Jacob Bronowski began his college football journey as a freshman quarterback at New Mexico in 2013. He wasn’t part of the Lobos’ 49-27 loss to Pitt that year, but it didn’t matter. no matter. Coaching was in his future.

By 2016 at the latest, at age 22, he was a graduate assistant at his alma mater and thus began his career.

Over the next eight seasons, he worked for the Lobos, Robert Morris, Central Florida, Tennessee and Miami (Ohio) before Pat Narduzzi hired him this year to coach Pitt’s special teams and tight ends. He’s part of Narduzzi’s overhaul of Pitt’s offensive coaching staff that has helped the Panthers start the season with a 7-0 record.

With Bronowski at the helm, the Colonials blocked three punts in 2019 and led the Northeast Conference in punt return defense and kickoff return defense in NEC play. In Miami, he helped Graham Nicholson win the 2023 Lou Groza Award. Nicholson converted 27 of 28 field goal attempts.

Now at Pitt, he inherited two position groups led by veteran players who gravitated around the guidance of the 30-year-old Bronowski.

On the tight end, senior Gavin Bartholomew had 20 receptions in his first seven games, two more catches than he had in 10 games last year.

Is there a link?

“We preach relationships. You better have it,” Bronowski said. “Whether it’s phone calls on the way home at night, just checking in and being authentic. Be open with him.

“With Gavin, (building a relationship) was never a problem. We have excellent communication. He was open with me, which I appreciate. It has been here for a long time (since 2021). He didn’t have to listen to me.

The key to Bronowski’s coaching style, he said, is focusing on what motivates the players. That’s the approach he took with fourth-year junior punter Caleb Junko.

Did it work?

Narduzzi suggested Junko could be the team’s most improved player after increasing his average from 42.3 yards per punt last season to 44.9 (fifth in the ACC).

“I just focused on him as a person,” Bronowski said. “They are athletes, but they are also people. I can say he was a bit of a beaten dog (after last season).

“He was hard on himself. As a specialist, you are alone in your own world. You are your own biggest critic. We need to get you to change the way you think mentally. It has to start with you. He has been attacked every day, lived day to day, every moment and we all see what he is capable of.

Narduzzi said: “It’s called progress. This is called development. Coach Bronowski has done an outstanding job with him.

Meanwhile, senior kicker Ben Sauls didn’t miss any of his first 12 field goal attempts. Before the weekend games, he was the only kicker in the ACC to be perfect in double-digit attempts.

“That’s what he and I talked about from the moment I took this job, how good he could be,” Bronowski said. “He knows it and now you see this real confidence in him. You just have to approach it like it’s one kick at a time. He lives in the present moment. He dominates.

Bronowski coaches beyond the Xs and Os, but he also tells his players stories to tell when they go home. In the spring, he picked up a trash can and smashed it against his head. Last week, he gave each of his players crowbars as a symbolic device to open up the opposing defense.

When the idea came to him, he immediately called his wife, Stacey, and asked her to go to Harbor Freight and buy as many crowbars as the store had.

“They’re cool because they say Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh brand. Maybe a NIL deal for someone,” he said. “As a coach, you try to give guys exciting visions and learning environments. »

How did Stacey carry five crowbars to the car?

“She and my two boys (Brody and Baker) looked pretty funny with a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old carrying one crowbar and her carrying three,” Bronowski said. “She’s used to this sort of thing. She is married to me.