I don’t know how Pitt comes up with the buyout money, and then have enough to hire a promising coach and staff.
Part of me still wants to let him have one more year. Not because Pitt basketball will improve dramatically, but because the buyout becomes more manageable (meaning more money to hire a better coach and staff) and I would have more confidence that the players would be much more responsive to whoever came next.
But it is at that point (I know, well past for many fans), that Pitt’s administration may have no choice.
This team, as I keep writing, has not improved. Players have in moments. There is potential. But as a team, there has been nothing. The fundamentals are lacking. The cohesiveness is non-existent.
There is a talent gap. There is youth. There is no excuse for this team to still be this consistently bad.
The BC game was much like many other losses. No offensive rebounding, lots of turnovers, large gaps where the offense died on the vine.
After Pitt had started hot, they started into a cold stretch to end the half. One, every Pitt fan who has watched this team knew was coming. Was there a timeout taken in that stretch just to try and calm them down? To talk to them? No. Not even the “use-it-or-lose-it” timeout.
“They continue to try — that is obvious with the way we came out and played in the first half — but I think now we’ve got a little bit of the ‘Uh oh’ effect if someone makes a run or gets the lead or whatever,” Pitt coach Kevin Stallings said. “That’s not something that should happen, but I feel like that happened a little bit tonight.”
…
As Boston College charged back, Stallings elected not to call a timeout as a way to try to calm down a young and potentially rattled team.
“They’ve been coached on what to do,” he said. “I’m not going to tell them something brilliant in a timeout I haven’t already tried to think of to tell them. I probably should have used one there in the first half but didn’t.”
Obviously not coached well. The only thing they seemed to be coached on regarding timeouts is not to take them.
As Pitt was coming apart late in the first half, Marcus Carr was bringing the ball up court and getting defended by multiple BC players. He nearly lost the ball and went down on the floor to get it. No Pitt players were close, and rather then corral it and call one of the many available timeouts, he elected to try and pass it from the floor. Desperate, stupid and completely unnecessary. Of course it ended in a turnover and a relatively easy BC score.
The lack of offensive rebounding I have bemoaned all year was taken to absurd heights in this game. So much so, that even Stallings had to address it.
But what might have bothered the veteran coach more than anything was, perhaps, the most amazing statistic of the season. Pitt played nearly 35 minutes without grabbing an offensive rebound. The Panthers finished with two, and Stallings identified both for reporters.
“One was a perimeter player (Jared Wilson-Frame), and the ball bounced to him, and the other they knocked it out of bounds and we got it,” he said.
“At some point our frontcourt guys should be getting an offensive rebound. You shouldn’t be playing 20 or 30 minutes and not get an offensive rebound. You shouldn’t. That’s on me. I have to do more in practice to get them there.
“We don’t play with the kind of physicality that you need to play with. I do get that we’re freshmen, and I do get we’re not as strong in some cases and not as athletic in some cases.
“But we don’t embrace the physical nature of the game like you have to in this league, yet.”
Let me make clear how bad this is. In the first half, BC had 14 offensive rebounds. They were shooting horribly, so they had plenty of opportunities. At the same time, they attempted 20 3s (6-20) out of 35 total attempts in the half. That’s not just the frontcourt guys getting out worked for rebounds. That’s the guards getting out-hustled and not tracking the ball for long rebounds.
This is mid-February. Only a (merciful) few weeks left in Pitt’s season, and this team isn’t handling and/or being taught to do the fundamentals.
And don’t get started on still whining about Ryan Luther being lost for the season.
Stallings and his players have yet to solve the problem of finding a leader when the game is going horribly wrong. Senior Ryan Luther’s season-ending foot injury that occurred more than two months ago continues to haunt them.
“In their defense,” Stallings said, “I go back to the second half when we played West Virginia and we’re down big in the second half and we come roaring back (to lose a close game). But they had Ryan Luther. Ryan led them and was an escape for them.”
Stewart, who led Pitt with 16 points and was the only starter to score in the second half, said the players’ energy waned at some point after grabbing its 15-point lead.
“It seems like when we’re getting shots and everybody is playing for each other, that’s when we have a high as a team,” he said.
“When the opposite is happening, people aren’t hitting shots, we’re not getting the ball side to side, that’s when I think the energy just isn’t high. That can’t happen. We have to keep playing as hard as we can no matter what is happening on the floor.”
I don’t know, maybe it falls to a coach or something to guide a young team when they need it. Not just sit back and say, “they know what they should be doing.”
Pitt has had three winning streaks that stretch back well over 10 years end (cheating, because of time gaps in two of them, but still.
Duquesne: 15 games — RIP 2016
Penn State: 7 games — RIP 2017
Boston College: 11 games — RIP 2018
Quite the legacy Kevin Stallings is creating at Pitt.
But that is not close to happening. This was a disastrous hire. I would hope AD Lyke is working back channels to gauge possible interest as we speak.
@Jon I’m not sure why you are so skeptical of this administration’s ability to do what it needs to do. Lyke seems to be mostly hitting the right buttons since coming in.
1) This program is mess.
2) It isn’t going to be much, if any, better next year.
3) Neither is attendance.
Support for the program isn’t walking, but running for the exits. Based off of the effort last night (not even the result…) it’s safe to assume that Stallings has lost this team, if he ever had it at all.
I’ll play Devil’s Advocate here: I suspect that Stallings will never again coach at the D1 level. He may never coach again at all. The players have already checked out. The fans are done. You could make a case for letting the guy wallow in his misery for the next couple of weeks – make him earn that buyout – every last painful second – every last uncomfortable press conference – every miserable interview. Firing him now would be a mercy killing – there are some here that would like to see him suffer. Because he wants that buyout. He needs that buyout. It’s the only thing that has kept him from shuffling off into obscurity. At this point they could trot a chimpanzee dressed in a suit out there and it wouldn’t change the result. If anything, it would improve attendance.
Except… I don’t think Stallings cares. He’ll tell you that he does, but I can assure you that he’s already been on the phone with his lawyers and/or agent making sure all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed in his contract. It’s just a matter of time for him now.
No, this comes down to Lyke, and the tone she wants to set moving forward. What kind of AD is she? Where does she draw the line? What is she willing to accept? How far is she into the pockets of the administration? How much of a lap dog is she? This may very well define her tenure at Pitt.
I must admit that I wonder what the reaction to all this would be if, say, Archie Miller were the coach. If the on-court results had been the same, would fans be clamoring for his head? Would his “pedigree” buy him more time? More loyalty? I don’t have the answers – I just wonder.
Regardless, Pitt has quite a conundrum facing it. Anyone qualified to clean up this sh*t show isn’t going to come cheap, and anyone else is a gamble: they might not be much better.
One thing is clear. If it can happen to Pitt, it WILL happen to Pitt. They’ve managed to almost recreate the football coaching debacle in basketball – something I thought was impossible. At least Todd Graham had the “decency” to vanish under the cover of darkness. And Stallings didn’t beat up his baby-momma; I guess that’s something.
Really good post, imho, that’s a good example of what makes blogs great. I’m not savy in these areas, but if it were my money, I’d give it conditionally after seeing potential candidates, or put another way, seeing how my money would be spent. Why? Because I don’t have much faith in the administration to spend the money wisely with the next choice (especially that BOD), but I do have faith in the opinions of concerned alumni. Again, I don’t know how these things work, but I wonder if that kind of discussion goes on?
So the down payment on saving the program is Stallings’ $10M buyout + ~$3M new head coach buyout + ~$3M first year salary. I just don’t see a way Pitt spends $16M in one year on this program.
If we pay the $10M buyout, then try to go cheap on the hire, it will still take 2-3 years for the Pete to be remotely full again. So are they willing to eat $10M, pay a new guy Stallings’ ~$2.1M salary, and STILL have a 50% empty arena every night? The financials on this one don’t make sense, and there is little guarantee that it’s the right move.
Heather is in a tough spot. It’s gonna cost Pitt upwards of $16M in 2018-2019 to repair the damage Scott Barnes did to the Pitt basketball fanbase. Does they have that type of money? Are they willing to spend it?
At most he gets half. 5M to go sit in a chair and eat cracker barrel.
Even if it is $5M, there is a one-year outlay of at least $11M after losing a ton of money on the program this year. Do our boosters have that kind of coin? Would the BOT approve that?
Honestly, what coach outside of Hurley, Enfield, or maybe Crean is going to get this fanbase fired up enough to come out next year? I know I’d be at the home opener and at least one more if Stallings were replaced by someone at least competent (I live in VA so it’s a trek). But how many others will do so if it’s not one of those guys?
I guess this all shows the value of doing things right the first time. It’s aways more expensive to dig yourself out of a hole when you tried to go cheap on the front end.
No way Stallings gets the full $10M and if Pitt said “fine you have to come back then”, I think he’d cave and take whatever the offer on the table at that time is. He looks miserable, is separated from his family and the future looks bleak. Even $10M isn’t worth the misery. Wishful thinking? Maybe.
I don’t see the point in letting him go in-season, however. Finish the season and be done with it.
Pitt will be rebuilding again as many of the kids that did show promise will be scooped up by other programs. Especially, if the transfer rule allowing kids to transfer without sitting out a year when a coach leaves, passes.
I’m guessing Pitt probably goes the assistant route on the cheap. But not only for monetary reasons. I think it will be hard lure an established coach or a fast riser at a smaller school to come to Pitt. Just too many challenges and an ugly recent history.
Pitt will be relegated to promoting someone to a bigger school sooner than they should be with the hopes Pitt hits a home run.
I’m sure BK will be brought up. I don’t know if going back to Dixon’s tree this soon is a smart play, however. I’m guessing they look at UNC, Duke, NOVA coaching trees for mid-atlantic ties.
My real fear is desperation names like Seth Greenberg, Tom Crean or John Thompson III popping up.
That said, we cannot possibly buy him out and re-create the same problem by going cheap; if that’s the case I’d rather just keep Stallings one more year. But there’s a difference between taking a stab at a young inexperienced (at this level) coach and going cheap. When we hired Fraud, for example, he was a ‘youngish’ hot coach, we took a chance, and it failed, but I don’t have any regrets on that kind of a swing on the surface. I’m not sure what kind of young coaches are out there that we’d have an interest in, but that would be a good discussion. And honestly, I’m not that excited about Brandon, he has no HC experience.
Personally I think he has all the leverage in the world if he’s willing to guy out another year or two:
“OK Heather – I’ll just sit back and suck for a little while longer – I don’t mind the empty seats… it’s kind of peaceful…”.
Who blinks first? The old coach with the ability to retire and walk away with a mountain of cash, or the young D1 AD who can’t afford an empty arena and has a career and a reputation to protect?
I think there’s an even chance Pitt gets bent over the proverbial pool table on this. The circumstances somewhat uncommon. You don’t normally have an older coach with nothing to lose in this particular position. He has no reputation so to speak. He’s not legendary in any way – hell, he’s not even noteworthy. He’s going to go down as a career ham and eggs coach that helped sink Pitt basketball to a level so low that almost no one thought it was possible. That’s his legacy no matter what happens. Might as well get paid.
Who knows? Maybe he has a battle axe of a wife. Maybe he has some booty-on-da-side. Maybe he has a closet smack addiction that he needs to fuel. Maybe there’s a #Stallings-MeToo in his past? If he has any negativity in his personal life, we’ll almost certainly be hearing about it. Unless we don’t, and he walks away cheap, which means he had some issues that he’d rather not “discuss” publically.
If it were me, I’d offer this: $8M quietly or a $10M circus – you decide. I don’t care whose ass it comes out of.
Can he recruit?
I mean flat out, hands down, straight up, balls to wall RECRUIT. No bullsh*t – no excuses. Can he get enough talent in here within a two-year window to show marked improvement. He’s going to lose a lot of games for the first year or two, but it better damn well be entertaining along the way so as to get butts back in the seats.
Find a guy – any guy – that was associated with recruiting at Duke or NC, and offer him the job. I don’t care if he’s 19. I don’t care if we pay players. I don’t care of we provide struppers for them. I don’t care if each one of them gets a brand new Porsche. I don’t care if they can read….
OK… I care if they can read….
Beyond that, it needs to be bold, total commitment. It’s either that, or the events staff might want to consider more WWE-type events over the next decade to make up for the lost revenues in BB ticket sales. I enjoy a good dog show as much as the next guy, but that’s not why Pitt built the Pete…..
So be careful what you wish for. Throwing money around is not the answer. Pitt is not a quick fix and Pitt will not attract the type of coach that could fix it quick.
I suspect a lot of Pitt fans will be disappointed in how the next hire goes when the Stallings blip is merciful put to rest. Especially those that think a big salary is the answer.
Tossing – I guess I disagree that it’s going to be a tough sell for the right money. You do need a guy willing to rebuild obviously, so he will need to be a recruiter, but it’s an awesome opportunity in a lot of ways. But more importantly, the subject of the next coach is of course intriguing. If Pitt goes after a promising HC at a smaller school (like USC did with Enfield, and many other examples) or goes with a top young assistant, frankly I’d be very happy, not disappointed at all. The last thing I’d want is a older, big name guy that has moved from job to job, or a guy like Thompson III who is proven to just be a decent coach. Getting a young guy with a ceiling who can recruit would suit me fine.
My only hope now lies on Heather, that she can do it the right way and find the right person…but she has zero support IMO and must do the entire thing on her own. She may have that ability — she may not — guess we’ll find out.
A good coach is going to want to go somewhere they can win right away, not rebuild something from the ground up. Good coaches like winning not rebuilding.
Pitt’s best shot is getting lucky and striking gold with a hotshot assistant that probably shouldn’t jump straight to HC in the ACC, or an alumnus like BK or someone else who has coached at Pitt, or someone from the NBA looking to break into head coaching.
BTW, I’m not endorsing any of these … just pointing out what Pitt’s options will be.
Established HC’s will not see Pitt as a good opportunity. I’m telling you, Pitt fans have to look at the reality of the situation and see that there are no easy paths forward.
We absolutely disagree on the money part. The only coaches seeing Pitt as a good opportunity are going to be coaches trying to get out of a bad situation … kind of like Stallings … or a retread not coaching this year … Crean, Greenberg, Thompson III … Winning leads to money and winning at Pitt is a real hard sell.
Here is a list of coaches with ties to Pitt … We don’t even have this to fall back on. When you dig in and look at who is realistic out of this list, it’s not a very inspiring read.
Realistic:
Crean
Greenberg
Herion
Mike Rice (reaching)
Orlando (really reaching)
Rhohrssen
Skerry
BK
Joe Lombardi
Yss, Pitt has no national recruiting territory which means its imperative to get a coach who is draw in and of him(her?)self.
At this point, if the BOT isn’t willing to spend the money, it would be better off selling the Pete to UPMC so they can tear it down and build another building.
If they’re going to go cheap, get Mitch Henderson from Princeton. If reputation no longer matters and you’re willing to take Crean or Greenberg, why not go all the way and get Rick Pitino????
H2P!!!
Pitt has a great venue for college basketball, between the city location, the arena, the money, and the league they play in, so yes, I’d call it a very good opportunity for a good young coach. It was only a few years ago that the Pete & the Zoo was widely thought of as one of the best venues in the country by the media (national media). Any promising young coach with half a brain will see all that. And I don’t think the threat of Stallings transfers is exactly going to scare the right guy away.
And there’s a difference between a good vs an established coach. As I stated previously, I’m talking about a promising young-ish coach, which is what I’d prefer, not another re-tread and nobody is even talking about trying to grab a successful, experienced coach from another power 5 school to take a rebuild job, I’m not sure where you got that from.
And finally, I know your list above is just to throw names around, but with the exception of Crean, the list stinks. This is why I’d much prefer a younger head coach with a track record for success at a smaller school. Penn State did that with both sports: Franklinstein from Vandy (technically a power 5 school, but please…) & Patty Chambers from Boston U.
H2P!!!
Pitt does understand money. If it didn’t they wouldn’t be in the mess they are in now. The big ACC check atones for a lot of sins. Pitt also understands image – even when they don’t have much to put behind it. Image is valuable and can be translated directly into dollars in many cases. An empty Pete is bad for your image, as are angry fans. Image is also why they would never hire Pitino – it would hurt their brand even though it would sell tickets. Sadly, out of all the coaches listed, I’d still take Pitino over any of them, as flawed as he is. He would be the one guy who could address Pitt’s problems quickly, but you might never be able to get the stain out.
No… this is going to be ugly. It’s going to cost Pitt money one way or another. I said in a previous post that we’re going to learn a LOT about Like in the upcoming months, and I believe that. I also believe that Like is going to learn a LOT about Pitt’s administration/BOT. If she goes out on a limb to fire Stallings and then the BOT doesn’t have her back to pay a new hire, that could be contentious. She’s going to want to have a plan because unless she’s been living under a rock, she should know that the BOT might do just that and leave her holding the bag. That’s why I think it might be weeks if not months after the season ends before we hear anything regarding Stallings. And hey… that’s smart. She has her career to consider. This might not be her last stop, and if she gets screwed on this one, it almost certainly won’t. So she’s going to have to play this close to the vest, consider ALL of her options, and make sure she knows exactly what hand she’s been dealt before she makes a decision. The problems? If she can’t get what she needs to do what she wants the right way,,, guess who’s coming to dinner next November?
I think you overvalue the positives when looking at what would entice a coach to come to Pittsburgh. It comes down to, can I recruit, win and make money there. Not one of those 3 are a given.
I agree with your profile of what Pitt should be looking for but I also believe Pitt fans should really temper expectations on who replaces Stallings. There is a high likelihood it is not a well established name. That doesn’t mean it’s without hope, just that it may be a relative unknown.
Pitt has a lot of challenges and will be a tough sell.
A hot, current, head coach will not see Pitt as an attractive place. To much risk to fail. It’s going to be an assistant that doesn’t want to earn his stripes at a smaller school, IMO.
Enfield passed on the job because Pitt as usual wasn’t willing to cut a big check..
NickC – that goes to my point above … ” It comes down to, can I recruit, win and make money there. Not one of those 3 are a given.”
Tomas – It’s a transfer culture right now and it’s about to become easier to transfer, especially if a coach leaves and they don’t have to sit out. Pitt’s entire starting lineup will get pillaged by other schools. As a collective they have not been good but Pitt has several players that will improve over the next few seasons. Carr, Parker, Stevenson and Brown have shown that they can play.
Lets remember, when JD was hired, most people including me were upset. He got hired because….because the players came in to lobby for him! BS! Well I ate my words many times over with that one, happily.
Pitt has only one option which is another JD like hire…someone with little track record but is a diamond in the rough. Those are low odds, most of the time people try that they miss. But we wont pay out big $$, experienced coaches wont want the rebuild…that leaves trying for a JD 2.0.
I will say that I would start calling for Lyke’s job if she does nothing. Even if it’s cleaning house on Stallings’ assistants and forcing him to bring in new blood. I’d rather cut the head off the snake, but Lyke needs to show the fanbase that she believes this kind of ineptitude is unacceptable.
If the twitter rumors are true, the admin has raised the buyout money. If that’s the case, I’d rather finish this year with an interim head coach than see Stallings trot out there again.