Kevin Stallings was not long for Pittsburgh. (Keith Srakocic/Associated Press)
Kevin Stallings’s disastrous two-year tenure as the Pittsburgh men’s basketball coach ended with his dismissal Thursday, Craig Meyer of the Post-Gazette is reporting. Stallings went 24-41 as the Panthers’ coach, and Pittsburgh was the only Division I team to go winless in conference play this season (0-18 against ACC opponents).
Stallings reportedly was to meet with Athletic Director Heather Lyke on Thursday morning to discuss the terms of his departure. If he is fired without cause, he would be owed $9.4 million for the remaining four years on his contract.
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There were conflicting reports about that buyout Wednesday. Colin Dunlap, a sports-talk radio host at 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh, reported via unnamed school boosters that Stallings had refused to accept a reduced buyout of $7.5 million. But a source close to Stallings told Dunlap that no such reduced offer had been made. Another host at the same radio station, Andrew Fillipponi, added that things could get “messy” between Stallings and Lyke at the Thursday meeting, with the possibility that the school would try to fire Stallings with cause, absolving them of any buyout.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, the two sides still are working on the details of the buyout.
Stallings was an uncomfortable fit at Pittsburgh from the moment he was hired away from Vanderbilt by former athletic director Scott Barnes, who would leave nine months later to take the same position at Oregon State. During a 106-51 loss to Louisville in his first season, the largest conference defeat by a home team in ACC history, Stallings was ejected after picking up two technical fouls. Then, during an ACC tournament win over Georgia Tech later that season, a microphone picked up Stallings yelling “goddammit, would you [expletive] get in the game” at Panthers forward Ryan Luther as teammate Sheldon Jeter lay injured on the court.
This season, after player departures left Pittsburgh with seven freshmen and nine first-year Division I players, Stallings was overheard getting into it with fans during a January game in Louisville.
“At least we didn’t pay our guys $100,000,” Stallings yelled in audio that was picked up by reporters, a reference to the FBI investigation that alleges Louisville conspired with Adidas to funnel $100,000 to the family of a top recruit, leading to the firing of Coach Rick Pitino and Athletic Director Tom Jurich. “We didn’t pay our guys 100 grand, though.”
Pittsburgh’s fans, many of whom never warmed to Stallings in the first place, began to stay away. Attendance this year at Petersen Events Center, once one of the rowdiest arenas in all of college basketball, has plummeted as the 8-24 Panthers failed to win at least 10 games for the first time since 1976-77.
According to Yahoo’s Pete Thamel, Pittsburgh is expected to target Rhode Island Coach Dan Hurley to replace Stallings in an attempt to reverse the fortunes of a program that once was an NCAA tournament mainstay (13 appearances in 15 seasons under Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon from 2002 to 2016).
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