In an otherwise predictable loss by Pitt to Louisville, there was the added bonus of Coach Kevin Stallings getting into it with a fan or two near the end of the game.
During the second half, with the game well out of reach, Stallings reacted to a fan near his team’s bench who the Pitt coach said was saying “something bad” about his players. At a certain point, Stallings responded, according to various reports, by saying “At least we didn’t pay our guys $100,000.”
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“We’re down, the game’s over with; you don’t need to insult kids that are out there trying to fight hard and do their best,” Stallings said after the game. “I should have chosen some different words, but I’m not going to let people take shots at our players.”
When asked, the second-year Pitt coach declined to elaborate what the fan said about his players.
“That’s enough,” Stallings said.
I know, color me shocked as well that a coach who has a history of outbursts that get caught on a mike did so once more.
Here’s the link to the audio if you want.
The outburst will cycle through talk radio in Pittsburgh for about a day before going back to the Steelers and Pens. Louisville will probably be able to milk it for at least three days.
It is making the rounds on the usual sites: Deadspin, Yahoo’s Dagger, ESPN, etc., etc.
The added, “intrigue” to this is that some people are claiming that it wasn’t Louisville fans giving Stallings the business that caused him to snap. That it was some Pitt fans behind the team’s bench getting on him.
I have no idea.
Should he have done it? No. You have to take the beating and everything that comes with it. Frustrated or not.
Is this the worst? No. It’s going to get a bit of extra treatment because of Stallings’ history of outbursts, the nature of the media cycle these days. But really this is small potatoes.
I can’t work up the outrage at something so stupid and small. Of all the problems with this team and the Pitt program at this time. This is just a blip of unwanted attention.
Some — especially those who really, really want to find another excuse to hate Stallings and/or want him fired no later then this March — will, of course, scream bloody murder at the outrage. At the lack of class, restraint, whatever.
How a man who cannot control himself in such a situation is not fit to be the face of Pitt’s basketball program. Should not be a leader of young men.
I just wish he was a bit more creative with his response. Maybe, “You know, you are going to end up with Tom Crean as your next head coach, right?”
That would hurt ‘Ville fans.
It’s no secret that I do not like HCKS the person, but even I see this as not a big deal just another dumb, selfish, in the moment blunder from HCKS. There will be more before the season is over.
Pitt has yet to show any kind of organized D in the first 2 ACC games this season. No player seems to know where they are supposed to be on the floor and boxing out for rebounds does not exist.
To me, it looks Lyke practice is all about shooting the basketball.
The difference between GT and Pitt is coaching.
And this is not a post meant to wax on about how great Dixon was…I don’t care who it is…the point is simply that Pitt needs that kind of coach. A coach that takes mediocre kids and makes a team of them in a system that is stronger than the sum of its parts. Stallings is not that, has no system….and to Erie’s point, most certainly not on defense most of all.
I fall in the hypocrite category … I loved it … but if it can be used to move on from Stallings, he shouldn’t have said it
🙂
PoG, I suggest that you may want to swap Davis or Stevenson in for WF as the types of players Stallings will hopefully recruit.
Now, although it may not have been classy, I found his outburst to be refreshing and agree with Mike Wilbon (ESPN PTI) that more college coaches should step up like this.
But onto coaching: Like many, I was no fan of the Stallings’ hire, in fact I was stunned at what appeared to be stupidity at the time by Barnes, etc. (in hindsight, maybe it was corruption), but worse case, I thought with Stallings’ long history at Vandy, that we got an experienced guy who might produce mediocre (slightly sub 500) teams, however in hindsight I fully agree with DD’s summary above, I just don’t see any semblance of coaching going on. It truly looks like team that hasn’t been coached on fundamentals at all. I know they’re young, but I’m beginning to think Stallings may be a very poor coach, not a mediocre one.
I agree it sets Pitt back. That’s why it should have happened this past offseason when Pitt was rebuilding anyways. Luckily, Pitt really can’t be set back further than they already are.
When Stallings was hired, Pitt fans felt duped. The hiring process was tainted with nepotism and backroom deals. Because of this, Stallings is seen as an illegitimate coach. He will never be accepted. Pitt could turn around this season and end up in the Sweet 16 … and people still wouldn’t accept him … because a large portion of the Pitt fan base refuses to accept him as coach of the Panthers.
As ridiculous as that sounds, it’s the reality of the situation.
When hired, Stallings didn’t really do anything wrong to deserve the backlash. All he did was accept a job that happened to save him from being fired at Vandy. Rational move. He was a victim of circumstance and walked into something he probably didn’t see coming.
The problem is that after he was brought on … and after that first disaster of a press conference … Stallings did a really poor job of reading the room. He had the nepotism charges against Barnes, the Sheldon Jeter transfer mess, and the whole replacing the most successful coach in Pitt history challenge … yet he did nothing to endear himself to Pitt fans.
PR 101 would tell you that you probably should try to start winning over fans and find a way to connect with the students and alumni … nope … didn’t happen.
Instead we got a hot headed coach in over his head at a sinking program who was doing nothing to make himself likable and, instead, only made himself look like more of a jackass as season went on … and into carried over into the offseason.
You can root for him all you want … but Pitt is doomed while he is in charge. It just won’t ever work. Pitt fans decided a long time ago they didn’t like him. Not even winning will help.
Like I said, you speak the truth and I agree it’s fascinating … I just don’t see how it could ever work. I can’t think one situation, in any sport, where a coach as universally disliked as Stallings is ever turned around a fan base and got them in their corner … There is no precedent that I can think of this where this could even remotely work out.
But for every Belichick, there are dozens of examples where moving to a new team results in the same result as before. I am not not giving Stallings any kind of shot. I just think his offensive prowess is totally overblown, his in-game coaching so far seems poor, his treatment of the players seems inherently negative, and I watched him take essentially the same team JD took the Tourney and failed miserably with them.
I am biased….I love Pitt. I would hate for Pitt to settle for a good coach. I want Pitt to have a GREAT coach. Anything less is not good enough. So far I don’t see it.
But if Stallings becomes Belichick 2.0, hey, I’d be thrilled.
Trust me I was THRILLED to eat crow on my initial opinion of JD.
Then again, you could tell within half a season it was totally the right choice. After 1.5 seasons with Stallings, I definitely cannot make the same claim.
Belichick was just seen as your typical retread NFL coach. An unimaginative hire but not an all out revolt by the fanbase. Fans didn’t abandon them.
Stallings is very similar to the Edsall hiring at Maryland. Pure rage at the announcement of the hire.
Unpopular hires turning into success stories happen all the time, or at least often enough. Stallings is pure hatred. We might as well have hired the devil himself with how the fan base reacted in unison.
Yet, according to the ESPN predictions, Pitt has less than a 5% chance of winning. It comes down to coaching IMO – VT has a good coach and Pitt has a mediocre, if not bad coach.
I guess a 5% chance of winning means someone believes Pitt has a chance of winning.
and just so you know “my source” was directly behind our bench at the Louisville game and when I say directly I mean he was in huddle (has photos) and he is a Pitt fan. (obliviously as he was at this game) Kevin was NOT defending his players he was defending HIMSELF and his time at Vandy. There was only one comment that set him off and it had to do with his Vandy teams getting stomped by Kentucky.
Take that for what you will.
But look…Stalling’s class, well, my key canary in a coal mine as is other’s is, who else recruited them. I am at work so won’t take the time to go back and document, but the best of my memory recalls that for every single one of them, we won them over compared to essentially lower-quality mid-level schools.
So am I happy with this recruiting class? Other than the fact there are a LOT of them and the hope would be that a few pan out, I cannot say in any way that this group of kids is any better than Jamie Dixon’s worst recruiting class, give or take.
Again, I want Pitt to be great, not good. By that definition, the Stalling’s recruiting class is a definite Meh.
That said I love these kids’ efforts and there is some raw talent there. These would be a great set of kids to place around a Sam Young/Fields or what have you…two above average leaders. But that said we don’t have any Youngs on this team and I am not sure I see any of them developing into a Young in the next 2-3 years.
It’s not silly with how much some people hate Stallings. The hate is real. That quote was just to illustrate how real it is … and to highlight the absurdity of how real it is …
You obviously don’t feel that way but I was trying to shed light on why it’s a failed marriage … and why giving him a chance wouldn’t matter. There are too many people against him. He can’t win them over. He just can’t.
1618mt – No doubt some would give Stallings a chance … a lot more wouldn’t, however. His on-court results are for another story. My point is his hiring was doomed from the start so the on-court stuff doesn’t even matter. Winning wasn’t/isn’t going to save him … as I mentioned up above, there are just too many people against him.
