Has Pat Narduzzi created a Gulag in Pittsburgh? Some in the media think so

… right to restrict media access?  

As the Pitt-Penn State series begins again on Saturday for the first time in 16 years, many members of the media took to Twitter and to their webpages and expressed their anger that Pitt Coach Pat Narduzzi has closed his locker room and his practices to any interviews.

Narduzzi is taking this game seriously, and he is also being clear about what his team must do in order to compete for the ACC title. While this game is not an Atlantic Coast Conference [ACC] battle, he knows that the players must perform better than they did last week in a 28-7 victory over Villanova.

"This one’s a little bit different,” Narduzzi said yesterday in his weekly press conference. “It’s an in-state rivalry. It’s ACC-Big Ten. Everybody in the country is going to be watching. The city of Pittsburgh, the state of Pennsylvania, there’s going to be a lot of eyes. That’s what makes it different … I’d like to be the only voice this week, eliminate all distractions.”

"Dominate the State"

What Narduzzi did not say is that he is going up against a coach who started his Nittany Lion career with a boast that he would "Dominate the state."

James Franklin's first two seasons have been less than dominating in any respect, finishing 7-6 both years while the media points out that his game coaching may be problematic. He hopes to do better in his third season.

Pitt fans were upset at that and enjoyed the fact that Franklin has been struggling, even complaining this summer that his opponents were using "negative recruiting" about the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Is it the Gulag?

Perhaps Narduzzi is going off the deep end. Harrisburg Patriot-News reporter David Jones compares Narduzzi's action to something that Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote about in the Soviet oppression in the Gulag Archipelago.

"Gag orders do not work. All they do is dictate control. They do not illicit trust," Jones wrote in disbelief. "That's my experience in 32 years covering major college athletics. I've seen a few of these player blackouts with the media of the type Pat Narduzzi is instituting this week in advance of his Pittsburgh Panthers' game with Penn State at Heinz Field."

Actually, Jones sounds like a petulant Kindergarten student who does not get his cookie at recess. [Jones also used an adjective as a verb after 32 years. "Illicit" should have been "elicit."]

Sometimes, coaches allow their players a great deal of freedom before big games. Chuck Noll did that before the four Super Bowls that he won back in the 1970s.

Rather than restrict his player's access to the joys of Bourbon Street, Noll relied on the leaders in his locker room like NFL Hall of Famer Joe Greene to work together to keep all of his team out of trouble.

That worked.

The Nittany Gulag

Jones' memory is short. He forgets that another coach used to close all of his practices to the media because he wanted his players to avoid distraction.

His name was Joe Paterno, and he had a pretty decent record over his 46 years despite running his practices like a Gulag. He also did not care for much of the media.

Penn State Coach James Franklin is increasing the amount of availability of his players and opening up two practices for a time to the media. That may endear him to the media, but the truth is, it will probably not help or hurt his team.

From a college coaching standpoint, Narduzzi may think that he has to do this to keep the focus of his team. It may work -- or it may not.

Probably will not matter

This may be much ado about nothing, but the fans appear to be enthusiastic about the game.

Pitt has been established as a 4.5 point favorite in the game at Heinz Field, which will be broadcast on ESPN.

We shall see.