[Still on vacation in Houston, so this took a little time to get done.]
So are we reaching the acceptance phase? Seems that the media is at least getting there. Probably easier to get there with this then Jack’s now being called, “Jim’s.”
For how ever long Pitt leaves it up, you can peruse the press conference at your leisure. If you view the press conference in two pieces, you can say that one was very good at handling things and the other was a bit of a struggle.
Kevin Stallings seemed to do a good job up there with his prepared remarks and answering questions. He got a bit choked up talking about leaving Vandy and of his former players. He gave respect to Jamie Dixon and the standards he set that he needs to meet and surpass.
When it came time for questions, Stallings unsurprisingly was vague about the Sheldon Jeter stuff. Admitting, though, it “might have been handled a bit differently.” Sheldon Jeter and his family, to their credit seem to be okay with Stallings at this point.
When asked about recruits asking for releases and players who might want to transfer — perhaps in no small part because of the Jeter stuff — Stallings made clear that he would not stand in any player’s way after a change of the coaches. He did say that he spoke to two recruits (Kithcart and Manigault) and hoped to speak to a third (Clark) soon. This afternoon Corey Manigault made it known he is sticking with his commitment to Pitt. Crisshawn Clark, however, is reopening his recruitment — he came down to Pitt and Oregon before.
It was also confirmed that Brandin Knight was offered a job on the staff, but nothing on any of the others. You always hope to keep one holdover on the staff, and Knight is the best option. He is liked a lot by both the present players and the recruits. I would like him to stay. For Knight’s career, though, it might be time to leave Pitt. He has had a lot of interest from other programs to be an assistant elsewhere.
As an aside, it was confirmed after the presser that one of his assistants, Tom Richardson, will be on Pitt’s staff. He’s supposed to be an excellent coach — especially with shooting.
On the issue of why he would leave Vandy if he liked it and the players so much, Stallings spoke of it being time for a change after 17 years. He stressed that his job was not in jeopardy (despite all media reports indicating it was). Not to mention AD Scott Barnes did confirm that Vandy let Stallings leave without paying a buyout (kind of suggests at a minimum that Vandy, too was ready for a change).
The truly weird thing was some idiot, not so much as questioning, but demanding Stallings commit to recruiting more WPIAL kids and getting WVU on the schedule? Not sure about this one, other than he might be something of a homer. Or just a random yinzer who got in, and asked questions to win a bet.
Then there was the stuff for Scott Barnes. Speaking of honeymoons being over, Barnes seemed caught off-guard by the firestorm of complaints online and some very pointed questions that were directed at him by the media. At times he seemed petulant and defensive during the questions. It now becomes a question of whether Barnes really misunderstood how angry, upset and bothered people were over the way this hire went; or he is one of those people who does not react well to people questioning his decisions.
In Barnes’ prepared remarks he pushed the idea of how desirable the job was. That Kevin Stallings was the first coach interviewed, and that all others had to meet the standards Stallings set. That other power conference head coaches were interviewed. (By remarkable coincidence, shortly after Stallings introduction, Southern Cal announced a raise and extension for Andy Enfield.)
In something that seemed odd, but Barnes came back to it again in the question time. Barnes pointedly said that because of Vanderbilt’s academic restrictions, the recruiting pool is much smaller there and that the limitations put a ceiling on what can be accomplished at Vandy. Essentially claiming that Stallings was about as good as it can get at Vandy and not indicative of what he can and will do at Pitt.
Paul Zeise at the P-G asked Barnes directly how Stallings is better than Jamie Dixon. That was when Barnes circled back to the whole limitations of Vandy being so low that you can’t compare the two coaches that way. I’m sure Vanderbilt loved all that. It may be true, though, not to the level Barnes seemed to stress — but it is a tough gig.
Stallings himself never came close to stating that. At most he said that he feels Pitt can make the Final Four. He didn’t comment one way or another on whether Vandy could.
When the questions from the media started, the first two were for Barnes and the use of a search firms. Dejan Kovacevic fired the “come clean” comment about it. It definitely put Barnes in a defensive stance. How he didn’t see it coming is a mystery. There was also focus on the specific search firm and his ties to Todd Turner.
…since Turner hired Stallings at Vanderbilt and worked with Barnes at Washington, forming a triangle with the three central figures in Pitt’s search and hire.
“Todd Turner’s connection, I worked for Todd Turner at Washington; I’ve used Todd Turner several times for searches,” Barnes said during Stallings’ introductory press conference Monday, when the first question from the assembled media dealt with the topic of using a search firm. “You get familiar with folks that you use and that do a great job that are excellent. That’s exactly what we did to move this forward.”
Moving the search forward was the primary objective in using a search firm, Barnes said.
“It gives you an opportunity with the timeliness of a search to extend the feelers, to put the piece together so you know who’s interested and where they sit.”
The search firm also allows the school to gauge the interest of potential candidates without having direct contact with those candidates, thus allowing all parties – at the very least, the school and the candidates – a certain level of plausible deniability regarding contact during a search.
It was a pleasantly candid statement (at least to me) from Barnes regarding why search firms are used. That they can work the back-channels with possible job candidates without directly contacting. During his answer Barnes actually stated that, their use “gives you a pulse when coaches are in the field; still playing.”
Most of the times ADs will hint around the point of the search firms. Focusing mainly on the background check aspects. Barnes was also correct in stating that use of the search firms is an industry standard. It doesn’t make it a great thing, but it is hardly uncommon. As is the seeming conflict of interest that was so blatant with Stallings’ hire.
In the relatively small world of NCAA Division I athletics, it’s not uncommon for an athletic director and a familiar third party to work together, and for the search firm, in certain instances, to have a stable of candidates it pushes to a school.
“Are there relationships between search consultants and administrators and coaches? Yes,” said Merritt Norvell, a former athletic director at Michigan State who was the executive vice president for 15 years at DHR International, a global executive search firm that Pitt used when it hired Mr. Barnes. “That’s true all the way from the presidents right down to the athletic department and the coaches. Some presidents use certain search firms because that’s the search firm that placed them in their job. It’s the same thing with athletic directors.”
Though Mr. Norvell, the executive director of the National Association for Coaching Equity and Development, acknowledges the nature of college coaching searches can limit opportunities for minority coaches, the sometimes buddy-buddy nature of search firms doesn’t contribute to that exclusion.
ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla said in an interview with the Post-Gazette last week that there often is a quid pro quo to the university-search firm partnership — that by paying a firm hundreds of thousands of dollars to help with a coaching search, an athletic director may receive help from that company the next time a desirable athletic director position opens.
Again, though, Barnes was surprisingly defensive in the press conference. I mean, some of it is perception. People are/were pissed about the hire and the ire was directed at Barnes. So when the second question of the press conference was about the reactions and how Barnes sees them. The response seemed to be — well, dismissive.
“The fans’ reactions, we are going to be above the noise,” Barnes said. “If you are not impressed with him, you are maybe not in the right spot. Today is the first day of the Kevin Stallings era of Pitt basketball, and I am excited and think the fans will be, too.”
Fans will give Stallings a chance. I said that yesterday. It won’t be a 2-3 year leash. For many, the tolerance may not even make it through the season depending on how things go. But Barnes better hope that the football team overachieves in a big way this year.
But, re-read gc’s post at 11:05pm last night – this guy Stallings is who we knew him to be based on just a little bit of research. The key word is RESEARCH. Pitt hired a SEARCH firm to find this coach. We as Pitt fans knew things about him that should have been red flags to Barney. Those red flags tell you to STAY AWAY.
One of his former assistant coaches, King Rice, current HC at Monmouth was mentioned numerous times on this blog as a potential candidate. Turns out he happens to be a very good recruiter, played PG for UNC and is a native of the NY/NJ area. Why not him? I know – your saying get over it and get behind KS.
NO – I’m really don’t want to. I want Sir Patrick G to “undo” this BAD deal. It happens often in business and there are legal ways to go about doing it.
In the mean time, I will invest my money in the things I choose to enjoy and Pitt BB will NOT be one of them.
What a golden opportunity that Pitt BB and Barney just blew…a chance to replace a good coach who had fallen off significantly in recent years (bad end of game management, players tended to give up or be beaten down at the end of the season and fans had enough of the one and done stuff). If you re-read gc’s post, the words in the ( ) were also said of KS by the Vandy fans.
Instead of hiring a rising young HC, we hired a guy who wore out his welcome at his school after under-achieving for the past 17 years.
Go figure!
Maybe that is why he left Barney for TCU before the first year in their relationship was up. We just got a good look at Barney’s character – and what a look it was…
You must be smoking some good weed. Capel?
Pitt will win 20 next year and be in the NCAA tournament.
– Corey Manigault PF staying at Pitt
– Crisshawn Clark SG (soph transfer) reopens his school search, wants to be re-recruited by Pitt — like Kitchcart
– Payton Willis 3* SG who is committed to Vandy, may follow KS to Pitt .. waiting to see who is hired as Vandy HC
Bigger concern is whether Rice was the big recruiter to Vandy rather than KS. Rice has been at Monmouth since 2011 so his current roster can’t have anything to do with Rice.
I am in the camp that will wait and see and recruiting recovery with this class is step one. If he brings in a surprise talent(big man rather than SG preferred) that will be a big step two. Then we will have to wait for game time to judge the rest. Unless as Erie suggests, there is a way out of this now that Sir Patrick G could get done.
Duke doesn’t have a problem.
And Harvard cracked the top 25this year.
And Herman gained a lot of respect with that intro presser.
Hope his wife (wives – according to Upitt) haven’t unpacked the good China yet.
Stanford has plenty of good basketball recruits in California, and a good history
Vandy has little BB history and Tennessee (like Western PA) is not a hotbed for BB. Of course, KS hasn’t exactly raised the program’s rep either during his stay.
But he is now the coach and deserves a chance. If most of the players stay, we should at least have a similar year to this past season with 6 of the 7 top players returning.
If the program slips in 2 or 3 years with no real good recruits, then we have every right to raise hell again … but the time of venting our frustration for this hiring should be nearing an end
Because of how the hire went down, Barnes will ride him two years to long because he doesn’t want to admit his mistake.
The Vandy fan comments, berating of players(learned from Gene Keady) and throwing players under the bus, I’ve now heard this from several Vandy fans.
Also, HCPN has been raving how good Zeise looks at LB so far … and the RFr Saleem Brightwell is also starting to look good. The other highly rated OLB from last year’s class (McKee) is not practicing due to injury
Gotta agree with notrocketscience on this one too, since “never” is a very, very long time. I have no idea if Stallings will succeed at Pitt or not but with our OOC schedule, he will only need to be an adequate coach go reach 20 wins in a season, so that will be no great feat. Of course you’re entitled to your opinion even when recent history continues to discount the validity of them.
Wait & see.
This is not to say that he can’t or won’t have more success with us, but it certainly doesn’t appear to be a given.
I would say he has been left a decent core of players, with the obvious questions at the 1 and 5. The 5 being less of a problem because of the three power forwards. He obviously needs some super frosh for the following year.
I look at how Syracuse has been carried through the tourney by two freshmen and hope this is the advantage KS gives us over Jamie. The chance to reload every year. Maybe BK stays to coach defense, sounds like he needs help there.
Probably a good thing as most likely Pitt would be the higher seed going in. Then we would get to see if the lower seed failures are JD’s or on Pitt.
We most certainly will see. He says he likes to use the talents of the kids he has and will design a system to fit them. So there should be no reason for a honeymoon period. We should have another 20+ win season next year, right?
The three point shot seems to be the one constant in all of the teams winning this year’s tourney games. With Buddy Heald being the poster boy.
But I’m REALLY curious as to what happens with recruiting, specifically with regard to our top 2 guys, who I think have a really bright future. Pleasantly surprised that one of them, Manigault, is apparently sticking, that’s fantastic. One to go, really hoping for Kithcart…
link to twitter.com
Along with Coach Stallings hire, if this doesn’t get you excited for next season, I don’t know what will! #H2P
@Ryan_Seelye After much consideration and talking with my family, we have decided it would be best for me to return to Pitt for my sophomore season. #H2P
Ret
Nonetheless KS is here and I will root for Pitt as I have since I was five, now 61, and have 2 degrees from Pitt.
Tony is that long enough even though I’ve only posted for a year? 🙂
AS to Barnes belittling fans as “noise” and ‘in the wrong place’ f#ck you Stevey!!!!. Have you listened to Pitt FB and BB on the radio since I was in grade school and you were ________. WE have been here before and after you. Your comments need not have been said at all you a$$. HAIL TO PITT!! Our school.
1) most here have been bitching up a storm about JD and was delighted when he chose to move on.
2) feeling the pressure, JD moved on despite the fact that he had turned down previous offers from both his alma mater as well as very attractive schools (Arizona, Oregon, USC)
3) now, just as what happened in 2010, we are reminded that maybe, just maybe, Pitt isn’t regarded nationally as highly as we here do
Accept your medicine people! And if you are going to bitch, don’t direct it to the newly hired coach who is glad to be here … direct to the culprits:
1. the AD
2. look in the mirror
Thanks for the suggestion. I forgot just how good looking I am! LOL
JCE has posted for years.
Player dismissals, five players left team, investigations……no thanks.
A 6’1 WR who runs a 4.6 and is fragile is not exactly 1-2 round material.
Ignorance precludes me from humor at times
Treadwell is still considered the best wr pro prospect.
Boyd second round.
The fans if anything were reacting to his performance. By the way, although the blogs were tough on him, the actual fans that showed up at the Pete, never showed him anything but appreciation and respect. That especially includes the Zoo. I am sure he was smart enough to recognize the empty seats, which have increased from the start of the ACC era, and was due to his performance as much as anything else.
I will be there rooting for our team and therefore Stallings, hoping he does well.
Unfortunately, his track record tells me it is a 50/50 proposition at best.
–Would have been nice if our lame media guys had actually asked the new coach what his philosophy/approach is on defense. And what does he thing about pressing…
–On the one hand we have some very good players coming back next season; on the other hand we are a badly flawed or at least highly questionable and inexperienced team at the most important positions of PG and Center. Much work to do for Mr. Stallings and staff.
–I appreciate Sheldon Jeter issuing positive comments about the situation. Sheldon was/is in a position to cause some really serious problems with team morale…
Go Pitt.
Like you, my expectations are often wrong. My hopes go unfulfilled. So I’m no predictor, but since you asked, my feeling on Boyd is that he will go in the third round of the draft and regarding Stallings, he wins 20+ games and takes Pitt back to the big dance before his tenure at Pitt concludes.
One thing that we should both always agree on however is to both consistently, Hail to Pitt!
“he wins 20+ games and takes Pitt back to the big dance before his tenure at Pitt concludes”.
That would be my expectation for this coming season – but then again, that may also be what you are saying – lol.
Thanks Barney, you sure did change the landscape of Pitt BB.
Vandy was bounced in the round of 64 the previous year by Richmond.
I guess the team and Stallings didn’t learn much year over year.
That 2012 tourney was Vandy’s last NCAA appearance until bounced in the first four this year. Is it any wonder that Stallings was on his way out at Vandy?
Note: That’s three of his eight draftees and only two remain in the NBA.
Also saw that Chris Dokish was looking for grad transfers and found a guard from Columbia that he likes. Shot 44% from 3 and 83% from the line. Sterling Smith came to Pitt with similar credentials. Smith became buried pretty deeply on the Pitt bench by mid February.
Agree with a lot of this.
Jones is a red shirt senior, so I don’t expect big changes there.
Johnson could improve his handle but still seems too long and slow to be effective at guard in most ACC matchups.
Wilson didn’t play enough minutes this year in the OOC (IMO), but will be entering his sophomore year when the biggest leaps are typically seen.
Milligan is a wild card but has no minutes in ACC play.
At this point looks like 50/50 on Kithcart holding on to his commitment. Clark seems like he is out. If Oregon still wants him, that’s where I’d go if I were him.
Pretty sure we will never hear about a great assist to turnover ratio anymore. Hopefully he makes up for it by scoring the ball more consistently.
GringoEd
Vandy Class of 1970
What do you think we just hired?
Besides a coach who recently threatened to kill one of his players, with an overall losing record in SEC conference play and who points the finger of blame at his players.
Tell us more…
Also that PG can’t be any worse of a shooter than what we’ve had for 4 years.
Pitt’s offense has been so inconsistent since Lamar left, because the play of the most important player on the team, that being the PG, has been so inconsistent. And that PG just lacked many skills a good PG has.
It all begins with the guy who controls the ball the most and directs the offense.
The offense was really good that year Lamar played Point Forward. His passing was unreal.
Milligan is a wild card but has no minutes in ACC play.
At this point looks like 50/50 on Kithcart holding on to his commitment. Clark seems like he is out. If Oregon still wants him, that’s where I’d go if I were him.
Comment by Barvo 03.31.16 @ 9:41 am
All Dixon’s fault for playing his pet stiff 39 minutes a game. Of course he knew he was leaving most of the season, so who cares about Pitt next season….
GringoEd, we’re too busy thanking TCU…
Don’t go bananas when JD lands a 5 star center in the next week or two. The kid is from Dallas and had TCU and another team on his final list of two. JD will get the credit, but the kid wants to stay local. Upitt should have some insider info on that.
I would stay away from the transfer market for the most part. Broad stroke here, but these kids typically weren’t good enough to play at their respective schools, which is on the player. Unless the transfer is local to Pittsburgh, I wouldn’t want them sitting out a year and then trying to assimilate to the panthers. That said, if you are going to take a transfer, take them after their freshman year. Transfers that have to sit out are dangerous to your recruiting balance. That will be OSU’s problem. They will go out and bring in 6 new kids this year and be hosed next year. If they can bring in 6 four stars, great, but the numbers would suggest that they will settle for kids they wouldn’t have offered before, just to get the full numbers. Their balance will be off. I don’t like juco’s either, for the same reason.
To top it off we have a mediocre new hire coach. We will be lucky to go .500. We have a returning conference 3rd team forward and not much else. We are more likely to lose 11 than win 11.
H2P