Stallings: The heat is gone from the Pete

… sad part for Pitt is that Stallings is not going away soon 

At one time in the not so distant past, students at Pitt could not wait for a men's basketball game at the Petersen Events Center. They yearned to be on ESPN and compare themselves to the Cameron Crazies at Duke as they cheered on their Panthers.

No longer.

Today, as the Panthers prepare to face Clemson, the team that is mired in last place in the ACC at 1-6, and is tied with Pitt, Panther Coach Kevin Stallings has his problems.

In fact, just a few days ago, the Panthers lost an ACC game to nationally-ranked Louisville by the largest margin in more than a century of Pitt basketball [106-51]. It was the worst loss ever for the Panthers at the Pete, after just establishing that record against Miami a week earlier [72-46].

What made the 55-point loss even worse was that the Panthers lost to Louisville by just five points earlier in January.

Publicly lambasted his players

However, the loss on Jan. 24 came just after Stallings had ripped his team for a lack of leadership. He admitted that the current players have never accepted him and his staff, and doing that in January is a terrible omen.

“Right now, my assessment is the only thing it feels like they’ve bought into 100 percent is freedom on offense,” Stallings said, according to the Post-Gazette. “Well, anybody could buy into that. That’s not a hard thing to buy into. That’s just human nature. Of course I would like to have freedom on offense. I haven’t gotten them to buy into the way we have to play defensively. I haven’t gotten them to buy into the way we need to communicate, the way we need to support each other, the way we have to fight when adversity hits. I haven’t been able to get them to do a number of other things yet the way they have to be done with what we have, with the makeup of our team in this league. That part has been a little frustrating.”

Those four seniors are Jamel Artis, Michael Young, Sheldon Jeter and Chris Jones, who are four of the top five scorers on the team. In fact, Artis leads the ACC in scoring with 21.32 points and Young is second with 20.65.

However, that first comment was not enough for Stallings. He went on, ripping his seniors even more. “I think what I probably overestimated would be the value of that experience and how it would pertain to leadership and how it would pertain to bringing other guys along. The successful programs I’ve been in and the teams I’ve had and the programs I’ve had, the older guys helped coach the younger guys because they had been through it. That doesn’t happen too much [here] right now.

“The idea in any program is the older guys — especially if they’re the better ones, which they are in our program right now — reach out to their teammates and help bring those guys along and help make those guys better. That part has been a little bit of a disappointment because there’s not a ton of that that goes on. You talk to guys about being more outward and making guys better. That’s just not in their nature. It’s not how they’ve been used to doing things, apparently.”

Imagine how humiliating that was for the Pitt players when they read it in a newspaper. It may be entirely true, but that is the kind of thing you say to your team in the locker room, not to reporters.

Stallings inherited this team from Jamie Dixon when he was supposedly pushed out last year by AD Scott Barnes, opting to go back to his alma mater, TCU. Included on the team are four seniors who played their entire careers for Dixon, so Stallings had to realize that he would have to some charm and motivation to have them buy into what he was planning to do at Pitt.

Instead, he throws them to the dogs and does not look in the mirror to see who the culprit is. If a coach has the top two scorers in the ACC and is still in last place, that coach should assess himself and his staff.

I am not exonerating the players. It is a two-way street, and they have obviously thumbed their noses at Stallings the past few weeks. They opened January with a huge win over nationally-ranked Virginia, but then have tanked.

The players could have wanted former Dixon assistant Brandin Knight to get the job, which could have exacerbated the situation.

Stallings exceeds horrible expectations

Many Pitt fans expected the worst when Stallings was hired. Former AD Barnes promised a nationwide search for a coach, but instead settled on a buddy of his who had some great players at Vanderbilt but who underachieved for him there, too.

Not a people person

Remember too that Stallings had to apologize to a Vanderbilt player two years ago for threatening to kill him -- for actions in a handshake line after the game. He apologized and rationalized his action, "I did not mean it in the literal sense and I've never touched a player in all my years as a coach. That's not me. I will learn from this and handle this situation differently in the future."

He was carrying some baggage with him when Barnes -- and Pitt -- hired him.

Barnes had some good choices from mid-majors when he made that decision, but now has bolted Pitt and left everyone holding their heads in disgust.

Stallings did not publicly apologize to his players for his comments before the Louisville game. Their reaction showed that the animus is mutual, which is sad.

Unfortunately, Stallings has a long-term contract with the Panthers, and many of those who wanted Jamie Dixon out of town are probably rethinking their animus.

One commenter on a board said that this season has been like a return to the Ralph Willard era. It could be worse than that after five years of this.