Honestly, I thought it was a really good day for David. Answered the questions pretty well.
I've paraphrased below (some segments will be word-for-word) and here's what was said:
Opening statement
Kevin Stallings spoke to me about three hours before that very, very, early Sunday morning and was going to take it. pitt had reached out to us Thursday to ask permission… to ask us the right way to do this.., we don’t stand in the way of talking… as always Kevin did everything above board and in the open… I want to thank coach Stallings for his 17 years here. He was a great coach. He was a great guy. He ran a wonderfully-clean program … won an SEC championship… we never had problems with his kids… we are indebted for his service to this university.
The search:
We have already begun a new search… we will use Eddie Fogler as a consultant. … We will not use a search firm. … He understands that aspect of Vanderbilt. … I’ve been on the phone with Eddie three times today.
We’ll do a search, we’ll do it in effective time. … Our chancellor will be a part of the search.
I think we’re looking at someone with head coaching experience … We consider Vanderbilt to be a very special place. One of the reasons we’re going to use Eddie is that this is a place where not only do you think about coaching experience, you think about fit. … We’ll keep working through this and we’ll look at people. People will move up and people will move down.
Who’s in the search
I know you’ll ask for names, I’m not giving you any … But then mentioned they had over 100 names.
The expectation:
“To win. … It would be wrong for me to say this is the standard you have to meet. Those things are a byproduct of different things. … what we do is assess and evaluate, we’re not going to sit here and say you have do to A,B,C,D or you’re gone, but our expectation is to win… and to run a clean program.
St. Louis:
“I think St. Louis was a rumor. Coach Stallings heard the rumors and made sure that nobody had contacted him about St. Louis. … But you always have to be ready no matter what. … if you have good coaches, people are going to be interested in them.
Does he always have names?
That’s like asking me do I have a list of names ready if my wife dies.
Trust me, before the week is out, I’m sure some of you will give me names.
On Stallings and 17 years and whether that was too long
I think fans have a right to their opinion
Can improvements be made over Stallings?
I think there are things we want to maintain and things we want to get better at. … Obviously we won 19 games last year and we want to win more.
On Fogler
I certainly hope he’s talking to people
On hiring an African-American coach
Hire the best coach. Green, blue, yellow, black, white, I don’t care. … I’ll hire the best coach I think is possible.
Openings
Georgia Tech is open. Stanford hired their coach. We’ll keep an eye on it.
There are coaches out there that are trying to gauge (interest before they interview other places.)
Formal interviews
When you say a “formal interview” that would suggest there may be informal interviews… what’s an informal interview? … if we get down to formal… you’re probably not looking at five or six.
Decision
We all sit around and kind of come up who is the one.
Money
We’re prepared to do what is necessary.
David Williams's, is he there long term?
(He seemed to be caught off guard by this) I plan to be here. But I’m not going to take another job. A lot of that has to do with people above me.
Is he sad that it’s over for Stallings?
I’m happy for Kevin if that’s what he wanted to do… like I said, I know Kevin ran an extremely clean program and that’s successful program… but at a time, it’s time… some of the fans felt that way. … you always had a sense of sadness… and Kevin and his family were part of our family.
Who’s running the team now?
We still have all of our assistant coaches here. We have our sports administrator… our strength coaches, our academic (people). .. I don’t know if Kevin is thinking of taking any of those coaches.
Wade Baldwin, is he going pro?
Wade was in the meeting a few minutes ago. Wade had a number of questions… he’s enrolled in classes and attending classes.
Melanie Balcomb, will she return?
Melanie is under contract.
(She’s here) until I say otherwise
Interest from others
Quite heavy. I’m sure if I pulled out my phone there would be 3-4 of them. It’s everything from people who are speaking for head coaches to assistant coaches … for the most part you actually have 2 things going on, you have agents and friends and fans who have suggestions. right now you tend not to have (coaches reaching out)… it’s agent.
How many head coaches have reached out
Essentially said he didn’t have a great guess at the moment
Is this a much better job than it was in 1999
Yes.
I've paraphrased below (some segments will be word-for-word) and here's what was said:
Opening statement
Kevin Stallings spoke to me about three hours before that very, very, early Sunday morning and was going to take it. pitt had reached out to us Thursday to ask permission… to ask us the right way to do this.., we don’t stand in the way of talking… as always Kevin did everything above board and in the open… I want to thank coach Stallings for his 17 years here. He was a great coach. He was a great guy. He ran a wonderfully-clean program … won an SEC championship… we never had problems with his kids… we are indebted for his service to this university.
The search:
We have already begun a new search… we will use Eddie Fogler as a consultant. … We will not use a search firm. … He understands that aspect of Vanderbilt. … I’ve been on the phone with Eddie three times today.
We’ll do a search, we’ll do it in effective time. … Our chancellor will be a part of the search.
I think we’re looking at someone with head coaching experience … We consider Vanderbilt to be a very special place. One of the reasons we’re going to use Eddie is that this is a place where not only do you think about coaching experience, you think about fit. … We’ll keep working through this and we’ll look at people. People will move up and people will move down.
Who’s in the search
I know you’ll ask for names, I’m not giving you any … But then mentioned they had over 100 names.
The expectation:
“To win. … It would be wrong for me to say this is the standard you have to meet. Those things are a byproduct of different things. … what we do is assess and evaluate, we’re not going to sit here and say you have do to A,B,C,D or you’re gone, but our expectation is to win… and to run a clean program.
St. Louis:
“I think St. Louis was a rumor. Coach Stallings heard the rumors and made sure that nobody had contacted him about St. Louis. … But you always have to be ready no matter what. … if you have good coaches, people are going to be interested in them.
Does he always have names?
That’s like asking me do I have a list of names ready if my wife dies.
Trust me, before the week is out, I’m sure some of you will give me names.
On Stallings and 17 years and whether that was too long
I think fans have a right to their opinion
Can improvements be made over Stallings?
I think there are things we want to maintain and things we want to get better at. … Obviously we won 19 games last year and we want to win more.
On Fogler
I certainly hope he’s talking to people
On hiring an African-American coach
Hire the best coach. Green, blue, yellow, black, white, I don’t care. … I’ll hire the best coach I think is possible.
Openings
Georgia Tech is open. Stanford hired their coach. We’ll keep an eye on it.
There are coaches out there that are trying to gauge (interest before they interview other places.)
Formal interviews
When you say a “formal interview” that would suggest there may be informal interviews… what’s an informal interview? … if we get down to formal… you’re probably not looking at five or six.
Decision
We all sit around and kind of come up who is the one.
Money
We’re prepared to do what is necessary.
David Williams's, is he there long term?
(He seemed to be caught off guard by this) I plan to be here. But I’m not going to take another job. A lot of that has to do with people above me.
Is he sad that it’s over for Stallings?
I’m happy for Kevin if that’s what he wanted to do… like I said, I know Kevin ran an extremely clean program and that’s successful program… but at a time, it’s time… some of the fans felt that way. … you always had a sense of sadness… and Kevin and his family were part of our family.
Who’s running the team now?
We still have all of our assistant coaches here. We have our sports administrator… our strength coaches, our academic (people). .. I don’t know if Kevin is thinking of taking any of those coaches.
Wade Baldwin, is he going pro?
Wade was in the meeting a few minutes ago. Wade had a number of questions… he’s enrolled in classes and attending classes.
Melanie Balcomb, will she return?
Melanie is under contract.
(She’s here) until I say otherwise
Interest from others
Quite heavy. I’m sure if I pulled out my phone there would be 3-4 of them. It’s everything from people who are speaking for head coaches to assistant coaches … for the most part you actually have 2 things going on, you have agents and friends and fans who have suggestions. right now you tend not to have (coaches reaching out)… it’s agent.
How many head coaches have reached out
Essentially said he didn’t have a great guess at the moment
Is this a much better job than it was in 1999
Yes.
