Well, so much for an impromptu vacation.
You know it’s bad news when a press release is e-mailed out at 5:30 on a Saturday morning:
Redshirt sophomore Cameron Johnson will graduate and transfer following the spring semester school officials announced Saturday morning. The Moon Township, Pa., native will earn his degree in three years at Pitt and have two season of eligibility remaining after receiving a medical redshirt for the 2014-15 season
Johnson averaged 11.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game a year ago as the Panthers finished 16-17 overall and 4-14 in ACC play. A two-time All-ACC Academic Team and a 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, Johnson finished fifth in the ACC in three-point percentage (.415) and eighth in three-point field goals (2.36 3pg.).
Pitt currently has a seven-player recruiting class featuring highly-touted junior college prospects Jared Wilson-Frame and Troy Simons and high school standouts Aaron Thompson, Marcus Carr, Terrell Brown, Peace Ilegomah and Shamiel Stevenson. The Panthers have additional scholarships available and will look to reshape the 2017-18 roster with graduate transfers, traditional transfers and late signees. Johnson will become the fourth player to transfer out of the program since the close of the 2016-17 season.
Man, I hadn’t even gotten the coffee made when I saw this. Probably a good thing, when you don’t want to do a spit-take on your phone.
Every other transfer, departure, whatever had made sense insofar as a lack of development and the kid simply not being very good at the ACC level. Couple that with the fact that transfers in college basketball are much more commonplace at every program these days. But losing Cam Johnson. That’s bad.
To lose a local kid. A kid who is the son of a Pitt player. The only remaining starter from last year’s team and the best player left. That’s BC-basketball bad.
Cam Johnson seemed to be a player that actually would benefit under Coach Kevin Stallings system. He had a greenlight to shoot. In the second half of the season, really began to show signs of developing the rest of his game. Getting inside more for rebounds and going to the basket. Better effort on defense.
I don’t know what to say here. There will be more later, but this is very abrupt. There are no departing quotes from Johnson. No polite goodbyes from Coach Kevin Stallings. Just that he is leaving, and an ending graph begging for players.
I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it. There was and is no way Stallings would be fired (or in some fantasies, he would voluntarily quit) after one year. No matter how big the drop-off of a program or turmoil; there is not one example out there of a high-major program firing a coach after only one year without some sort of scandal. The school would be hard-pressed to find a good coach — even a retread — willing to take the job when the leash is that short.
Having said that, I am starting to feel the need to walk back my assumption that he will get to at least three years. Stallings in barely a year, has overseen a complete deconstruction of the roster. Next year the team will have (at best) only 3 scholarship players from last year, freshmen, JUCOs, and likely graduate transfers. That’s not a recipe for anything but the cellar of the ACC.
I’m sure there is a need to vent. Try not to cross into personal, libelous stuff that will get you banned.
UPDATE (9:47): Here’s a Trib piece with a quote from Cam Johnson’s dad, Gil:
Johnson, a redshirt sophomore guard, met with Pitt coach Kevin Stallings for three hours Friday and declared his intention to transfer.
“He had no issues with coach Stallings at all,” said Gil Johnson, Cam’s father and a former Pitt player. “They had a plan for him. It was going to be centered around him. But there’s too much uncertainty there. He wants to win, and you’re going to have 8-10 new bodies.”
Graduate transfer with 2 years of eligibility.
What about the ballboys and managers?
See, all is not lost.
How low can we go!
Cancers need to be surgically removed ASAP. Let’s get on with it.
Don’t blame Cam. No one wants to play for an abusive coach who throws his players under the bus at every turn.
PG even wrote an article on how Pitt will have to use football players to fill out the team.
Welcome to Pitt Heather. Do something now!!
In other news, Dixon had a lot of success with other people’s programs (OPP) in the past. On his own, with his recruits, it was a little dicier. Howland has a really nice class coming in next year at MS State. I suspect Dixon will fare better in the D12 than the ACC, but I’m not convinced he will thrive. What impressed me was his ability to motivate the kids he got and get them to buy in. They played with heart and passion, and that’s a lot, but it’s still the NIT. He was leaving anyway – it was always just a matter of time – the ACC move accelerated it. I’m happy for the guy; he’s in a better situation. It will take a long time before he builds TCu into a real contender and then underachieves when he gets there. REalistically, if we’re going to measure coaches by what they’ve done in the past, that’s who Dixon is. He’s a great ambassador to the game, but beyond that he’s a very good – not great – coach.
Speaking of underachieving at the higher levels, there is more than a little growing consternation regarding Millers performance in the NCAA tournament out in AZ. He wins conferences championships but seems to have an Elite 8 ceiling just like Pitt’s last guy. I still don’t believe he will ever leave AZ of his own accord, but it may not be his decision Lute brought them two Final Fours, a runner-up, and one title. That took 25 years. Will AZ get impatient? Hard to say. Both have brought a lot of mid-20 win seasons or better. Is that good enough? I suspect the answer for a lot of Pitt fans NOW would be a resounding “YES” – but that clearly was not the case in recent past. If… IF Pitt finds that guy… perhaps expectations should be… “adjusted”.
I didn’t like the KS hire however he deserves a chance to fix this mes. Also, JD is part owner of this as is Barnes. Well
documented that JD’s recruiting the last two years of his
regime were marginal including huge misses on players
like Damon Wilson. KS makes big bucks time to find players.
Also, Coaches will be breaking down Cam’s door given
his size, three point shooting, and his growing ability to
take the ball to the hoop.
Congrats Cam Johnson, you’ve done well for yourself and were an exemplary student-athelete for Pitt.
The clock has to be ticking for Stallings now. He has a brand new roster of kids to implement his game strategy. I can’t imagine he gets more than the this coming year to show something or get the ax.
Well, we are truly a football school and the stench that will waft over The Pete will take many years to clear.
Entirely brand new roster next year
I wish pitt basketball could still be a big east members, it was a death sentence to join the ACC
But, football rules the finances
I’ve been very opinionated with how KS has been handled by pitt fans, no-one liked the hire!!
I was more irritated with how the fans dumped on him
After the past year and now the off-season, it is clear that pitt basketball is a giant dumpster of a fire
How can it be fixed?, I have no idea
I just want pitt basketball to be good again
Complete demolition of a once proud program.
I hope Herman begins a slow rot from the inside out
The sad thing is he is just coming into his own, and somebody else is going to get a very good player.
Sad. Comical. But so very sad…
I checked.
I really like the Keith Dambrot hire. I’d take him over the jackass we have in a second. He’s got his work cut out for him for sure. Who woulda thunk it would be better to be a Dukes fan than a Pitt fan. At least he won the press conference. Stallings lost that and the losses kept coming…
One concern with this incoming class is that they don’t appear to be bonding off the court. Interviews on PGHNow indicate they are not communicating much leading into the summer. A Dixon hallmark was family. This is going to a mishmash of junior college kids and freshman with zero ties to Pitt. No senior leadership or any level of leadership with ACC experience.
I just don’t see how this works.
Those blaming Dixon are comical. Who knows what this incoming class looks like with a better assistant and recruiting budget? Damon Wilson, Mannigault and Kithcart are also just the type of kids that go from deer in the headlights to major contributors later in their careers. No way we can predict they would have flamed out the way they did.
Stalling inherited a veteran team. He chose to keep the incoming class and did not pursue a PG in the off season. He’s the one who chose to go public with his dissatisfaction of players. He’s the one that players and assistants are defecting from.
I don’t think firing him now would do irreparable harm to Pitt. Firing Dixon was worse. With the way the season went down, the controversy that was created and a new AD in town a lot could be written off to circumstance. I do think it narrows Pitt’s pool of candidates. Pitt probably would. It have the luxury of an established coach and may have to settle for a riskier move of going after a hot assistant …they couldn’t be worse than Stallings though.
Your always quick to point out when pitt baseball loses
They just took 2 of 3 from duke and are 6-6 in ACC, that’s not to bad??
H2P!!!
Pastner didn’t exactly accomplish a miracle at GT. Gregory took them to the NIT last year and they returned much of that group. The significant addition being Okogie who was recruited by Pastner. The fact that GT was predicted to not win any ACC games in the preseason is probably more reflective on perception of Pastner’s record at Memphis. It’s also ridiculous to place any value on preseason expectations.
So look forward to Stallings first class that contains no consensus 4 stars or better, no demonstrable shooters, and no post men. The next two years should be awesome.
My prediction is that after another season of regularly losing badly in front of even smaller crowds, including a half-filled zoo, that Stallings will be done. Lyke could always reasonably claim that Stallings had had two years to prove himself, failed miserably, and that her predecessor had made a serious blunder. Who would deny that?
Gallagher himself can not afford this negative PR.
Boy, was I wrong about Barnes.
Well now that’s all out the window. Too bad this isn’t the NBA and he could tank to get a high lottery pick…..
