Just my opinion:
I think the stated budget of 3 + 1 was in the ballpark of what Pitt needed to pay to bring in a good coach who fans would at least be partially excited about. But, I really believe that the announcement that all players were seeking a transfer made this job become a lot less attractive at that price and most decent coaches were demanding premiums that Pitt never planned for.
When the transfer requests were announced, I posted on the free board that those players leaving makes this job a much tougher sell. Pretty much everyone disagreed with me saying things like "they went 0-19, they aren't ACC players anyway." What people still fail to realize is that 3-4 of those freshmen are definitely ACC quality players but were too young and inexperienced to win games. They were freshmen and the exact type of players Pitt used to get who would RS or sit a couple years before making major contributions.
Carr, Stewart, Stevenson, Brown, Luther, JWF, and Ellison are ACC players. If they stayed, a prospective coach may think that's not a bad nucleus. Maybe pick up some grad transfers and make a run at the NIT which would have been a smashing success. Im not saying that would have happened but witb some improvement from those guys and a couple new pieces, next year's team may not have been that bad.
As it stands, with everyone assumed to be leaving, we are trying to sell coaches on taking over an 0-19 team with no players currently on the roster (for all intents and purposes) and 0 recruits. I have said this before but its the worst situation in P6 college basketball history. A new coach may think he can persuade a few guys to stay but that's a big risk to take. Any new coach doesn't want to go 0-19. Nate Oats said something like quality of life plays into because he likes to win games and they are going to win a ton of games at Buffalo next year. Coaches do not like to lose and its a big ask for them to sign up for 0-19, very few fans, and heck, potentially even 0-19 in Year 2 when you consider that recruiting is pretty much done for this year and its very possible that the 19-20 team will rely heavily on true freshmen and grad transfers and its difficult to win a single game in the ACC with that make-up.
So where we stand is that no coach who will be universally accepted is going to take the job for $3 million. Literally no one. If we went up to $3.5 million, maybe you can get Oats or Musselman but that's not a guarantee. My guess was the $3 million was for Hurley or a sitting P6 coach. If we go the mid-major route, we were probably willing to pay $2 million to $2.5 million. A less inspiring choice like John Becker would jump at that but not Nate Oats.
Honestly, if someone would have told Heather that all players would request a transfer and that would have caused coaches to demand a large premium, I think she would have kept Stallings. Stallings + those players would have given us the best chance to win over the next 2 years but she did what she and all the fans thought was best and made the move and we have to live with the consequences. This isnt all her fault. The job is too difficult right now and coaches are asking too much. At this point, I'd be thrilled to get an intriguing lottery ticket like Jon Scheyer. There would be hope at least. Besides him or say Capel, I cant see us doing any better for the money we are willing to pay.
I think the stated budget of 3 + 1 was in the ballpark of what Pitt needed to pay to bring in a good coach who fans would at least be partially excited about. But, I really believe that the announcement that all players were seeking a transfer made this job become a lot less attractive at that price and most decent coaches were demanding premiums that Pitt never planned for.
When the transfer requests were announced, I posted on the free board that those players leaving makes this job a much tougher sell. Pretty much everyone disagreed with me saying things like "they went 0-19, they aren't ACC players anyway." What people still fail to realize is that 3-4 of those freshmen are definitely ACC quality players but were too young and inexperienced to win games. They were freshmen and the exact type of players Pitt used to get who would RS or sit a couple years before making major contributions.
Carr, Stewart, Stevenson, Brown, Luther, JWF, and Ellison are ACC players. If they stayed, a prospective coach may think that's not a bad nucleus. Maybe pick up some grad transfers and make a run at the NIT which would have been a smashing success. Im not saying that would have happened but witb some improvement from those guys and a couple new pieces, next year's team may not have been that bad.
As it stands, with everyone assumed to be leaving, we are trying to sell coaches on taking over an 0-19 team with no players currently on the roster (for all intents and purposes) and 0 recruits. I have said this before but its the worst situation in P6 college basketball history. A new coach may think he can persuade a few guys to stay but that's a big risk to take. Any new coach doesn't want to go 0-19. Nate Oats said something like quality of life plays into because he likes to win games and they are going to win a ton of games at Buffalo next year. Coaches do not like to lose and its a big ask for them to sign up for 0-19, very few fans, and heck, potentially even 0-19 in Year 2 when you consider that recruiting is pretty much done for this year and its very possible that the 19-20 team will rely heavily on true freshmen and grad transfers and its difficult to win a single game in the ACC with that make-up.
So where we stand is that no coach who will be universally accepted is going to take the job for $3 million. Literally no one. If we went up to $3.5 million, maybe you can get Oats or Musselman but that's not a guarantee. My guess was the $3 million was for Hurley or a sitting P6 coach. If we go the mid-major route, we were probably willing to pay $2 million to $2.5 million. A less inspiring choice like John Becker would jump at that but not Nate Oats.
Honestly, if someone would have told Heather that all players would request a transfer and that would have caused coaches to demand a large premium, I think she would have kept Stallings. Stallings + those players would have given us the best chance to win over the next 2 years but she did what she and all the fans thought was best and made the move and we have to live with the consequences. This isnt all her fault. The job is too difficult right now and coaches are asking too much. At this point, I'd be thrilled to get an intriguing lottery ticket like Jon Scheyer. There would be hope at least. Besides him or say Capel, I cant see us doing any better for the money we are willing to pay.
