NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Thousands of men’s college basketball coaches have been hired since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in the 1984-85 season, which marked perfection for that event and made participation in it the baseline indicator of coaching competence.
Of the coaches who started tenures in that season or later in power conferences, just 26 of them saw a sixth season after five seasons with no NCAA bid. That’s 26 out of hundreds of hires. I don’t think Vanderbilt’s Jerry Stackhouse should be the 27th.
History aside — and there’s no question, Stackhouse’s five seasons at Vandy have been unlike any other stretch for coaches in college athletics — he has not demonstrated an ability to build teams that can win consistently at this level. That’s why his record stands at 70-92, 28-60 in the SEC after Wednesday’s 90-85 overtime loss to Arkansas at Bridgestone Arena. His fifth season ended up his worst, 9-23, which is the same record predecessor Bryce Drew had in his third season of 2018-19 — the season that got Drew fired.
So now we wait on Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Lee, who did not hire Stackhouse. Her predecessor, Malcolm Turner, did after making the somewhat surprising move of canning Drew just three months into the job as AD.
Drew got Vanderbilt to the NCAA Tournament in his debut season of 2016-17 and recruited at a much higher level than Stackhouse, but the Commodores’ 0-18 showing in the SEC did him in, and that was fair. That team, having lost star point guard Darius Garland to a knee injury, was lifeless by midseason despite having several other future NBA players. Drew could not reach it.
Jerry Stackhouse on his job: “It’s been a long season, not the season we hoped for. … We understand it’s a results business and the results haven’t been there. There’s some context behind that but at the end of the day I understand that.”
— Joe Rexrode (@joerexrode) March 14, 2024
This is not that. To Stackhouse’s credit, this team kept playing all the way through — tip the cap to the relentless Ezra Manjon, who had 29 points including an overtime-forcing shot Wednesday in his final Vandy game, and whose excellence deserved more this season. The Commodores scored upsets of Florida, Texas A&M and at Arkansas in the past month.
There’s plenty to Stackhouse’s credit. Yes, he can coach the game at a high level. Yes, he can develop players. No, the fact that @CrustyOldDore398752 saw him at the golf course when he should have been grinding on film from the previous night’s loss doesn’t mean anything. All humans should be allowed some free time.
On that point, though, unrest among Vanderbilt men’s basketball fans is palpable. There are always loud, angry voices in college sports, but the worst crowds I’ve ever seen at Memorial Gym, particularly in the student section, say something. I can’t find a reasonable Vanderbilt fan, other than insiders who support the program financially, who wants him back.
That’s a massive change from a year ago when Stackhouse won co-SEC Coach of the Year, 22 games, 11 SEC games, and had a team good enough by the end to do damage in the NCAA Tournament. Problem is, that team had a terrible start to the season. Like all of his teams. Which is his biggest problem other than recruiting.
The negativity that surrounds the program now is difficult to overcome — this kind of reminds me of Butch Jones and Tennessee football as the 2017 season gradually turned into a disaster that cost him his job. Winning can overcome it, and I believe it’s possible as of this writing that Stackhouse will get another year. I know if he does he will be armed with significant funds in the Anchor Impact collective to go shopping for better players in the transfer portal.
But see, a new coach would have the benefit of that money as well. Ideally, a coach who is better at evaluating and landing high school prospects, which remains the lifeblood of this sport.
Tennessee might win a natty because of transfer Dalton Knecht, but that’s a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament with just the guys Rick Barnes brought in to start their careers. That’s how you build a program.
Stackhouse had never done it before this and hadn’t demonstrated the ability to do it well enough. Of the top four players he has coached at Vanderbilt, two came from the portal (big man Liam Robbins and Manjon) and two were recruited by Drew (Scottie Pippen Jr. and Dylan Disu). Yes, Stackhouse officially signed Pippen, but he committed while Drew was still the coach.
Of the 22 other high school players Stackhouse has signed, list the difference-makers. Jordan Wright (now starring at LSU) was a great late add to his first class. Tyrin Lawrence has been a very good player. Other than that, Stackhouse has had some solid players who have been coached up well, and he’s had some bad injury luck.
But that’s not nearly good enough. Vanderbilt’s history tells us it’s possible to recruit NBA-level talent and win.
Vanderbilt’s future, with a gleaming new basketball operations center and that sweet, sweet SEC football money, tells us plenty of good coaches will want the job if it’s open. Speaking of which, of all the goofy things flying around the internet about the Stackhouse situation, the idea that his buyout will make the difference is up there with the goofiest.
Vandy is well into the hundreds of millions on facilities, folks, and the collective has raked in millions. Buying out Stackhouse would not invoke so much as a batted eyelash.
But will Vanderbilt do it? I don’t know. I believe Stackhouse has been coaching for his job late in the season, and there’s still some belief on campus that he could succeed despite the latest results.
Stackhouse said after Wednesday’s game that he hasn’t received any assurances from Lee that he’ll return. He had a lot to say, about how much he loves his job and how he made some mistakes early, about how people haven’t gotten to know the real him. He acknowledged his job was in jeopardy as Lee sat in the back of the room.
“We understand it’s a results business and the results haven’t been there,” he said. “There’s some context behind that, but at the end of the day, I understand that.”
It was a good moment for Stackhouse. He had words of contrition and self-awareness. But the key words were “results business” and at some point — at this point — in this business, they drown out everything else.
Of the 26 power conference coaches who have received a sixth season after five with no NCAA bid, most didn’t justify the extraordinary patience (sorry to bring up the Bill Foster era, Northwestern fans). But a few did, including Kelvin Sampson at Washington State, Ed DeChellis at Penn State and Leonard Hamilton — twice, at Miami and then at Florida State.
Of course, those schools in those eras could be more patient because they didn’t care much about men’s basketball and had no tradition. Vanderbilt has a ton, and an opportunity now to show how much it cares.
(Photo: Nelson Chenault / USA Today)
