The Loop
The Geoff Collins-Pat Narduzzi handshake was the saltiest football coach handshake since Harbaugh-Schwartz
The constant cloud of the coronavirus has made the most basic of human interactions as awkward as an eight-grade dance. Perhaps the most awkward interaction these days is the handshake, or lackthereof. Do you elbow bump? Do you handshake like normal, then run to the bathroom and scrub off the germs? Do you point and nod? Nod and point? No one has it figured out.
Not surprisingly, this hasn't stopped many football coaches at both the college and pro level from the tried and true midfield handshake, be it in the pregame or postgame. You probably haven't even noticed it, but the midfield handshake has kept on keepin' on.
No midfield handshake has had the microscope on it quite like the one between Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins and Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi on Thursday night. Not because of potential germ-swapping, however. This one is getting some social media run because of the mountain of salt it featured from Collins:
Holy moley. Collins was halfway to the locker room before their hands even met, but Narduzzi wouldn't let go. Not since Harbaugh-Schwartz has a midfield shake ever been so vicious:
An absolute legend of the genre.
It's unclear exactly why Collins was so upset with Narduzzi, though tempers did flare throughout the game. There was also a vicious pile drive of Collins' starting quarterback Jeff Sims late in the game, which kocked Sims out for the final few plays. Narduzzi said afterward that he was trying to tell Collins he had a great team, and Collins said "'Baloney', or some other nice words," according to Narduzzi.