After 14 years of the Stallings era, here we are. Many love Stallings and believe there is no better option. However, the program is lower than when he became head coach. Vanderbilt is at the point that the program has to be rebuilt with or without Stallings. I don't think Stallings can do it at this point in his career. We've got to rebuild anyway so let's bring in a new man who can recruit and excite the fan base. No one expects an SEC championship every year, but this horrible drop is totally unacceptable after 14 years and tells many that Kevin has gotten too comfortable and has lost his passion(i.e., recruiting).

I'm not going to say that I agree or disagree with your post, but I will mention as an unrelated item...

Gregg Marshall's team is 15-1... 4-0 in their conference. (includes win over Shaka Smart)

McDermott's team is 16-1; 5-0 in league. (includes win over Wisconsin...just sayin')

IMHO Williams will do nothing during this year, or after the end of this year, despite some posters wanting a change (Stallings fired).    

This is a rebuilding year.    I see a better record next year, however painful it is.   After next year, maybe he goes.    My guess is the chances of Stallings staying after next year is about 80%.    After that, I think it depends mainly on Stallings.   If he is tired, doesn't need the money, then he says I have had enough.    In that case he would negotiate a buy-out.

Despite the rants on this site, Stallings is back next year, unless he decides to hang it up.

How will next year be much better?

I suspect Williams and Stallings will meet at the end of the season and that one of 2 things will be agreed upon: 1) vast improvement with nearly impossible expectations (heat on the seat) will be set for next year or 2) Stallings after soul searching will decide it is no longer fun to coach and he will resign with a reasonable private buy-out. 14 years and the most total wins at VU is something to be proud of for Stallings, maybe he chooses # 2. I don't think he will be fired this year unless something unimaginable happens.

---------------------------------------------
--- lawofthewest wrote:

IMHO Williams will do nothing during this year, or after the end of this year, despite some posters wanting a change (Stallings fired).    

This is a rebuilding year.    I see a better record next year, however painful it is.   After next year, maybe he goes.    My guess is the chances of Stallings staying after next year is about 80%.    After that, I think it depends mainly on Stallings.   If he is tired, doesn't need the money, then he says I have had enough.    In that case he would negotiate a buy-out.

Despite the rants on this site, Stallings is back next year, unless he decides to hang it up.

---------------------------------------------

What are you sippin on to see a better record next year?

A one man class isn't going to improve our front court that much. We will still be left with the suckage that is Henderson, Moats, and Odom

I would like to see another coach in the near future, but I don't think you boot Stallings at this point. The school has to be good to their coaches and also get a good reputation of loyalty. We have been on a pretty good ride for several years and this season hits us like a ton of bricks. Who knows, maybe we land some really good recruits and things change next year. I'm not expecting it, but maybe it does. One bad year after several good ones shouldn't be enough to can a guy. This year is a very low point in VU basketball. I think if that trend happens very long, you will see Stallings resign anyway.

I agree Cop.  Fans need to look at the big picture of Stallings career and not just this season.  If Stallings is not the coach, it will be something that he and VCW discuss and agree upon.  From what I've heard they have a mutually respectful relationship and Williams wouldn't fire what will be Vandy's all time winningest coach after one horrible season.  I may sound like I'm cheerleading for Stallings but I'm not.  I'm looking at the situation objectively.  Continually harping on his being fired won't get him fired and won't do anything to make this team better.

VandyCop wrote: I would like to see another coach in the near future, but I don't think you boot Stallings at this point. The school has to be good to their coaches and also get a good reputation of loyalty. We have been on a pretty good ride for several years and this season hits us like a ton of bricks. Who knows, maybe we land some really good recruits and things change next year. I'm not expecting it, but maybe it does. One bad year after several good ones shouldn't be enough to can a guy. This year is a very low point in VU basketball. I think if that trend happens very long, you will see Stallings resign anyway.

I agree as well, though this is what passes for "cheerleading" on this board.  I think it's not only the most realistic approach, but also the best long-term approach for the program.  If Stallings cannot turn this around, we will want to lure a coach that wants to succeed at Vandy for life, not someone who worries we will turn on him after his first bad season in several years.  

underdog74 wrote: I agree Cop.  Fans need to look at the big picture of Stallings career and not just this season.  If Stallings is not the coach, it will be something that he and VCW discuss and agree upon.  From what I've heard they have a mutually respectful relationship and Williams wouldn't fire what will be Vandy's all time winningest coach after one horrible season.  I may sound like I'm cheerleading for Stallings but I'm not.  I'm looking at the situation objectively.  Continually harping on his being fired won't get him fired and won't do anything to make this team better.

VandyCop wrote: I would like to see another coach in the near future, but I don't think you boot Stallings at this point. The school has to be good to their coaches and also get a good reputation of loyalty. We have been on a pretty good ride for several years and this season hits us like a ton of bricks. Who knows, maybe we land some really good recruits and things change next year. I'm not expecting it, but maybe it does. One bad year after several good ones shouldn't be enough to can a guy. This year is a very low point in VU basketball. I think if that trend happens very long, you will see Stallings resign anyway.

For what it is worth, I expected exactly what happened yesterday after Thursday night, the hangover from a young team is inevitable. The second part of the question is, Stallings is not going to be fired after one lousy year. I do think it is incumbant to see if this set of players start becoming more cohesive before year end, if not then I think pressure will come for solutions by next season but then it becomes interesting in what Stallings thinks is necessary to improve from where they are and he has always been extremely loyal to his assistants and players. If you look at other teams in similar situation, even with rosters full of five star recruits, Kentucky and North Carolina look pretty mortal this season. At the end of the day, if attendence severely drops off and interest declines and two years in a row will do that, then Vandy will be forced to review the program and make changes whatever they be. I think that is what a man like Stallings would expect and I think David Williams expects no less.

Whether you like it or not, I believe Williams can & will wait another year. Personally, I'm ok with that, but I understand the frustration. It's just that some of us have lived with similar frustration before, & so far, only Fogler (for one transfer-lucky season) & Stallings (for multiple seasons) have proven themselves capable of lifting this program out of that funk.

For what it's worth, I do hope that Williams forces Stallings to make major HELPFUL changes in his assistant coaching staff in order to get that additional year to show major strides forward.

Also, you overestimate the "love" that anyone on this board feels for Stallings. His support, among those of us who still support him, has never run particularly deep in any emotional sense. Even in his best years, we've seen the same flaws that have been obsessed on here (& were also obsessed on in previous years). But we've also seen him address those flaws in past years, when it was demanded of him. It needs to be demanded of him once more, unfortunately.

Fundamentally, no one supports keeping Stallings out of blind emotional loyalty. Nobody. Many of us are looking at things in a cold, hard rational way, & concluding that he remains our best previously-proven alternative right now.

So please don't try to denigrate our decision-making process as some kind of knee-jerk emotional tie; we have at least as much reason to throw the accusation of knee-jerk emotions right back.

vebiltdervan wrote:

1) It's just that some of us have lived with similar frustration before, & so far, only Fogler (for one transfer-lucky season) & Stallings (for multiple seasons) have proven themselves capable of lifting this program out of that funk.

2) For what it's worth, I do hope that Williams forces Stallings to make major HELPFUL changes in his assistant coaching staff in order to get that additional year to show major strides forward.

3)  Also, you overestimate the "love" that anyone on this board feels for Stallings. His support, among those of us who still support him, has never run particularly deep in any emotional sense. Even in his best years, we've seen the same flaws that have been obsessed on here (& were also obsessed on in previous years). But we've also seen him address those flaws in past years, when it was demanded of him. It needs to be demanded of him once more, unfortunately.

1.  Agreed on Fogler.  He feel ***-backward into some good transfer talent and never recruited another player for VU worth a flip.  He had two nobodies recruited to replace Anglin, Elder, etc and thank God they followed him to the 'Cocks. 

2.  Agreed.  Stallings needs an all-star recruiter to help him. 

3.  No love but immense appreciation and deep respect.

Just curious.

I hear about all KS has done for VU, but people seem to forget what we have done for KS and his family with the earnings bump after 60 point losses and not winning more SEC games than losing after 14 years with the margin getting wider this year.  Right now I am afraid KS has a sense of entitlement to the VU Job and his successes in recruting seem to prove this, so I look at overall we have much better players than to be the 334th out of 340 teams in scoring and this 100% is coaching. Sure a couple players cant throw in ocean, but those same guys are getting 30+ minutes and total fan complacency has set in for 99% of fans!! I can throw stats at you all day long proving we are better in 1 place during KS tenure (number of NCAAs - but that has even left a bad taste in last 6 years based on upsets and a blowout to Siena still hurts when we were Senior built team) 

Personally, I thought we had turned the corner with Kevin all told (personality, coaching, achievments, etc... especially after the Georgetown debacle)... I expected we would continue to improve while reaching higher spots in the NCAAT - and then we struggled mightily for a couple years even missing the tourney the year we had the huge class signing of the Lance, Steve, Jeff, Brad, Fes group (and keep in mind last 3 of those were very late spring signees Fes in August year before - this group trusted in Vandy and Coach while his then current assistants recruited them all)...  so, with this spectacular group and yes they were incredible all around, I felt we underachieved during their 4 years and after a underachieving Senior season us then winning the SECT I was finally sure they had things together (also with JJ as a Jr) - and then we get what analys felt was the best possible draw to reach the final four with most picking us in elite 8, still majority picking us as the highest seed reaching Final Four and even some analys said we would sin it all...  the only question during pre-NCAAT start by ESPN guys was KS's coaching ability to achieve these lofty goals based on consecutive losses since we had 3 consecutive Eggs Laid against 13 & 14 seeds - so many brought up the preparedness but also felt our talent level would overcome all!! 

We all know what happened, a 2nd round loss (upset again)...  I think the below stats tell the story:  6 teams score worse than Vandy at this point (still blows my mind we scored 33 twice in same shot clock era year), and to me if you cant score the ball, defense doesnt matter.

POINTS PER GAME        57.6       334th OVERALL

I don't think Stallings will or should be fired in 2013 at this point. However this statement is interesting:

However, the program is lower than when he became head coach. 

It took Stallings 5 years to get to the NCAA tourney.  Yes, I know they "earned" a bid in '00 and didn't get one, but it still took five years to actually get there.

If we've fallen that low again we may have a lot of lean years ahead of us.

I believe the current coach or new coach will need to pull some scholarships (Henderson, Astroth, etc) and get out and recruit to get the shipped turned around quick, if not this is going to last for years!!!!

dore73 wrote: However, the program is lower than when he became head coach. 

Please separate the difference between this year and the program.  We have guys on this team that Vandy wasn't able to recruit 14 years ago.  For all our issues, there is talent.  There is a solid transfer waiting.  We have a top 100 post recruit coming next year.  

This team is in bad shape.  The program is fine.

I respectfully disagree. As you stated, the team is in bad shape. However, the program is also in bad shape if you look at the fact that our talent level is bad as it has ever been after 14 years of the same coach. This program should never have such embarrassing losses as we have experienced this year. Look at what Marist has done since they beat us. 3 baskets in the first half against Arkansas and our lowly total point output  is our worst showing since the three point era began.This is not a one year aberration. It is has been several years of poor evaluation of talent and recruiting. Many supporters of this program saw this day coming and we talked about the upcoming loss of talent while others were caught up in the Jenkins, Taylor, and Ezeli era and harshly criticized us for not enjoying the JJ, JT, and FE moment.

For those that think CKS is all that and a bag of chips, be it right or wrong, college basketball success is judged by what happens in March Madness. Look where we are there. 25 win seasons and one and done in the tourney is not impressive. It is NOT about just getting to the tourney. We have gone in as 4 and 5 seeds and come home after one game in most cases. These young up and coming coaches, you know who they are because of their success in March. Vanderbilt can and should be better than they are in mens basketball. I believe with the right staff, this team should be a top 25 team, year in and year out. I have followed this team for 40 plus seasons and am tired of not being in the upper tier of teams in the country when we have the facilities and support that should get us there.

I wouldn't call what KS has done "rebuilding".  Is the clay there to work with next year?  Is this team poorly coached or genuinely not good.  Has he lost the team?

I don't know the answers, but maybe it doesn't matter.  What's the direction of the program?  Was the SECT last year a one and done like it feels?

Just my opinion, the horridness of this team reflects something long in the works before this season.  That's my problem--this season is symptomatic of rot in the program.  Call it entitlement, call it dictatorship, whatever.

When you score 33 points twice in one season--and the first half of the Arky game?  Anyone seen anything like that, ever?

You didn't build that today.