I think I found my niche here, especially since DT has gone into hiding/mourning, so where it merits, I will do my "Deep Breaths" bullets. I know you all will love them. Or not......
1) The Press Conference was a travesty. Some of you wanted blood. You got it at the very start. Why? Why do you want to make Barnes, Stallings and therefore Pitt itself look bad? I guess this sated some anger, but why? Why? Cause we didn't hire Sean Miller? Or we didn't hire some young stud, Greg Marshall, etc....or was it the realization that this job isn't as good as we all thought it would be? And yesterday's press conference showed another reason why it isn't as good of a job as some would think.
2) So much of the angst and anger has gone on to this "search committee" and whether or not Barnes' relationship with Tom Turner (head of the search agency) had anything to do with the Stallings hire. Of course it did. But demanding that Barnes "come clean", what the hell, I expected Senator McCarthy to pop in and start screaming ARE YOU A COMMUNIST? Again, so over the top. That is how business is conducted for the most part. Relationships are developed, as are networks, and when it comes to these types of decisions, they are counted on. It ain't rare and it ain't rocket science.
3) I thought Barnes could have done a whole lot better job in answering some questions. For example, the one concerning Stallings capabilities where he said "he is above the noise" and that fans can either get on board or are off base, was horrible. Answering it in some form of 'we completely respect what Coach Dixon accomplished here, and Kevin will have big shoes to fill. We wouldn't have hired him if we felt he couldn't do the job. I am sure the fans will be quite happy with him once we start playing games." There. That is taking that question and answering it with a non antagonistic way. But in Barnes defense, I am sure he expected some heat, but what was scheduled as a PC/Pep Rally/Welcome to Pitt turned immediately into the McCarthy hearings.
4) One other thing, some of you were happy that the media were "tough". That is laughable. Because come sometime this fall, if Pat Narduzzi would lose to PSU or we start losing recruits and Ron Cook writes even a semi critical article, you will all want to tar and feather him.
5) And one more final thing on this whole Press Conference. I sure hope the same media, the same "COME CLEAN" or Rossi grilling happens with the Steelers or Pirates or Penguins, where most of the media members are cheerleaders and softball question after question to them. The media loves to flex its journalistic chops on Pitt sports, not so much on the pro teams. And I go one step further, where was the same anger and demanding to "COME CLEAN" when the Sandusky scandal broke at PSU. Most of the local media preferred to stay away from that completely. Amazing, the covering up a serial child rapist does not evoke the same vitriol that an AD using a search firm headed by his friend for this group of media.
6) I felt bad for Stallings, his family and Sheldon Jeter and family. The question had to be asked, but that put a lot of people in uncomfortable positions. To Stallings credit, while maybe not fully answering, he admitted what he did was wrong. Other than starting off rough (no doubt because the early attacks) he acquitted himself quite well, and you can see some of his personality.
7) I hate to say this, but if Kevin Stallings resembled more George Clooney (Jay Wright) than Kevin from the Office, would there be as much angst and disappointment? Beautiful people get the benefit of the doubt. Not so beautiful people don't get the same benefit of the doubt. That's human nature.
8) On Stallings. I too wanted Sean Miller. I too wanted "the next thing". But then we hired Stallings. And after a night to sit on this, I realized. Boeheim is 71. K is 69. Jim Larranage is 66. Roy is 65. Pitino is 63. Brey 59. Bennett a mere "pup" at 46. The ACC is NO COUNTRY FOR YOUNG MEN! Jay Wright is 54. Lon Kruger is 63. Tom Izzo is 61. Bob Huggins is 62. John Calipari is 57. Dana Altman is 57. Bill Self is 53. My point here, Stallings is far from over the hill. He is right at the age where the top coaches at top schools are. His hiring here is not that different than Kruger's at OU, Altman's at Oregon and Larranega at Miami. All met with shrugs and disappointment by the fan bases. All have done a great job. After realizing this and researching this, it made me feel better about the hire.
9) You can parse KenPom stats and such, but when talking about styles of play, Stallings expounded on letting players sometimes play, and not looking with one eye over the shoulder towards the bench if he made a mistake. Of which when that happened it was told to me at the PC, Sheldon Jeter nodded in agreement and approval. I am not saying this was a shot at Jamie, at least intentionally, I am saying this is something that could have come up when he met with the team before the PC.
10) Why can we accept how hard it is to recruit to Vanderbilt in football vs basketball? If anything, basketball is harder, just because the SEC is not the same in football rep wise. Let's give Stallings a chance to recruit.
11) And I will leave you all with this, when Ben Howland left, we all panicked. I think we also were concerned that this was not "the hot job" we thought it was, despite the new arena, the back to back Sweet 16's and essentially the entire roster returning. When we hired Jamie, people were pissed. Some people said it was the worst, the hiring process "a sham". Some fans, to the day Dixon left, held it against him, and waited to pounce on his every loss. On this board, it created a divide. The "JIGer" vs the "Jamie Haters", where people almost couldn't see gray, just black and white. When we would lose or Jamie miss on a recruit, the haters pounce, the JIGers defend. Always defend. Sometimes the defense was over the top. To the point of (my favorite) "well this isn't that important in life and you have no control so why do you get so upset". (let's remember this). And the critics were merciless even during games jumping all over Jamie, in games that Pitt actually ending up winning. He could never do enough for some.
I am concerned a similar and complete divide again, only flipped with the groups. To those JIGers who now want to bail, I would like to remind you all of your calm, sage advice of "entertainment", etc..and consider how you are acting. To those who thought Jamie could not do right, well I hope those failures of 22 wins and early exits in the NCAA aren't distant memories...meaning high points.
One final deep breath:
I don't care if some hack writers panned this hire. Some great BB coaches and ex players have lauded this hire. But for all Stallings so called attributes, his offensive mind, his coaching ability, his ability to identify talent, yeah....the question is, "why wasn't he more successful?" I don't know. We shall see. Stallings has less restraints here, but better competition. That being said, as the lady said in church "give coach a chance!"
1) The Press Conference was a travesty. Some of you wanted blood. You got it at the very start. Why? Why do you want to make Barnes, Stallings and therefore Pitt itself look bad? I guess this sated some anger, but why? Why? Cause we didn't hire Sean Miller? Or we didn't hire some young stud, Greg Marshall, etc....or was it the realization that this job isn't as good as we all thought it would be? And yesterday's press conference showed another reason why it isn't as good of a job as some would think.
2) So much of the angst and anger has gone on to this "search committee" and whether or not Barnes' relationship with Tom Turner (head of the search agency) had anything to do with the Stallings hire. Of course it did. But demanding that Barnes "come clean", what the hell, I expected Senator McCarthy to pop in and start screaming ARE YOU A COMMUNIST? Again, so over the top. That is how business is conducted for the most part. Relationships are developed, as are networks, and when it comes to these types of decisions, they are counted on. It ain't rare and it ain't rocket science.
3) I thought Barnes could have done a whole lot better job in answering some questions. For example, the one concerning Stallings capabilities where he said "he is above the noise" and that fans can either get on board or are off base, was horrible. Answering it in some form of 'we completely respect what Coach Dixon accomplished here, and Kevin will have big shoes to fill. We wouldn't have hired him if we felt he couldn't do the job. I am sure the fans will be quite happy with him once we start playing games." There. That is taking that question and answering it with a non antagonistic way. But in Barnes defense, I am sure he expected some heat, but what was scheduled as a PC/Pep Rally/Welcome to Pitt turned immediately into the McCarthy hearings.
4) One other thing, some of you were happy that the media were "tough". That is laughable. Because come sometime this fall, if Pat Narduzzi would lose to PSU or we start losing recruits and Ron Cook writes even a semi critical article, you will all want to tar and feather him.
5) And one more final thing on this whole Press Conference. I sure hope the same media, the same "COME CLEAN" or Rossi grilling happens with the Steelers or Pirates or Penguins, where most of the media members are cheerleaders and softball question after question to them. The media loves to flex its journalistic chops on Pitt sports, not so much on the pro teams. And I go one step further, where was the same anger and demanding to "COME CLEAN" when the Sandusky scandal broke at PSU. Most of the local media preferred to stay away from that completely. Amazing, the covering up a serial child rapist does not evoke the same vitriol that an AD using a search firm headed by his friend for this group of media.
6) I felt bad for Stallings, his family and Sheldon Jeter and family. The question had to be asked, but that put a lot of people in uncomfortable positions. To Stallings credit, while maybe not fully answering, he admitted what he did was wrong. Other than starting off rough (no doubt because the early attacks) he acquitted himself quite well, and you can see some of his personality.
7) I hate to say this, but if Kevin Stallings resembled more George Clooney (Jay Wright) than Kevin from the Office, would there be as much angst and disappointment? Beautiful people get the benefit of the doubt. Not so beautiful people don't get the same benefit of the doubt. That's human nature.
8) On Stallings. I too wanted Sean Miller. I too wanted "the next thing". But then we hired Stallings. And after a night to sit on this, I realized. Boeheim is 71. K is 69. Jim Larranage is 66. Roy is 65. Pitino is 63. Brey 59. Bennett a mere "pup" at 46. The ACC is NO COUNTRY FOR YOUNG MEN! Jay Wright is 54. Lon Kruger is 63. Tom Izzo is 61. Bob Huggins is 62. John Calipari is 57. Dana Altman is 57. Bill Self is 53. My point here, Stallings is far from over the hill. He is right at the age where the top coaches at top schools are. His hiring here is not that different than Kruger's at OU, Altman's at Oregon and Larranega at Miami. All met with shrugs and disappointment by the fan bases. All have done a great job. After realizing this and researching this, it made me feel better about the hire.
9) You can parse KenPom stats and such, but when talking about styles of play, Stallings expounded on letting players sometimes play, and not looking with one eye over the shoulder towards the bench if he made a mistake. Of which when that happened it was told to me at the PC, Sheldon Jeter nodded in agreement and approval. I am not saying this was a shot at Jamie, at least intentionally, I am saying this is something that could have come up when he met with the team before the PC.
10) Why can we accept how hard it is to recruit to Vanderbilt in football vs basketball? If anything, basketball is harder, just because the SEC is not the same in football rep wise. Let's give Stallings a chance to recruit.
11) And I will leave you all with this, when Ben Howland left, we all panicked. I think we also were concerned that this was not "the hot job" we thought it was, despite the new arena, the back to back Sweet 16's and essentially the entire roster returning. When we hired Jamie, people were pissed. Some people said it was the worst, the hiring process "a sham". Some fans, to the day Dixon left, held it against him, and waited to pounce on his every loss. On this board, it created a divide. The "JIGer" vs the "Jamie Haters", where people almost couldn't see gray, just black and white. When we would lose or Jamie miss on a recruit, the haters pounce, the JIGers defend. Always defend. Sometimes the defense was over the top. To the point of (my favorite) "well this isn't that important in life and you have no control so why do you get so upset". (let's remember this). And the critics were merciless even during games jumping all over Jamie, in games that Pitt actually ending up winning. He could never do enough for some.
I am concerned a similar and complete divide again, only flipped with the groups. To those JIGers who now want to bail, I would like to remind you all of your calm, sage advice of "entertainment", etc..and consider how you are acting. To those who thought Jamie could not do right, well I hope those failures of 22 wins and early exits in the NCAA aren't distant memories...meaning high points.
One final deep breath:
I don't care if some hack writers panned this hire. Some great BB coaches and ex players have lauded this hire. But for all Stallings so called attributes, his offensive mind, his coaching ability, his ability to identify talent, yeah....the question is, "why wasn't he more successful?" I don't know. We shall see. Stallings has less restraints here, but better competition. That being said, as the lady said in church "give coach a chance!"
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