When does Gallagher man up?

[NCanton Panther]

Do you think Luther actually improves our season?

We lost to navy and Montana with him

Come on, you’re really going to use Navy as an example to question how much Luther may or may not have improved the season. Navy was the 1ST game of the year with a roster of freshman and JC transfers playing their 1st game together against a team of upperclassmen with lengthy experience playing together. Can you really conclude anything from that game??

Almost as bad as your Milligan example to suggest how little freshman playing 20+ mins/game may improve from one year to the next.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Barnes fooled everyone.

Barnes only fooled the "clueless."

If I remember correctly when Stalling was hired not even Pitt fans were fooled!

Most fans Bing'd Stallings and decided quickly this wasn't a solid hire.

If Pitt leadership was fooled by Barnes who wasn't the brightest bulb in the box than Pitt is in trouble.

I always managed by the " trust but verify" principle.

You have to trust your subordinates but you better be sure you know they're on the right track and that they're making good decision since you own the decisions made by your subordinates. I guess Gallagher has finally figured that out!

This was an obvious instance of management malpractise by the Pitt Leadership team. If Gallagher wasn't interested in following this hire he should have designated another direct report to work with Barnes so he Gallagher gets another viewpoint about the Stalling hire not just Barnes view.

This hire was a multi million $ transaction replacing one of the highest paid , one of the most visible employees to the general public, potential applicants, and athletic recruits.

"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go Pitt & CSU Rams!

 

[NTOP]

Rercruits the Jamie lovers may not believe it but is true. When Howland left Calipari wanted the job. NERDY NIXED CALIPARI. Yep thanks Nerdy. He would have had us some Final 4 s some one and dones. Be sure to thank that smack off nerdy when you see him

Cal wanted the job when Evans wasn't renewed. He was killing it at UMASS. He might have been our K or Boeheim. But he was recruiting at a scary level. So the AD who gave us Hackett & JMII brought in Willard.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Come on, you’re really going to use Navy as an example to question how much Luther may or may not have improved the season. Navy was the 1ST game of the year with a roster of freshman and JC transfers playing their 1st game together against a team of upperclassmen with lengthy experience playing together. Can you really conclude anything from that game??

Almost as bad as your Milligan example to suggest how little freshman playing 20+ mins/game may improve from one year to the next.

All teams improve during the season.

We are losing consistency by double digits.

Luther doesn’t create wins out of these games.

We won 4 conference games with an experienced team last season.

That’s the reality.
1 experiences player doesn’t move the needle more than 5

 

[cupkafan]

Cal wanted the job when Evans wasn't renewed. He was killing it at UMASS. He might have been our K or Boeheim. But he was recruiting at a scary level. So the AD who gave us Hackett & JMII brought in Willard.

Could be true but I know for a fact he wanted the job when we took Jamie. Have that from one of the guys in the first row of seats on the floor.

 

[Haydman]

All teams improve during the season.

We are losing consistency by double digits.

Luther doesn’t create wins out of these games.

We won 4 conference games with an experienced team last season.

That’s the reality.
1 experiences player doesn’t move the needle more than 5

Why do people think that only Pitt would get better as the season goes on? And even though i like Luther how in the world do they see him as a 4-5 win guy? That's crazy. They think you can just take his 10-12 pts from the non-conf schedule and just tack it onto every ACC game. Like other teams might not try to stop him.

 

[DiehardPanther]

Could be true but I know for a fact he wanted the job when we took Jamie. Have that from one of the guys in the first row of seats on the floor.

Even if Cal took the job at that point. There is no way we were going to keep him more than a few seasons. Kentucky has too much $$ and too many resources.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Could be true but I know for a fact he wanted the job when we took Jamie. Have that from one of the guys in the first row of seats on the floor.

Oh, you mean the guys that pushed Jamie out??? LOL! Oh yeah, I really would believe them.

 

[HailtoPitt]

I really don't think he had much to do with it. He has a new AD who is respected (at the time) with a basketball background. What is the point of even having an AD if the Chancellor is supposed to personally second guess all his decisions? They hired a search firm, and this was the misguided conclusion they reached. It is simple delegation. I think it was a bigger problem for Gallagher to allow Barnes to pressure Dixon and then let him walk without getting paid in return. That's all on him because I'm sure Barnes couldn't do that unilaterally.

Luckily, Pitt was able to rid itself of Barnes before things got any worse. Lyke will soon do the same with Stallings. If anything, I think the fact that Gallagher totally botched things with Barnes/Dixon/Stallings is precisely the reason that Lyke will get the funding to cut him loose so early. It isn't her fault at all, and her boss was complicit.

He showed poor judgement in allowing the hire to happen. 99 out of 100 Pitt fans knew it was a terrible hire. Vanderbilt fans were thrilled at the hire. Just about everyone else questioned the decision. Why didn't Gallagher?

 

[DiehardPanther]

He showed poor judgement in allowing the hire to happen. 99 out of 100 Pitt fans knew it was a terrible hire. Vanderbilt fans were thrilled at the hire. Just about everyone else questioned the decision. Why didn't Gallagher?

If his mediocre record and the fact that he was going to get fired by Vandy wasn’t enough. He had just threatened to kill one of his players going through the handshake line.

 

[levance2]

He showed poor judgement in allowing the hire to happen. 99 out of 100 Pitt fans knew it was a terrible hire. Vanderbilt fans were thrilled at the hire. Just about everyone else questioned the decision. Why didn't Gallagher?

I’m not absolving him, but you have to trust your delegation of authority. Barnes and the well-paid search firm picked Stallings. It was easily viewed as the wrong choice by many, but why are you paying an AD and a search firm if you’re just going to reject their conclusion?

I mean, worst case scenario, Stallings was a good fit for whatever criteria Gallagher gave Barnes. That’s possible. I just think it’s naïve to try to force accountability up the ladder for every decision anyone ever makes. The chancellor is responsible for holding the AD accountable, not responsible for doing his job for him.

I also refuse to fault anyone for hiring Barnes in the first place. On paper, he looked like a pretty great option for us.

 

[Pitt3Putt]

Come on, you’re really going to use Navy as an example to question how much Luther may or may not have improved the season. Navy was the 1ST game of the year with a roster of freshman and JC transfers playing their 1st game together against a team of upperclassmen with lengthy experience playing together. Can you really conclude anything from that game??

Almost as bad as your Milligan example to suggest how little freshman playing 20+ mins/game may improve from one year to the next.

All teams improve during the season.

We are losing consistency by double digits.

Luther doesn’t create wins out of these games.

We won 4 conference games with an experienced team last season.

That’s the reality.
1 experiences player doesn’t move the needle more than 5

I don’t think the ACC is as good this year as last year.

I think with Luther they beat VT, beat NCST, and beat Cuse once already.

 

[pitt-girl]

I’m not absolving him, but you have to trust your delegation of authority. Barnes and the well-paid search firm picked Stallings. It was easily viewed as the wrong choice by many, but why are you paying an AD and a search firm if you’re just going to reject their conclusion?

I mean, worst case scenario, Stallings was a good fit for whatever criteria Gallagher gave Barnes. That’s possible. I just think it’s naïve to try to force accountability up the ladder for every decision anyone ever makes. The chancellor is responsible for holding the AD accountable, not responsible for doing his job for him.

I also refuse to fault anyone for hiring Barnes in the first place. On paper, he looked like a pretty great option for us.

Spot on, @levance2. I have said repeatedly that Stallings was Barnes first BIG hire. If Gallagher had stepped in and nixed it, he in effect would have been giving him a vote of no confidence, so Barnes would have had to be fired. I don't believe that is a step Gallagher was willing to take at that point.

Going forward though, Gallagher owns this looming decision regarding Stallings as much as AD Lyke. I am hopeful this will play out in a more transparent way.

 

[Drax1975]

Now that's laying it on the line, levance. Great post!! One of the best here and everything is totally true. I was never impressed with Gallagher and he was certainly part of the whole debacle with Barnes/Dixon/Stallings and how that transpired. I hope Lyke takes this as her opportunity to do something positive for Pitt athletics.

Even if we get a coach who can win 3 or 4 league games in his first year, that's light years better than what we have now. And the crowds will cheer loudly if that happens. Can you imagine what it would be like at The Pete (if anyone's there) when Pitt gets their new coach and we actually win a game against an ACC opponent? It is possible.

3 or 4 wins will make fans happy?

 

[pitt-girl]

Barnes only fooled the "clueless."

If I remember correctly when Stalling was hired not even Pitt fans were fooled!

Most fans Bing'd Stallings and decided quickly this wasn't a solid hire.

If Pitt leadership was fooled by Barnes who wasn't the brightest bulb in the box than Pitt is in trouble.

I always managed by the " trust but verify" principle.

You have to trust your subordinates but you better be sure you know they're on the right track and that they're making good decision since you own the decisions made by your subordinates. I guess Gallagher has finally figured that out!

This was an obvious instance of management malpractise by the Pitt Leadership team. If Gallagher wasn't interested in following this hire he should have designated another direct report to work with Barnes so he Gallagher gets another viewpoint about the Stalling hire not just Barnes view.

This hire was a multi million $ transaction replacing one of the highest paid , one of the most visible employees to the general public, potential applicants, and athletic recruits.

"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go Pitt & CSU Rams!

My point was the Barnes hire, not Stallings. The man fooled almost everyone that he was committed to the University and also a basketball insider, having played it and having served as the chair of the NCAAT Selection Committee.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

3 or 4 wins will make fans happy?

Not even close to happy. Maybe hopeful. But it's 3 or 4 more wins than we'll ever get with Stallings. I just had to imagine for a moment what it would feel like to actually get that many wins in conference now when we were used to 10 or more wins in conference not long ago. Just give us 1 win. Just 1 lousy win.

 

[HailtoPitt]

I’m not absolving him, but you have to trust your delegation of authority.

No, you don't. There is a reason people have bosses. Sometimes the boss needs to say "no".

 

[PittMiamiRivalry]

Scott Barnes makes Steve Pederson look like the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

The absolute worst hire in the history of Pitt Sports is Scott Barnes.

Absolutely agree. And Gallagher is worthless and the guy who takes full blame for the Barnes fiasco.