Pitt football reportedly filled its wide receiver coaching vacancy by hiring away Rutgers' wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood. Underwood joins the program after two years coaching under Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano.
A report from Pete Thamel of ESPN surfaced Sunday morning:
Source: Pittsburgh is hiring Rutgers wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood to be the school’s next receivers coach. Underwood will coach Jordan Addison, one of college football's best wide receivers who won the Biletnikoff Award last season.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 30, 2022
The move finalizes the Panthers' efforts to fill the two offensive coaching vacancies created by the departures of offensive coordinator Mark Whipple for Nebraska and Brennan Marion for Texas. Frank Cignetti Jr. returned to the program to reassume his position of offensive coordinator more than a decade since holding the same position for the program between 2009-2010, and now Underwood enters the program after his two-year stint under Schiano, the same coach he played under from 2005-2008 before heading to the NFL.
But Underwood is in a much earlier stage of his coaching career than Cignetti, as he's only been coaching for four seasons between being a receivers coach at Lafayette in 2018, the Dolphins' offensive quality control coach in 2019, and Rutgers' receivers coach between 2020-2021. Before that, Underwood bounced around the NFL as a receiver and special teams player for the Jaguars, Patriots, Buccaneers and Panthers before playing in the CFL for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes.
Under Schiano, Underwood's most productive receiver was Bo Melton, who caught 92 passes for 1,246 yards and nine touchdowns over the past two seasons. But he now inherits a wide receiver group that's a lot more loaded with experienced talent and had plenty of success. It won't just be the 2021 Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison, but also highly touted freshman All-American transfer from Akron Konata Mumpfield. Add along the promise of a growing Jared Wayne, the speedster Jalyon Barden and a rising sophomore like Jaden Bradley waiting in the wings, and Underwood will have plenty to work with for the Panthers.
Former All-American Pitt tight end Dorin Dickerson expressed his excitement for the hire, as both he and Underwood were teammates while playing for the Patriots in 2011:
Pitt is hiring my man @TiUnderwood to be their next WR’s coach. Another home run hire!!
— Dorin Dickerson (@scorindorin) January 30, 2022
Beyond the addition of a new young face with NFL experience to work with Pitt's talented receiver room is the fact that in replacing two coaching losses, Pat Narduzzi was able to re-hire two well-regarded coaches to fill the vacancies from programs in the power five conferences. Combine that with Pitt's recent success of an ACC Championship, a first eleven-win season since 1981, a New Year's Six bowl appearance, and winning two major Transfer Portal recruits in Mumpfield and USC quarterback Kedon Slovis, and things continue to point upward for Pitt's football program.
