Looks like he’s headed to Aggieland

When do we have to be under the 85 scholarship limit? Is it start of official team activities in spring?

So I had made the thread about our roster departures where we’re at about 21 open spots and after the new QB commit that brings us to 20 commit. Are we in a scholarship “crunch” right now? The only non-grad transfers out of their own volition are Mike Wright and Rocko. So we’ve had pretty much none of the guys from the 2020-2022 classes that aren’t getting any PT transfer out. I know the education might keep people wanting to stay here, but @Chris Lee has said Clark has pretty much run guys off before. We’re still sitting here with a bunch of guys on the roster that have been here a while and have no path to significant playing time taking up spots on the team? Is this a choice from Lea, the school, or what? Because you’d think we would want close at least 30 open spots to get 25ish high schoolers and 5 or 6 transfers. But we’re canceling solid transfer recruits visits, focusing on a 3rd freshman RB who’s gonna sign in the spring instead of a transfer, and potentially having flips from Western Michigan, Wyoming, and San Diego State late in the class. One of those is fine, but with all 3 it seems like we’re taking guys way down the board right now but also have scholarship trouble at the same time. I just have a lot of questions right now.

You're not, under ALMOST any circumstances, supposed to pull against your team. It’s just not right.

But, I'm really having a hard time pulling for this basketball team right now. Chris has put the semi-hypothetical magic number of SEC wins for Stack to keep his job at 5-6.

I want Vanderbilt to win every game, I'm a fan, that's how we're roll.

But, much like the recent Mason situation, doesn’t Stack barely winning enough games to keep his job do more harm than good? Look at the hole Lea is having to dig out of. Do we want the next hoops coach to have to do the same thing?

I personally think 9-9 is the MINIMUM record that's acceptable in the SEC this year. Anything less, and we should be looking for a new coach.

But man, it sure feels weird almost pulling against your current team for a possible future of success.

And, do we really trust these people running the athletic department to make a good hire? I mean, someone else besides Turner signed off on signing a basketball HC with zero college HC experience AFTER we went 0-18. Can we trust them to make a good hire? Can we afford to not try?

It's just a weird time in the current history of this once proud program.

I caught the end of the Titans very forgettable performance and subsequent loss to the mediocre Chargers today. Maybe they should've fired the OC two weeks ago, in addition to former GM Jon Robinson. This is the first time the Titans have lost four consecutive games in seven years, according to the local news. And Vandy is under .500 in non-conference play, with no relief in sight with the tough SEC schedule looming large in a couple of weeks.

……….

Looks like Barca is searching for a new job. What are the odds the Vandy AD makes the right move and hires him?

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Herrmann talks about the decision to commit to Vanderbilt.

I think it is more than fair at this point to say Vanderbilt should be preparing to hire a Men's Basketball coach at the end of this season. As much as I wanted Stackhouse to work out, this year has made it really clear that the program is not heading in a good direction. This season has reminded me a lot of the back end of the Derek Mason era. It was really clear after year 6 that Vandy Football was heading in a bad direction, but the admin decided to give Mason year 7 and it set back the program and Clark's rebuild by multiple years. They can't afford to make the same mistake with Stackhouse. Barring a huge turnaround, it is hard to see the team finishing much better than 12-19 (5-13) this year. The record alone should be enough to make a change, but the recruiting has not been great either and the incoming class is not good enough to justify giving him another year.

This offseason could prove to be a great opportunity for Vanderbilt to make a change as there is not expected to be much coaching turnover in the SEC. With South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Missouri making coaching changes last offseason, it is hard to see more than one other SEC job coming open barring unexpected firings or a coach getting hired away. Being one of the only SEC jobs on the market makes the job much more attractive and could lead to having better candidates that are interested. This is an opportunity that Vanderbilt needs to capitalize on. With that, let' get to the hot board.

Realistic, Good Candidates

1. Grant McCasland (North Texas): 20-12 in his lone season at Arkansas State. 132-72 in five full seasons at North Texas, currently in his sixth. Has one two regular season championships and one conference tournament championship in five years. Was an assistant under Scott Drew at Baylor and is known to be a good recruiter.

1. Pat Kelsey (College of Charleston): 186-95 in nine seasons at Winthrop before taking the CoC job in 2021. At Winthrop, he won four regular season conference championships and three conference tournament championships. He went 17-15 in his first season at Charleston (they went 9-10 the year before he took over). They are currently 11-1 with wins over Davidson, Colorado State, and Virginia Tech. He also has a top 60 recruit in the class of 2023 committed to Charleston.

1. Bob Richey (Furman): 117-49 in six seasons at Furman. Has not taken Furman to the NCAA tournament, but has consistently won and is known to be a very good offensive mind. Biggest knock here is he has no Power 5 experience as he started his career as an assistant at Charleston and Furman, respectively.

1. Niko Medved (Colorado State): Led rebuilds at Furman and Drake before going to Colorado State in 2018. 77-46 in four seasons at Colorado State, including an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament last season and finished the year ranked 24th in the AP Poll.

1. Jordan Mincy (Jacksonville): Took over a Jacksonville program that went 14-18 and 11-13 the two years before he arrived and led them to a 21-10 record and one game away from the NCAA Tournament in his first year. Has Power 5 experience as an assistant at Florida under Mike White.

Takeaways: McCasland and Kelsey stand out above the rest for me here, but three out of five of these coaches have won at multiple spots and you could feel pretty good if your search came down to a couple of these guys. Kelsey would be my pick, as he has proved he can win and he is a young guy that puts in a lot of effort into building the fan base at Charleston and getting the school/community involved, and I think that is something that is sorely needed here.

Dream Candidates

1. Jay Wright: I would make Jay Wright convince me that he did not want to coach again before I moved on to someone else. Feels like he would only coach again if it was at a school that is similar to Villanova and Vandy fits that bill, so maybe he’d want to take on the SEC.

1. Sitting P5 Head Coaches: I think there is a lot to sell with this job with the new facility being built and the SEC becoming better in basketball every year. I am curious to hear any Power 5 coaches that anyone here thinks they could have a shot at or should reach out to.

I looked at all of our decommits for the past decade. Outside of the year CJF left and took the recruiting class, which is a bit of an anomaly, only two players (Ford and Taylor) have made the pros. One other plays in Canada. The more likely story is that of the WR (Andre MacDonald) who went to Minnesota (sound familiar)? AndreMacDonald was a 4 star receiver who flipped to commit for the UMN. Unlike Lanier, he was actually from Minnesota. He was suspended as a sophomore, transferred to UW-River Falls as a junior, and dropped off the earth thereafter. He did play briefly for the Minnesota Warriors team, where he competed with players from Hamline University and such, and had a total of under 500 yards receiving post high school (though he did throw an interception, which is cool). I think you have to pay to play for the Minnesota Warriors, so it's the equivalent of a club team. Maybe Kenric Lanier will not follow the glorious path of Andre MacDonald, but to be fair, Andre MacDonald was more highly rated than Kenric Lanier, so there's that...

@JustinAngel did Clark ever visit with Pimpton again? Pimpton hinted at another visit in his tweet on his in home a couple weeks ago.

https://twitter.com/brandonbarca/status/1604942987934715904?s=46&t=zc4l2Ex1EQgFDjoQi-U3ow

I’ve never spoken to Brandon Barca and don’t know him, but greatly appreciated his videos during CJF and others’ tenures (which he did on his own time). We could use him back for those and I’d love to see him made head of athletics marketing!

DC Brian Newberry promoted to the HC position to replace Ken N.

Vanderbilt lands a commitment from Evan Herrmann. We said that this was one to watch.

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To TCU

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Dores up 14 to 9 after 1 quarter. Lipscomb is 5 and 5 and looks terrible.

Gonna start with a couple of notes this morning. Myself and @JustinAngel will reach out to the visitors from the weekend and try to get some reaction and post in this thread as well.

A couple of notes regarding Vandy targets to start...

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- Harris took an OV with Vanderbilt last weekend, the Commodores like him as a TE. However, we expect Harris to end up committed to Missouri, where he is currently taking an official visit to this weekend. Before anyone asks, this doesn't have anything to do with Pimpton or the confidence level that he sticks. That's a completely separate matter for Vandy to try and keep him in the class and fend off LSU and Texas. With Harris, it simply came down to Missouri being the P5 school that was in on him first.

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- Confidence should be higher with Smith, who will be finishing up his official with the Vanderbilt today. I've heard that Minnesota coaches didn't do an in-home visit with him last week coming off his OV with the Gophers last weekend. Not sure if Minnesota has another WR committed, but doesn't sound like he's being pursued by them anymore. So, this is shaping up to be a Michigan State/Vandy battle it appears.

The early signing period starts on Wednesday. I'm going to recap some things here.

- Vanderbilt got a commitment from Texas quarterback Brennan Storer. The dual-threat quarterback had been committed to Western Michigan. He officially visited Miami (OH) last week and Vanderbilt this past weekend. We caught with him about the commitment. We also caught up with his legendary coach about Brennan's skill set.

Brennan Storer talks Vanderbilt commitment

Coach Analysis: Brennan Storer

- Vanderbilt running back target Deago Benson told us this weekend that he intends to sign in February. When I asked Deago if he plans to sign early, Deago responded with 'No sir, I am not.' In addition to Vanderbilt, Kansas State and Georgia Tech are pursuing the Texas running back.

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- Harvard transfer corner Alex Washington had an official visit lined up for this past weekend, but that visit was cancelled by Vanderbilt. He has visited Boston College and intends to visit Virginia in January. We will check to see if the visit is rescheduled. From my conversation with Washington, I doubt that as a possibility.

- One guy to watch on Wednesday is 6-foot-6 defensive end Evan Herrmann. He recently decommitted from Wyoming, and he had only been committed for a little over a week. Vanderbilt has been looking at defensive end prospects in Taje McCoy, Jacob Cruz, and Ezra Odinjor. Vanderbilt also extended a late offer to DeeJay Holmes. Herrmann isn't a new prospect for the Commodores as he visited for a game this season. Herrmann has great speed and athleticism for a 6-foot-6 athlete, but he lacks mass . It may be nothing, but we think he's one to watch.

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- Vanderbilt's main focus has been keeping commitments Ka"Morreun Pimpton, Kenric Lanier, and Junior Sherrill in the fold. Texas and LSU are pursuing Pimpton. Lanier officially visited Minnesota this weekend. UAB and Trent Dilfer have been pursuing Junior Sherrill.

- Texas wide receiver Jaelen Smith was supposed to officially Vanderbilt over the weekend. We've reached out, and we've got no response. That's not a huge deal because he usually takes his time getting back. We were told that there were only three official visitors over the weekend with Brennan Storer being one. This isn't 100%, but they did not think Jaelen Smith was one of those three visiting. We are working to confirm that. We don't think Minnesota is as involved with Smith anymore. This is likely a Vanderbilt/Michigan State battle, but Vanderbilt may not have room with the lack of spots.

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- Vanderbilt hasn't given up on 4-star defensive back Isaac Smith. Clark Lea recently retweeted an Isaac Smith tweet that says that he loves Vanderbilt football. Most people expect LSU or Mississippi State to land Smith, but the Commodores haven't given up. He officially visited Vanderbilt in June.

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- As for signing day, we do believe there could be some surprises as always. They been keeping things close to the vest on West End heading into signing day. We think the main focus has been keeping their commitments in the fold for the most part. We also think that spots are getting tight, and we know that Vanderbilt would like to add some depth pieces through the portal.

This is not the Vanderbilt basketball team that I grew up loving. It seems like we’re at our breaking point, and I’m having issues finding positives.

This thread encompasses my thoughts on the program. Please feel free to share yours!

Glaring issues:
1. Stack does not love recruiting.
2. Stack does not listen to his assistants. They’re all yes men to him.
3. The recruits Vandy has brought in have not been up to par.
4. Substitution patters
5. Playing “veterans” over Freshmen
6. No fans show up
7. Stack blocks any fan that criticizes him on Twitter. Not a good look with where we at at as a program, or even in general. Also, do you not have anything better to do?
8. We are a defensive centered team, but we don’t play great defense.
9. No offensive creator.
10. Noah Shelby was my bet to help lift the scoring we’re missing this year without Scotty. He’s going through his freshmen year growing pains, but he has not flashed to me that he can contribute next year. Hoping Shelby is not a wash, but I’m leaning that direction.
11. It’s difficult for me to justify the amount of minutes Trey Thomas gets. I’ll give Trey this, he’s proved me wrong and shown up. I agree with giving Trey time with where Vandy is right now, but if he misses his first couple shots and is being a liability with the ball in his hands, you have to pull him. He doesn’t bring enough outside of his shooting to justify receivinng 33 minutes.

Positives:
1. Each player has a clear role. No one does too much, which is part of the issue on offense.
2. Dia and Dort show great potential.
3. New facilities?
4. Myles Stute & Liam Robbins
5. Tyrin Lawrence stepping up. He is almost forced to step up, but he’s done a decent job getting to the rim and plays good defense.

Outlook:
Stack has somewhat over performed each year based on preseason expectations due to the talent we have on the team. He took a program in a bad spot and brought some stability. He’s killed a lot of things though. Our once lively fan base is non-existent, the three point streak (I’ll never live this down), and many other things. No matter what happens the remainder of this year, it’s becoming more apparent that Stackhouse isn’t the guy long-term. Personally, I think he’d be a great addition to UNC as an assistant coach. I don’t think Stackhouse is a HC, but he’d probably only accept a HC role.

I miss sold out Memorial Gymnasium on a Saturday night with Kentucky in town. How do we get back there? I don’t think we get back there with Stackhouse. With the new facilities coming in, this off-season is the one to make a switch. Ride the momentum from the new facilities with a new coach, retain the current players, and begin rebuilding Vanderbilt basketball as a brand in Nashville.

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I caught up with Highland Park HC Randy Allen about Vanderbilt quarterback commit Brennan Storer. I thanked him at the end of the interview, and I told him that people get excited about the quarterback position. His immediate reply, "You should be excited about Brennan. He's going to be a great player." I thought I'd add that tidbit.

Hope you guys are enjoying the coverage.

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I wonder if these two decisions are linked in any way or if Ray couldn’t get into grad school and Rocko leaving maybe it was just the final straw for Norval. Idk I just got to thinking maybe one had an effect on the other or wonder if Ray knew CM was leaving.