Wilson contract theories; Jets’ rumored interest in Arthur Smith
Friday’s “First Call” has some predictions about how the Pittsburgh Steelers may handle their quarterback situation next year. There are rumors about Bill Belichick coaching at the college level and Arthur Smith drawing interest from another NFL team for a head coaching spot. We also examine some quirks in the...
Pitt wide receiver Daejon Reynolds reveals plans to transfer
Wide receiver Daejon Reynolds, whose role in Pitt’s passing game diminished this season, decided to place his name in the NCAA transfer portal. Reynolds, 21, will have one season of eligibility. Reynolds spent the past two seasons with the Panthers after transferring from Florida where he caught a total of...
Pitt can’t keep up with Mississippi State, suffers blowout loss in SEC/ACC Challenge
In the wake of Pitt’s 90-57 loss to Mississippi State on Tuesday night in Starkville, Miss., Jeff Capel couldn’t help thinking what his father, Felton Capel II, a longtime coach himself, might say. “When I was younger when he was coaching, (he said), ‘Sometimes, you’re the bug. Sometimes, you’re the...
