Looking ahead: Stalling inherits veteran roster at Pitt

10:17 AM ET

In March and April, athletic directors with coaching vacancies employ the oft-used idiom “splash hire” ad nauseam. What does it even mean?

Well, it connotes the image of a new leader entering the fray on a chariot as a shrill cry emitted by the program’s supporters ricochets around the country.

Hail, Coach! Hail, Coach! Hail, Coach!

That’s the idea. But often, the splash never comes. No ripples. Not even waves. Just a question: Why is it raining now?

Kevin Stallings joined Pitt basketball in late March following the departure of longtime coach Jamie Dixon. It didn’t make sense then. It doesn’t make any sense now.

Those who touted Stallings’ merits as a head coach can’t dismiss his record. In 17 seasons with Vandy, he reached the second weekend of the NCAA tournament twice, results that failed to notarize his eight top-three finishes in a top-heavy SEC. He entered the 2015-16 season with four pro prospects — Luke Kornet, Matthew Fisher-Davis, Damian Jones and Wade Baldwin IV — but lost to Wichita State in the First Four. A team that talented, even dealing with a series of injuries, shouldn’t stumble into the field of 68. In 2011-12, a stacked, 25-win Vanderbilt team with three players who were picked in the first 32 slots of the subsequent NBA draft lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Hiring Kevin Stallings after longtime coach Jamie Dixon left the Panthers didn’t make sense for Pitt when it happened, and it doesn’t make any sense now. AP Photo/Keith …

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