I just think including anything about Stallings anymore in any current assessment is pointless, especially at this point. Capel's record at year three speaks for itself.
Brandin Knight
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
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I just think including anything about Stallings anymore in any current assessment is pointless, especially at this point. Capel's record at year three speaks for itself.
I certainly was frustrated with Capel this past season, but still retained optimism that he could lead us out of this mess. His inability to sign anyone of consequence this offseason has ended that notion. He's dead man walking.
He was given an unbelievable opportunity. Ok, he lost some guys. That happens. 30% of the players transferred. He could have gone out and gotten good players to play for HIM. You think guys are dying to play in Fayetteville, Arkansas? Or they grow up dreaming of being Razorbacks? No. They want to play for Musselman no matter where he's at. Its pretty shocking to me that guys dont seem to want to play for Capel. I've said this before but its almost as if he's blackballed. He cant get anybody. Since Nike Sibande signed in June, Capel has only gotten commitments from 3 players. That absolutely has to be the lowest total in the P6 and maybe in the entire D1
I understand this notion, but I'll make that final conclusion about who he's signed (or hasn't) when time has finally expired. I'd be lying if I told you I was optimistic.
There's no contesting this "fact" and a troubling one at that.
It is almost as if he has to wait until there are no slots open at P6 schools, then he can go out and beat A10 schools and mid-majors for players. I dont understand it. In all my years as a Pitt fan, I dont remember such an extended period of such little recruiting action.
No , we’d still have JD coaching at Pitt .
The sad truth is that there’s actually a good chance KS would’ve had the program in better shape .
Its amazes me that someone who thinks he’s so smart just doesn’t get it , until Pitt plays by the same rules as everyone else nothing will change and every coach they bring in will struggle recruiting the players they need to be competitive in the ACC . Changing horses now will only put any inroads JC is making in the dumpster plus cost Pitt millions of dollars .
You ,Gary and SMF need to start a fund me page because Pitts not ever going to write the check with sooo many yrs left on JC contract . Believe it .
Need to let this contract play out for at least 2 more seasons so we’re not pegged as the program that ran out our best coach with years left on the deal and then you can come in and suck and get bought out:
I do find it amazing that people on this thread don’t want BK because of his chair at a program he helped revive from the dead but want Ricardo Greer who is the same chair at a lower level elite program that wins regardless of coach. Not advocating for either or against either just don’t follow that logic.
I think finding the best possible LM or MM coach willing to take the job would be the best possible hire wherever they may be from: I’d monitor the success of Ryan Odom at Utah State coming off of UMBC’s best run. Son of the legendary Dave Odom checks all the boxes I would use if I was hiring a coach at Pitt if he wins there:
1. ACC experience (VT and growing up in the wake program)
2. Head coaching experience (D2, LM, MM and turned them all around or won everywhere)
3. Has been turned down at multiple ACC jobs so he will take it
4. Has ties from DMV down to Carolina’s in recruiting
5. Worked under multiple head coaches
6. Wouldn’t be so expensive that we’d have to pay top dollar out of the gate
And by the time we’d be making a change he’d still be young enough to get a long tenure out of him.
I do find it amazing that people on this thread don’t want BK because of his chair at a program he helped revive from the dead but want Ricardo Greer who is the same chair at a lower level elite program that wins regardless of coach. Not advocating for either or against either just don’t follow that logic.
I think finding the best possible LM or MM coach willing to take the job would be the best possible hire wherever they may be from: I’d monitor the success of Ryan Odom at Utah State coming off of UMBC’s best run. Son of the legendary Dave Odom checks all the boxes I would use if I was hiring a coach at Pitt if he wins there:
1. ACC experience (VT and growing up in the wake program)
2. Head coaching experience (D2, LM, MM and turned them all around or won everywhere)
3. Has been turned down at multiple ACC jobs so he will take it
4. Has ties from DMV down to Carolina’s in recruiting
5. Worked under multiple head coaches
6. Wouldn’t be so expensive that we’d have to pay top dollar out of the gate
And by the time we’d be making a change he’d still be young enough to get a long tenure out of him.
They did with cause and fought him for every dollar and got a reduced settlement . They even turned themselves in to the NCAA to save a few bucks ! Who in the world of big time college athletics does this ?
JC is signed through the 26-27 season at around 3mil per , they’re not firing him with that much moola on the table .
Plus he is Heather’s man .
Plus plus KS was such a depolarizing figure that he was able to completely empty out the Pete . Heather was hailed as a savior by firing him . This was her first major hire , she’ll give him every possible chance to succeed.
Now I will agree that so far JC results and current future prospects are very disappointing, least we forget that Heather pulled JC out of her hat when all the other candidates weren’t interested and the search was not going very well . No one of note will come here and thinking that somehow an inexperienced guy is coming in here and will be able to recruit the talent necessary to compete in the ACC without booster support is living in fantasyland . Pitts best bet is to let this play out and see if JC can find a winning recruiting formula. At least for several more seasons .
Odom would be a good choice if he wins at Utah State. However, right now, I'd be in favor of outside the box, which is paying BK nothing but having like the highest paid assistant coaching staff in the nation.
Agree he probably gets 2 more years unless next year is Stallings-ish. People who thinks he gets 4-5 more no matter what are insane. If he has 5 straight losing seasons in ACC play, there is a 0% chance he gets a 6th unless he has a dynamite recruiting class lined up
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Pitt’s best chance is to hire a coach like Toole at RMU (not saying Toole, but would not be against it).
Someone who can really coach and has an eye for under publicized talent.
(And I am not saying Knight can’t fit that bill, plus add character, discipline and Pitt style of play)
Cause? Right. How could I forget that.
Stallings should have sued Pitt “for cause”.
Turning in your own coach so you can save some money firing him for cause sends a great message.
Reprimanding your own coach trying to avoid a fine sends a great message.
We have established we value money over loyalty.
The next hire most assuredly will have no resume and be “inexpensive”.
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Silence could have been part of the settlement.
I still find it quite remarkable that none of his former players have come forward with some negative stuff , only the fans ....very interesting. As much as we and the administration weren’t pleased with him his players appeared to have had no issues with the man .
Give me BK and Greer as second assistant and pay him really well. But you would need an experienced assistant like Michigan did with Phil Martelli.
HC: BK
AHC: a Phil Martelli-type
AC: $1 million for one of the top recruiters in the country
AC: Greer
If you really wanted an all-Pitt coaching staff, Sean Miller has some experience and Orlando Antigua is a pretty good recruiter...
Our best coaches in football and basketball were not Pitt men but became Pitt men. Expand your minds people
I understood your post completely. Any problems now are strictly Capel's. Maybe Heather's status is on the line, too. Another awful year and she'll be forced to act. Attendance at the Pete will be interesting.
Where have I ever said that he is due to be fired? I only said he is a failure.
Heather has probably two years left to come up with a solution. That is why I said it is perplexing that BK has done nothing to position himself to get the job which will inevitably come open. I think the only two options are that he really does not want to be a HC, or he thinks that he can stay loyal to RU and potentially take over that program if Pikiell leaves.
BK has a better resume today, but he's been stagnant for a decade now. Greer is rising quickly. By the time our job opens up, Greer is the one that will likely be better positioned to interview for it. Whether he'd make a better HC than BK is another matter.
We've also hired plenty of "not Pitt men" who were total failures.
Greer is older and the second chair at an A10 school. How is rising faster than BK who has been an assistant at HM schools for over a decade now and is only 39. BK will certainly get a head job next offseason and would’ve this year if St Peter’s would’ve parted with Holloway like was rumored. The only way Greer is a better candidate is if he gets on Mike White’s staff but he may stay now that he will most likely move up to first chair.
Stagnant is being nice. He took a huge step down to go to Rutgers but luckily Pikiell is a magician and turned RU into a decent team
The bulk of all your posts are what a failure this hire has been . Feeling this way are you not suggesting in about every post you author about JC is that change isn’t needed ?
I for one believe what has happened to all three coaches at Pitt since since joining the ACC is that they all over estimated the appeal of Pitt bb and the ACC to recruits .
1) JD lost out on just about every priority recruit he went after once Pitt entered the ACC and being honest he left KS with nothing behind the senior class . All Pitt had was Cam and Luther and Cam bailed setting up the winless season . They might have won a game or two had he stayed !
2) KS , say what you want about KS abysmal stay here , but he was able to recruit better players at Vanderbilt in the Fb centric SEC at a far more demanding academic institution than Pitt . I really believe he thought coming here he could recruit better players to an ACC school that required less stringent academic requirements than to Vanderbilt , surprise surprise !
3) JC , known as a very good recruiter , but while he’s able to get into very good players top 5 schools list he can’t close the deal . Is this a JC failure or is this something much bigger than that and he just can’t overcome . I’m leaning towards the latter . Pitt just isn’t offering the same package to perspective recruits .
If you want to believe that a Knight or Greer will bring in the talent necessary to compete without a change in attitudes of the administration I think your fooling yourself . Talent separates the haves from the have nots and Pitt with horrible facilities recruited Smith , Lane , Gore , Shorter when the Golden Panthers existed . JD with all his success here couldn’t sustain the flow of great players here KS had no chance and JC is on the ropes , change is needed and it starts above the level of HC . If Pitt wants to get back into winning big time college athletics the chancellor and his cronies need to get involved or get out of the way and I don’t see that happening .
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You are saying the only way to have adequate recruiting at Pitt is to cheat. I don’t buy that.
Capel brought in more than adequate talent.
The failure was his inability to coach, mold, control and maintain it. Talent was not the problem.
if Capel is unable to recruit now, it is because of HIS failures over the last 3 seasons, not the culture at Pitt.
Adequate talent what is that ? Adequate talent doesn’t win when your in the ACC !
You are deluding yourself if you believe that even with X , Trey and Toney ( as seniors ) and I’ll through in JC , if he returns to Pitt , that Pitt has/had enough talent to really compete in the ACC night in and night out . If Hugley returns and becomes a force and Wil becomes a player now we’re talking , a lot of ifs , but irrelevant now .
Coaches aren’t responsible for players characters, you don’t sleep with teammates girlfriends ( Toney ) or pout because your not as good as you thought you were ( Trey ) . When told to stop complaining to officials and getting T’s and you just ignore your coaches your just selfish (X ) . You don’t steal cars either . I’m sure you feel this is all on JC I don’t . You respect your teammates , you work harder to get better and as a team leader you set yourself up as example to the younger guys not to be a selfish me first player and lastly you don’t steal cars !
Talent wins games , a good coach with talent wins championships a good coach without talent loses .
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I have already stated that I, personally, would be open to hiring BK regardless of what he's done since he left Dixon's staff. I am only pointing out that in the last five years, he has done little to beef up his resume for such an opportunity. He is who he is, and I don't think he's any better or worse of a candidate if leads some rinky dink college for a couple years.
Greer is going through the motions, which seems to be valued by the people making the hiring decisions, which is certainly not me.
Capel took this job knowing he was guaranteed a very long leash. He signed an extension after showing any positive trajectory. He's going to get two more years regardless of whether he deserves it and regardless of whether he shows any improvement.
As was mentioned, he was hired by Lyke so she has a vested interest in giving him every opportunity to climb out of this hole. That doesn't mean she or I need to think it is likely to happen.
Someone once said a great thing about Jamie Dixon is that he didn’t waste time with players he knew he was not going to get.
Pitt knows who is buying players. When you see recruits considering several of those schools,move on.
Get who you can get. Coach them up. keep them until they are older, stronger, more experienced.
That is our path to success.
Pitt knows who is buying players. When you see recruits considering several of those schools,move on.
Get who you can get. Coach them up. keep them until they are older, stronger, more experienced.
That is our path to success.
Do you think Stallings took the job “believing” he was guaranteed a very long leash?
A guarantee is only as good as the character of the person providing it and their authority to deliver on that promise.
JD struck out on all his major targets his last few yrs at Pitt ...look at the roster he had .
No, I don't think he was. I think Barnes grossly mis-evaluated the situation here at Pitt and sold that incorrect vision to Stallings. Barnes thought Dixon's recent performance was easily replicable and thought an established guy like Stallings could keep the train on the rails with very little effort.
I have always given Stallings a little bit of sympathy because I think he was basically sold a lemon by Barnes: a program in decline, propped up only by intense attention to detail by Dixon. Barnes was focused on lots of dumb little details like logos and colors and signage and acted like putting WVU on the schedule was enough to satisfy "the noise." He hired Stallings to "win now" and I doubt that either one of them considered it anything resembling a rebuild.
So what your saying is that his bosses realized how difficult a situation he walked into and they’re smart enough to know this job wasn’t a quick fix !
The last era where Pitt could recruit with anyone in the country and why was that ?
Guess what , nothing has changed in college athletics in regards to acquiring talent !
I guess that both Barnes and KS where too dumb to look at the roster behind the senior class !
