Kevin Stallings to be hired by Pitt
- Thread starter ruman
- Start date
He would be a good hire as a assistant coach at Rutgers because of Jersey roots and experience at a winning program.
its not a terrible hire but it does not do much to improve Pitt's positioning in the ACC. Stallings has won at Vandy which is tough to do. However I cant see it inspiring the Pitt faithful who need a reality check. They should have appreciated what Dixon gave them.
I wouldn't kill them with this hire. They had an impressive list of supposed interested candidates but half of that was probably smoke. I do believe that the seat was starting to get warm for Stallings at Vandy so perhaps a pre-emptive move on his part. Knight would be an interesting add to the RU staff but I would have to think Dixon tries to get him to join at TCU.
Disagree he is a good coach..
He couldn't win in a weak SEC, has a below 500 percentage in the league. How will he win in the acc??, plus he's not known as a great guy. He threatened to kill one of his players, caught on camera, at vandy.
All this, plus the deal is 6 years???? Yuck.
He couldn't win in a weak SEC, has a below 500 percentage in the league. How will he win in the acc??, plus he's not known as a great guy. He threatened to kill one of his players, caught on camera, at vandy.
All this, plus the deal is 6 years???? Yuck.
I'll take Pikiell any day of the week over Stallings. This was the best Barnes (their AD) could get? Did those other coaches show any interest? Were they even interviewed? Did they all turn Pitt down? And Pitt right now is a much better job than many P5 power conference jobs, and they get Stallings from Vanderbilt.
So much for that "article" from CBS sports predicting who the next Pitt coach will or should be.
If Stallings recruited well at Vandy with very high academic standards he may just kill it recruiting for Pitt. It's all about getting players.
Pitt's recruiting has been sub-par since joining the ACC.
Pitt's recruiting has been sub-par since joining the ACC.
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This board would have done back flips if we hired a P5 coach from another school. He is no better than Sendek who everyone wanted including my myself but you dont think he is good enough? I would guess before Pikiell was hired if given the chose most would picked Stallings if he was interested over Pikiell.
No, that's where you are wrong. I would have loved Sendek and yes I believe he's much better than Stallings; or I would have preferred Lonergan. And you're right I would not have had Pikiell even in the conversation. But after doing my research on him, I am thrilled we have him here as our new coach and not someone like Stallings, who I never would have considered for the RU job. I think Pitt could have done much better, but it seems as if their 1-5 picks either didn't care to leave their current situations; or were not interested in the Pitt job.
I think Stallings is a very good to great coach and you prove nothing basing what his record is at Vandy vs the rest of the crooked and dirty SEC, against schools that admit anyone and everyone academically. Stallings X's and O's are light years better than 80% of the Power 5 coaches IMO.
Is he a hard-ass....?? Perhaps, but kids like the diva Wade Baldwin and others are only on the radar of NBA scouts, because Stallings actually demands his players play basketball the right way, not through the BS way many coaches allow kids to get away with everything. Pitt isn't a great job, but Vanderbilt is insane to think they are approaching Stanford or Duke like status in basketball, where they can roll out an offer to any other coach and they suddenly are in the running for challenging Kentucky.
As far as Pitt's concerned, they get away with murder here in this trade-off....Dixon won a lot of games, but a LOT of those games were with Slice Rohrrsen as assistant coach and in the Big East where they recruited NYC and NJ....Slice left and suddenly they go from a #3 to 4 seed to a 8 or 10 seed and on the border of making the NCAA's....Not Dixon's fault but I don't think anyone mistakenly forgets Pitt when mentioning the top of coaches in the conference.....Williams, Coach K, Bennett, Buzz Williams. Larranaga and Boeheim are all ahead of Dixon by any measure you want to consider in the ACC....that places Pitt around 7th or 8th overall, which is right about where they landed this year.
I don't think much of Pitt's talent to say they should be better than where they are, but I'd like to see Stallings with a legitimate shot of recruiting anyone and everyone like the bulk of the Power 5 leagues and see what he comes up with. Vandy was always short on elite athletes, had no JUCO's and was left with finding kids overseas and off the radar in some cases..... he should have no problem finding athletes in ACC recruiting. I would take Stallings over Dixon any day of the week, but I think Pitt fans are a little delusional thinking that Sean Miller or Archie Miller was an actual possibility. Neither considered them along with a host of others, because Pitt is a tough job and in an elite league in a not-so great recruiting base.
Pitt's administration and constant turnover is also an issue as well (see their constant turnover with football coaching and Narduzzi interviewing everywhere last fall), so while Stallings probably was ready to leave Vandy anyway, he gets to finish up his career at a Power 5 school in a dominant conference with a program that is used to winning and has actual facilities to sell. I see Pitt staying in NCAA consideration going forward, where if they went the mid-major route or elsewhere, it's possible they could have fallen even further behind the rugged ACC.
Bring Brandin Knight to NJ on RU's staff and I'll call this a win-win for RU....Dixon was out of time and patience with Pitt fans and felt unappreciated there....he'll get all the time he wants at TCU vs. Pitt.
Is he a hard-ass....?? Perhaps, but kids like the diva Wade Baldwin and others are only on the radar of NBA scouts, because Stallings actually demands his players play basketball the right way, not through the BS way many coaches allow kids to get away with everything. Pitt isn't a great job, but Vanderbilt is insane to think they are approaching Stanford or Duke like status in basketball, where they can roll out an offer to any other coach and they suddenly are in the running for challenging Kentucky.
As far as Pitt's concerned, they get away with murder here in this trade-off....Dixon won a lot of games, but a LOT of those games were with Slice Rohrrsen as assistant coach and in the Big East where they recruited NYC and NJ....Slice left and suddenly they go from a #3 to 4 seed to a 8 or 10 seed and on the border of making the NCAA's....Not Dixon's fault but I don't think anyone mistakenly forgets Pitt when mentioning the top of coaches in the conference.....Williams, Coach K, Bennett, Buzz Williams. Larranaga and Boeheim are all ahead of Dixon by any measure you want to consider in the ACC....that places Pitt around 7th or 8th overall, which is right about where they landed this year.
I don't think much of Pitt's talent to say they should be better than where they are, but I'd like to see Stallings with a legitimate shot of recruiting anyone and everyone like the bulk of the Power 5 leagues and see what he comes up with. Vandy was always short on elite athletes, had no JUCO's and was left with finding kids overseas and off the radar in some cases..... he should have no problem finding athletes in ACC recruiting. I would take Stallings over Dixon any day of the week, but I think Pitt fans are a little delusional thinking that Sean Miller or Archie Miller was an actual possibility. Neither considered them along with a host of others, because Pitt is a tough job and in an elite league in a not-so great recruiting base.
Pitt's administration and constant turnover is also an issue as well (see their constant turnover with football coaching and Narduzzi interviewing everywhere last fall), so while Stallings probably was ready to leave Vandy anyway, he gets to finish up his career at a Power 5 school in a dominant conference with a program that is used to winning and has actual facilities to sell. I see Pitt staying in NCAA consideration going forward, where if they went the mid-major route or elsewhere, it's possible they could have fallen even further behind the rugged ACC.
Bring Brandin Knight to NJ on RU's staff and I'll call this a win-win for RU....Dixon was out of time and patience with Pitt fans and felt unappreciated there....he'll get all the time he wants at TCU vs. Pitt.
Narduzzi interviewing everywhere? Besides a conversation with Rutgers, who else?
Slice was a key part of their success. I dont see why Stallings would kill it at Pitt actually
I read where Danny Hurley and Herb Sendek were mentioned as possible canidates, don't know if they were contacted before Stallings was hired.
I don't think his last 5 seasons were impressive , but guess Pitt feels differently.
2011–12 Vanderbilt 25–11> 10–6 T–2nd NCAA Third Round
2012–13 Vanderbilt 16–17> 8–10 10th
2013–14 Vanderbilt 15–16 > 7–11 T–10th
2014–15 Vanderbilt 21–14> 9–9 7th NIT Quarterfinals
2015–16 Vanderbilt 19–14> 11–7 T–3rd NCAA First Four
I don't think his last 5 seasons were impressive , but guess Pitt feels differently.
2011–12 Vanderbilt 25–11> 10–6 T–2nd NCAA Third Round
2012–13 Vanderbilt 16–17> 8–10 10th
2013–14 Vanderbilt 15–16 > 7–11 T–10th
2014–15 Vanderbilt 21–14> 9–9 7th NIT Quarterfinals
2015–16 Vanderbilt 19–14> 11–7 T–3rd NCAA First Four
Not sure if they would want it but I'd go after Chris Collins or Wojo-------would include Amaker but I'm fairly certain he doesn't want it.
The best coach they could hire is 2 miles away but he's just too old.
Don't be shocked if the guy at UNCW gets a sniff.
The best coach they could hire is 2 miles away but he's just too old.
Don't be shocked if the guy at UNCW gets a sniff.
Stallings competed in a league with Mississippi, Mississippi State, Georgia, South Carolina, LSU, Auburn, etc. Top end of his leagues are Kentucky and Florida. Full stop.
Dixon competed in leagues (the BE and ACC) with far better top end, middle tier and low end talent. Top end of his leagues were Villanova, UConn, Syracuse, Louisville, Georgetown, Notre Dame and now has North Carolina, Duke, Syracuse, Virginia.
Dixon is 143-81 in conference in the Big East and ACC combined. Stallings is 138-142 in conference in the SEC. Thats five less wins than Jaime and sixty one more losses. Jaime could have gone 0 for his next 61 in conference and would still have a better league record than Stallings. In a far tougher league.
Dixon won the BE regular season title twice (2004, 2011) and the BET tournament championship once (2008). I believe Dixon made it to the BET finals four other times. Stallings won the SEC tournament once (2012).
Somebody better get Stallings a new GPS system because the Bronx and Aliquippa aren't loaded into his current one.
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Did Pitt make a run at Cronin. I think thats the type of hire they could get and it would excite their fans.
I wanted nothing of Sendek. I dislike these "retread" coaches..(although Stalling wasn't fired, he was on the hot seat and not getting it done)..I'd much prefer and up and comer, especially for a major rebuild like RU.
Stallings may not be the best coach but do you think he could get in players like who Auburn recruits? There was a story about Auburn wanting to get rid of a certain major but the athletic department fought back and they kept that major. Vandy is a good school.
Well a couple of things here--Pitt fans were not exactly sobbing when Dixon left. I think the majority of them felt he wore out his welcome. And then Pitt fans need to realize they were not going to steal a big name coach from another power 5 team. That happens if you are Duke, UNC, Kentucky etc, but thats it. And if they let Dixon walk thinking that they were going to get Sean Miller well then thats the AD's fault who should have known if there was any interest on Millers part far before Dixon was let go.
Pitt fans should have realized they were going to either get a retread or a lower level coach (as we did).
So I don't feel too sorry for Pitt or Pitt fans really. you reap what you sow.
So if Slice was the ace recruiter for Dixon during the peak years should we be that interested in Knight? I thought we made a run at him when Mike Rice was hired and I was all for that. I haven't followed Pitt that closely since they went to the ACC but has their recruiting ability taken a hit since then?
I don't think so. They checked with Sean Miller's agent, heard "NO" and then went after Stallings who Vandy had already decided to fire but wanted someone to offer him the job so they could get buyout money.
