Now that I've gotten no sleep on a miserable weekend to be a Pitt Panther fan, here are my thoughts:
1. Clearly Barnes made some critical mistakes in this hire. Mistake number 1 is he gave away his leverage by agreeing to negotiate down the buyout. It made the jump to TCU that much faster, brought the university less money and didn't give him time to properly gage what was out there.
2. Mistake 2, In his PC, Barnes laid out his critieria which included a HC with proven experience which essentially meant that he was limiting himself and almost guaranteeing a step down from Coach Dixon's record and achievements. He should have said I want someone young whose high energy and can recruit and stopped right there.
3. Mistake 3 Barnes clearly got played by this search firm. I negotiate contracts for a living and it's pretty clear he either got played or owed Turner a favor or both. Nothing in Stallings resume says "this is an upgrade". Nothing. It's about as bland a hire as you can get. In fact, if I was the University Auditing team I'd look into the process because it just smells bad.
4. Mistake 4 If the story about Enfield wanting Jamie money to come over and Barnes rejected it tells me Barnes is neither bold or understanding the landscape. Maybe Enfield was playing him but bottom line your flush with the TCU buyout (which should have been 10M), your getting record $ from the NCAA tourney and the ACC is giving you more cash. So not sure I get why you don't go for Enfield who has way more juice than Stallings and more of an energizing move. If he's your guy go get him. I would have paid him the money.
5. Stallings isn't a bad coach, he isn't a great coach. He's the definition of average. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Kevin Stallings can't coach because he can and he can recruit. He's also 55, was on his way out of Vandy and had little post season success, and to boot you gave him a 6 year deal. It's a puzzling move at best.
6. Why did Barnes feel so rushed to make this move? He got turned down by Miller and couldn't close Enfield. Ok, He didn't even bother to talk to Keats, Wade or Drew it appears. I'm not sure why he felt the need to close the deal with Stallings so fast. My guess is this Turner said "St Louis really wants Stallings better cut the deal now or else you lose an established coach". Which was why I think he got played. Stallings and Vandy had no leverage and we took a problem off their hands.
7. I'm going to always support Pitt sports with attendance, viewership and money but this hire was amateurish at best. The process left a lot to be desired with and really calls into question Barnes ability to run the department. I'm not happy about it and am not optimistic about the future of Pitt basketball, one of my pleasures during the winter months.
Pitt82
1. Clearly Barnes made some critical mistakes in this hire. Mistake number 1 is he gave away his leverage by agreeing to negotiate down the buyout. It made the jump to TCU that much faster, brought the university less money and didn't give him time to properly gage what was out there.
2. Mistake 2, In his PC, Barnes laid out his critieria which included a HC with proven experience which essentially meant that he was limiting himself and almost guaranteeing a step down from Coach Dixon's record and achievements. He should have said I want someone young whose high energy and can recruit and stopped right there.
3. Mistake 3 Barnes clearly got played by this search firm. I negotiate contracts for a living and it's pretty clear he either got played or owed Turner a favor or both. Nothing in Stallings resume says "this is an upgrade". Nothing. It's about as bland a hire as you can get. In fact, if I was the University Auditing team I'd look into the process because it just smells bad.
4. Mistake 4 If the story about Enfield wanting Jamie money to come over and Barnes rejected it tells me Barnes is neither bold or understanding the landscape. Maybe Enfield was playing him but bottom line your flush with the TCU buyout (which should have been 10M), your getting record $ from the NCAA tourney and the ACC is giving you more cash. So not sure I get why you don't go for Enfield who has way more juice than Stallings and more of an energizing move. If he's your guy go get him. I would have paid him the money.
5. Stallings isn't a bad coach, he isn't a great coach. He's the definition of average. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Kevin Stallings can't coach because he can and he can recruit. He's also 55, was on his way out of Vandy and had little post season success, and to boot you gave him a 6 year deal. It's a puzzling move at best.
6. Why did Barnes feel so rushed to make this move? He got turned down by Miller and couldn't close Enfield. Ok, He didn't even bother to talk to Keats, Wade or Drew it appears. I'm not sure why he felt the need to close the deal with Stallings so fast. My guess is this Turner said "St Louis really wants Stallings better cut the deal now or else you lose an established coach". Which was why I think he got played. Stallings and Vandy had no leverage and we took a problem off their hands.
7. I'm going to always support Pitt sports with attendance, viewership and money but this hire was amateurish at best. The process left a lot to be desired with and really calls into question Barnes ability to run the department. I'm not happy about it and am not optimistic about the future of Pitt basketball, one of my pleasures during the winter months.
Pitt82
