** What a truly and completely unbelievable week this has been for Pitt Basketball. Would anyone at all have predicted with the wildest of all guesses seven days ago that none other than Kevin Stallings would be the new Panthers Head Coach this Sunday? If you say yes, please let me know about the Lottery numbers next time.
** A week ago, I said without a doubt that I wanted Jamie Dixon to stay as our coach. But I must confess that there was a little bit of a part of me that was a touch relieved when he ultimately decided to go to TCU.
** One reason is because I’ve always enjoyed being a part of the Pitt Hoops and PantherLair community. And after the Wisconsin loss, it was extremely difficult to read and post here, as nearly every thought had become a pro and con as to whether Dixon should or shouldn’t be our coach. It was the same with anyone I talked to about Pitt Hoops.
** When Dixon left, in addition to looking forward to a new coach and a new beginning for hoops, I was looking forward for the chance for all Pitt Basketball fans to get together on the same page.
** On Tuesday, with all of the buzz going on about Sean Miller, it was sort of cool seeing how many Pitt Hoops fans were excited about it.
** Five days later, it looks like I ended up getting what I wanted after all. Just about all Pitt Basketball fans are now back together on the same page. It’s just not a page of excitement, but a page of disgust.
** Just to be clear, I must also admit that I’m disappointed with the selection of Kevin Stallings. I was hoping that we would select someone we could all get excited about, and even someone such as Andy Enfield would have fit that bill.
** Disappointed is probably too soft. I think it's more accurate to say I'm a little worried.
** But If there’s one mantra I’ve posted over and over during all of my days of hanging here on the Pitt message board, it’s that things are almost never quite as good nor as bad as we fans what to make them out to be.
** Let’s make some things abundantly clear about Kevin Stallings. He’s certainly a capable, knowledgeable NCAA coach who has had success at a Power 5 conference school. Yes Pitt fans, believe it or not, there are some who could have been worse choices.
** Still, the criticism that was most often directed at Dixon is that he would never be able to get Pitt back to the high level where he had them previously. The concerning thing about this selection is that it’s an individual who has a long track record of never putting a team at that high level in the first place.
** The second thing that is concerning is that Scott Barnes made it clear that Pitt Hoops needed someone who would put energy back into the fan base. With that, does he really believe that this hire does this? Or was it the case that he really never meant what he said to begin with, or that hiring someone to whom he had a connection to was more important than putting energy back into the fan base? Any of these possibilities are concerning.
** The most concerning at all, however, is the notion that this is the highest quality coach they could find who really would take this job. Maybe this is true, and this would be a very discouraging fact. But it seems like this would have had to have been determined after a pretty short period of time. And hearing that Kevin Keatts wasn’t even contacted make me wonder if that net was case wide enough.
** But all of that matters little right now for this Pitt Basketball fan. As a Pitt Basketball fan, it’s about time I got to the business of getting on board with the new coach, regardless if I think he’s the best man for the job. It’s his job now.
** And the first part of his job is to keep together everything the Panthers have going for them in place for next year. Dixon did not leave the cupboard bare for Stallings, and I’m hopeful that Stallings can start by at least providing some hope by keeping all of the critical pieces in place.
** Heck, maybe Coach Kevin will even find a piece the 2015-2016 team may have been missing to improve on our past year.
** In my darker moments of the last 24 hours, I was worried that Dixon might be able to get TCU into the NCAA Tournament before the Panthers were ever able to return. I’d certainly like for Stallings to put an end to that notion right off in year one.
** In another of my other darker moments of the last 24 hours, I remarked that this may have been the lowest I’ve felt in my 36 years or being a Pitt Hoops fan. I’m going to back away from that now. Even though this is not an exciting hire, and perhaps not even a good hire, it is not a hire that cannot possibility work. In fact, it just might work well beyond our expectations of the moment.
** I’m guessing I’ve probably seen 550 Pitt Hoops games in person, in no fewer than 15 different arenas. In that time, I’ve seen many wonderful successes next to some deeply discouraging defeats. Through all of this and the changes I’ve seen, Pitt Hoops has always remained as “my thing.”
** In November of 2016, I plan to be there at the Peterson Events Center to watch 551. If Pitt Hoops is “Your thing,” I hope you’ll be there too.
** A week ago, I said without a doubt that I wanted Jamie Dixon to stay as our coach. But I must confess that there was a little bit of a part of me that was a touch relieved when he ultimately decided to go to TCU.
** One reason is because I’ve always enjoyed being a part of the Pitt Hoops and PantherLair community. And after the Wisconsin loss, it was extremely difficult to read and post here, as nearly every thought had become a pro and con as to whether Dixon should or shouldn’t be our coach. It was the same with anyone I talked to about Pitt Hoops.
** When Dixon left, in addition to looking forward to a new coach and a new beginning for hoops, I was looking forward for the chance for all Pitt Basketball fans to get together on the same page.
** On Tuesday, with all of the buzz going on about Sean Miller, it was sort of cool seeing how many Pitt Hoops fans were excited about it.
** Five days later, it looks like I ended up getting what I wanted after all. Just about all Pitt Basketball fans are now back together on the same page. It’s just not a page of excitement, but a page of disgust.
** Just to be clear, I must also admit that I’m disappointed with the selection of Kevin Stallings. I was hoping that we would select someone we could all get excited about, and even someone such as Andy Enfield would have fit that bill.
** Disappointed is probably too soft. I think it's more accurate to say I'm a little worried.
** But If there’s one mantra I’ve posted over and over during all of my days of hanging here on the Pitt message board, it’s that things are almost never quite as good nor as bad as we fans what to make them out to be.
** Let’s make some things abundantly clear about Kevin Stallings. He’s certainly a capable, knowledgeable NCAA coach who has had success at a Power 5 conference school. Yes Pitt fans, believe it or not, there are some who could have been worse choices.
** Still, the criticism that was most often directed at Dixon is that he would never be able to get Pitt back to the high level where he had them previously. The concerning thing about this selection is that it’s an individual who has a long track record of never putting a team at that high level in the first place.
** The second thing that is concerning is that Scott Barnes made it clear that Pitt Hoops needed someone who would put energy back into the fan base. With that, does he really believe that this hire does this? Or was it the case that he really never meant what he said to begin with, or that hiring someone to whom he had a connection to was more important than putting energy back into the fan base? Any of these possibilities are concerning.
** The most concerning at all, however, is the notion that this is the highest quality coach they could find who really would take this job. Maybe this is true, and this would be a very discouraging fact. But it seems like this would have had to have been determined after a pretty short period of time. And hearing that Kevin Keatts wasn’t even contacted make me wonder if that net was case wide enough.
** But all of that matters little right now for this Pitt Basketball fan. As a Pitt Basketball fan, it’s about time I got to the business of getting on board with the new coach, regardless if I think he’s the best man for the job. It’s his job now.
** And the first part of his job is to keep together everything the Panthers have going for them in place for next year. Dixon did not leave the cupboard bare for Stallings, and I’m hopeful that Stallings can start by at least providing some hope by keeping all of the critical pieces in place.
** Heck, maybe Coach Kevin will even find a piece the 2015-2016 team may have been missing to improve on our past year.
** In my darker moments of the last 24 hours, I was worried that Dixon might be able to get TCU into the NCAA Tournament before the Panthers were ever able to return. I’d certainly like for Stallings to put an end to that notion right off in year one.
** In another of my other darker moments of the last 24 hours, I remarked that this may have been the lowest I’ve felt in my 36 years or being a Pitt Hoops fan. I’m going to back away from that now. Even though this is not an exciting hire, and perhaps not even a good hire, it is not a hire that cannot possibility work. In fact, it just might work well beyond our expectations of the moment.
** I’m guessing I’ve probably seen 550 Pitt Hoops games in person, in no fewer than 15 different arenas. In that time, I’ve seen many wonderful successes next to some deeply discouraging defeats. Through all of this and the changes I’ve seen, Pitt Hoops has always remained as “my thing.”
** In November of 2016, I plan to be there at the Peterson Events Center to watch 551. If Pitt Hoops is “Your thing,” I hope you’ll be there too.
