I’ve been out for work since about 6 this morning and only got home a short while ago. I know what I missed. Now, I’m here and the decision was made to pop open one of my Dogfish 120s.

AD Heather Lyke’s press release was short and to the point.

University of Pittsburgh Director of Athletics Heather Lyke announced today that Kevin Stallings will no longer be the Panthers’ head men’s basketball coach.

“I want to express my appreciation to Coach Stallings for his commitment to our program,” Lyke said. “In moving forward, we have tremendous expectations for our men’s basketball program at Pitt and I believe we can achieve great things within the Atlantic Coast Conference and nationally. A national search for the next Pitt head coach will begin immediately.”

The relief for Pitt fans is palpable.

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Good news, spring football practices begin on Monday. There’s no pesky post-season tournaments to distract anyone from that for a second straight year. Yay?

Apropos of absolutely nothing, but my undying love for Bill Raftery is this gem of wisdom.

I asked the legendary Bill Raftery today if he’s ever thought about joining Twitter. His outstanding response: “No, and I’ll tell you why — because at 11:30 at night when I’ve had my 10th drink, I’m liable to say something that will cost me my job.”

Words to live by.

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There is more then a sense of inevitability to Kevin Stallings’ fate. Pitt plays at 2pm today at the Barclays Center against Notre Dame, and there is little reason to think things will be different then the previous 18 ACC games.

At some point after the conclusion of that game — be it days or a week — Stallings will be fired. All rumors and tips are that a buyout has been negotiated.

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If you feel like it, I did a podcast Sunday night with Talkin ACC Sports.

For the most part, I kept things coherent. That is until I had to talk about whether Kevin Stallings will be back for a third year as the head coach of Pitt Men’s Basketball.

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Pitt is not a deep-pocketed SEC or B1G program. Can we all agree on that? There is no Michigan Money Cannon to fire. There is no crazed, big-money booster that will cut a check in exchange for more influence like at Auburn. Pitt also does not subsidize the athletic department on the back of the students or from the academic side of the university (Rutger, UConn — how are things going?). Nor is the athletic department about to take out ridiculous loans that put them so deep that they will head to conferences they don’t fit (What’s up, Maryland?).

Pitt is a fiscally conservative athletic department that is only now starting to receive the full share of ACC revenue. This is only year four of being in the ACC, and Pitt did not leap into full cuts in year one. They also had moneys to be paid to the Big East/AAC upon departure. To say nothing of the new outlays required to be a part of the ACC.

If Pitt wants to fire Stallings after two years, and hire someone with any sort of pedigree/upside; Pitt will need to have a lot of boosters coordinating the cash.

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0-ACC looks more likely every game.

Sorry about the lack of open threads. Big family visit this past week into the weekend. Upside is that I didn’t get a chance to watch either game. More then a little bit of an indictment of the state of Pitt basketball when they guy running a blog devoted to Pitt football and basketball had no urge or desire to carve out time to watch two Pitt basketball games. Didn’t DVR it. Not even checking the phone for updates.

Two weeks ago I would have (and even might have) said that Pitt can’t/won’t fire Kevin Stallings after two years.

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We saw it coming, so it isn’t the biggest surprise. With the second half of signing day passing, Renaldo Hill is heading to the NFL.

Hill, who played defensive back for the Dolphins from 2006 to 2008, has joined Miami’s coaching staff in an unspecified capacity.

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He started 38 games during his time in Miami, picking off six passes and recording 152 tackles.

He joins Adam Gase’s revamped coaching staff, which has this offseason had changes at offensive coordinator, the offensive and defensive lines, running back and secondary.

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Been quite a bit of stuff for Pitt football with some coaching changes and the final signing day looming. Not going to get to them all, but I’ll touch on yesterday’s news.

Pitt grabbed a new assistant and a grad transfer from MAC schools yesterday. Both seem like good additions.

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Last week was a surprisingly active week for Pitt football. Players left the program and it’s time to find a new coordinator.

After the early signing period, Pitt was over the 85 scholarship player. That meant transfers were on the way. It was just a matter of who and when.

That day came on Friday.

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I can’t stop thinking about the Tennessee-Schiano stuff. It has been absolutely fascinating in so many ways. Whether seeing the stuff play out like an alternate dimension Pitt-Stallings hire. To the media aspect. To use of a highly questionable narrative to torpedo the hire. So much stuff is there.

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Yesterday was Athletic Director Heather Lyke’s introductory press conference (What? No pep band?). It was organized, direct and lacked a contentiousness that marked a press conference introducing another new athletic department employee a little less then a year ago.

People see what they want to see. I thought Lyke was fine in her unveiling. Not a revelation or makes me ready to endow a weight room or anything. Solid performance (PDF).

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A few days after the P-G put out an article listing the top candidates for Pitt’s next Athletic Director, the news broke fairly late on Sunday evening of the hire.

Heather Lyke, late of Eastern Michigan, is Pitt’s new Athletic Director.

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EDITOR COMMENTARY: I hate that I feel the need to do this, but I’m going to get this out of the way before going any further. If you don’t like the hire, fine. There are legitimate reasons to think that, but be sure to explain them.

If you don’t like the hire because she is a woman, take it elsewhere.  If you don’t like the hire for valid reasons but still feel the need to express displeasure over the hire in a misogynistic or sexist way, I’m not going to waste any time with you. I’m not going to let you pollute the site. Instead, you will just be banned outright. Regardless of how long you have posted comments. Just as the old Diceman routine never held up that well, you’re not that funny. You aren’t railing against an overly sensitive, PC culture for it. You are being an asshole.

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NCAA Tournament has mostly gone according to chalk. Not been a good one for the ACC, as a whole. Down went Louisville, Virginia and Notre Dame. This is what it has felt like in the ACC for the last couple decades. Everyone flaming out and stuck hate-rooting for UNC and/or Duke to carry the banner for the rest of the conference. Sucks.

On the plus side, Villanova reverts back to form by exiting in the first weekend for the second time as a #1 seed in the last three years.

The first four days of the NCAA Tournament has been more interesting for the coaching moves, then any Cinderella stories.

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The only surprise in the firing of Mike Mark Gottfried from NC State was the timing. With only a few weeks left in the season, NC State made Gottfried’s lame duck status official.

The list of names possible for NC State range from the obvious: Archie Miller. To the jump before pushed: Tom Crean. To the absurd: Greg Marshall or Chris Mack. To other alum: Vinny Del Negro. To random natives of North Carolina: Kelvin Sampson.

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It’s stale news, but still worth hitting.

Coming back to work for a third Pitt head coach, Charlie Partridge takes over as Defensive Line Coach.

Charlie Partridge, a renowned Florida recruiter who previously served as a Pitt assistant from 2003-07, will return to the Panthers’ staff as defensive line coach, Pat Narduzzi announced.

Partridge rejoins Pitt after serving the past three seasons as head coach at Florida Atlantic University. Prior to FAU, he was an accomplished assistant at Arkansas and Wisconsin.

“I’ve been a big fan of Charlie’s work for a very long time,” Narduzzi said. “I remember watching his defensive lines at Wisconsin and really admiring how they played. Charlie’s players reflected his high energy and passion. He’s an incredibly bright coach who is an excellent teacher and knows how to develop players.”

The opening sentence of Pitt’s press release sums up the hiring.

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