Candidates were afraid of the fans and the ACC

[Sean Miller Fan]

Like it or not, the national perception was that Pitt fans and the AD ran off a miracle worker, who won at an impossible place to win at. That IS the perception and that scared a lot of people.

The other thing that scared people is the strength of the ACC. Duke, UNC, Lou, and Syr will almost always have better players. The perception is that the ceiling in terms of ACC performance is very low.

 

[tuckshop]

Like it or not, the national perception was that Pitt fans and the AD ran off a miracle worker, who won at an impossible place to win at. That IS the perception and that scared a lot of people.

The other thing that scared people is the strength of the ACC. Duke, UNC, Lou, and Syr will almost always have better players. The perception is that the ceiling in terms of ACC performance is very low.

I wouldn't want a coach that thought that way anyway. I think it has more to do with the perceived working relationship with Barnes than fan expectation or competition level of the ACC. The best (or those that want to be) seek opportunities to go against the best.

 

[UPitt '89]

Nonsense.

Lonergan actively lobbied hard for the job, he's better than Stallings.

Knight wanted the job badly. He's better than Stallings.

That's two, and I'm sure there were many more.

 

[R-M-U-h-o-o-p-s-f-a-n]

They're afraid of having expectations??

For making a couple mil a year, what the heck to they expect????

They can go back to an 9-5 job working at McDonalds if they can't handle some solid expectations of them.


Sheesh.

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

I don't buy any of it, and it's not impossible to win at Pitt. Plenty of good players to pull from surrounding states. Lots of successful schools don't have a local recruiting base to pull players from. If some coaches were afraid then they weren't the man for the job.

 

[KGSB Panther]

You know, in a crazy SMF kind of way, I can see an argument that the Pitt job will be more valuable once Roy, coach K., Boeheim and Pitino retire.

 

[OriginalEther]

You know, in a crazy SMF kind of way, I can see an argument that the Pitt job will be more valuable once Roy, coach K., Boeheim and Pitino retire.

That logic only remotely makes sense if you honestly believe that none of those schools would be able to hire a good coach after they retire/leave. Anyone with any brains knows that North Carolina, Duke, (probably) Syracuse, and Louisville will do fine afterwards.

I think SMF is correct on the first part - when 25 to 28 wins a years isn't good enough at a place that used to average half that - but not the fear of competition.

 

[Jeffburgh]

Nonsense.

Lonergan actively lobbied hard for the job, he's better than Stallings.

Knight wanted the job badly. He's better than Stallings.

That's two, and I'm sure there were many more.

Agreed, no way wade, the ex Louisville assistant, the lower level guy, would not have jumped at it ...

 

[Jeffburgh]

That logic only remotely makes sense if you honestly believe that none of those schools would be able to hire a good coach after they retire/leave. Anyone with any brains knows that North Carolina, Duke, (probably) Syracuse, and Louisville will do fine afterwards.

I think SMF is correct on the first part - when 25 to 28 wins a years isn't good enough at a place that used to average half that - but not the fear of competition.

Pitt didn't fire Jamie dixon. He left in good part of the expectations, but it's been over half a decade since he won 28 games ...

 

[OriginalEther]

Pitt didn't fire Jamie dixon. He left in good part of the expectations, but it's been over half a decade since he won 28 games ...

No, but they either pushed him out or helped make him so miserable that he was willing to go to the dumpster that is TCU.
And again, fans turned on him the instant he was having a bad season, one year removed from a number 1 seed.
Pitt also won 24 games in 2013 and 26 games in 2014

 

[NTOP]

You know, in a crazy SMF kind of way, I can see an argument that the Pitt job will be more valuable once Roy, coach K., Boeheim and Pitino retire.

We'll go through a few coaches before they all leave. The admin. so many on here praised has failed, in epic fashion.

 

[Fredact]

Stallings will just use this job as a stepping stone to the Duke or North Carolina job.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

They're afraid of having expectations??

Of course. Similar to a stock, a coach's livelihood is tied to performance vs shareholder (ie fan) expectations. Pitt fans' expectations are too high in the eyes of coaches and nobody wanted to get run out of town for taking Pitt to a bunch of tournaments but never making a Final Four or making a lot of Sweet 16s.