The news came about an hour ago that was unsurprising and inevitable. Kevin Stallings has been fired as Head Men's Basketball Coach at Pitt. After a season in which Pitt went 0-19 in conference play this move was, as I said, inevitable. Pitt probably had no other practical choice. It brings to a close a two year coaching tenure that was, to me, almost unprecedented in my sixty years (yes, sixty, as in 60, as in Six Zero; I'm old) of following sports in Pittsburgh.
The Panthers Hoops fan base never accepted Stallings as their coach. There were calls for his head almost from Day One and certainly before he ever coached a game at Pitt. Yeah, I get it that the Athletic Director Scott Barnes probably botched the entire hiring process, and he was soon gone to greener pastures, and the people then took there wrath out on Stallings, whose biggest crime at the time of his hiring was that he wasn't Sean Miller, Archie Miller, or a resurrected John Wooden. Over the years, even such Pittsburgh coaching failures as Bill Austin, John Russell, and any number of Pitt football coaches had honeymoons with the public. Stallings never did.
Whenever a coach gets fired, I always recall one of Myron Cope's personal rules over the years when he conducted his talk show. Whenever a caller would ask "Do you think the Pirates/Steelers/Penguins/Pitt ought to fire (insert coach's name here)?", Myron would always respond with words to the effect "I don't fire coaches on my show. I've come to learn that these are guys with families and bills to pay just like me. If you want to call and say so-and-so should be fired, I won't stop you, but I'm not going to be the guy to make such demands." It was kinder, gentler time in the sports talk radio biz then.
Like I said, Pitt had probably had no other choice, and coaching on this level is a cruel business, and no one knows that better than Stallings himself, but I am also guessing that people who take such glee in demanding that someone be fired, and who rejoice when someone does lose his job, as Stallings did today, are people who never in their lives had the misfortune to be told by their employer that their services were no longer needed. It is a devastating thing to have happen to you. Trust me on that.
(As an aside, I also feel bad for Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings, Kevin's son. Jacob has had a couple of call ups in the past two seasons, and will probably have others in seasons ahead. I can picture him being called up again, being announced into a game at PNC Park and getting showered with boos from any Pitt fans who might be in attendance that night. How fair will that be?)
So now another coaching search begins, and I can't wait to hear the speculation that will ensue among the Panthers fans. Hey, Rick Pittino is available. Pat Gallagher and Heather Lyke should go after him, whaddaya think?
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