PREAMBLE: With the qualifications that Vanderbilt is often disingenuous, dysfunctional and unpredictable (all that gained through sourcing and personal experience), this is what I believe to be the truth as of Tuesday morning:

- I do not believe Candice Lee plans to move on from Jerry Stackhouse. She has consistently stayed in a lane of saying she plans to keep him, even since the weekend. I think the truth has been in front of us all along.

- While I suspect the buyout is in play, if I had to guess (based on info), I think she genuinely believes that resources have been part of the issue and that if Stack has them, he can be as successful as past coaches here. (Don't shoot the messenger here. I do not share that belief.)

- If I am wrong about the two things above, I do strongly suspect the throught of firing him is probably terrifying to her.

- I do not believe Daniel Diermeier is going to step in and tell her what to do. I could be wrong about that but based on recent information (and again, see the preamble at the top of the post) he has said he intends to let people do their jobs and is not into micromanaging, and I've got some sourcing to back that up.

- I do believe the public pressure of all this is getting to her. I think you all need to brace yourselves for the strong likelihood he will be retained but if so, I wonder about her ability to continue in this role if she goes through with keeping him. But that also raises the possibility that she could war-game it out and say, "Do I really want all that public pressure?" provided the payout to fire him isn't too costly to her. (My opinion: This is unlikely, she's seemed pretty dug in on this for months.)

- WILD CARD: Would Stack leave on his own? I don't know. It is clear he doesn't want to to do the job a college coach needs to do. But I don't see a path out that pays him anywhere close to the money he makes here now.

IF I AM OFF ON THIS, please refer to "PREAMBLE" because what I have is pretty well sourced.

Corbin indicated it was an arm injury, I'm just getting home and will post the video/quote.

I'll be there covering.

Is anyone else going? It’s all GA so we should all sit together and get some Jerry chants going if we are losing

Just giving you a heads up

“Continue to get mixed messages on Stack. A few national media folks tell me they’ve heard he’s gone. Local media saying hold the phone. The coaching world thinks he’s been cooking for months now. But they’re all just vultures circling so might be a little biased.”

Encourage you all to sign up for his discord if you’re a CBB fan. $6 a month

1. The now infamous golf stories and moving shootarounds and being late, two of them this year.
2. Calls fan base Judases - further alienates fan base.
3. Weird senior day with no coach or parents (maybe this is his way, but it is strange) and Stackhouse watching from crow's nest by himself - not even with the team in locker room preparing.
4. ZERO 2025 recruits. ZERO. Appears to have stopped recruiting.
5. Rumored relationship with Nikki Gray.
6. What other weirdness am I missing?

I really think he wants out, but he's not leaving money on the table. If we had an AD who had any AD-related skills, she could fire him for cause, or give him the option of resigning and taking a much smaller amount. Then let him spend money fighting it in court. But then the language on the contract becomes public, and I am guessing Candice doesn't want that, because she is clueless. Of course, she didn't sign off on that contract extension by herself, so it's not ALL on her. The other issue is that she is so chummy with Stackhouse. If she doesn't fire him for cause due to just the above issues, then she is enabling all of it.

…and we win out obligatory 3 games in football next year. How does Candice keep her job?

@Chris Lee you keep saying all the hoops community thinks it’s important to go ahead and fire a coach if that is what you are going to do before the conf tourney. Ohio St went ahead and did that. And Diebler has done well and I guess thst gives them a head start but also now muddies the water as Diebler may not have been considered but now probably is in play.

Do you maybe do that to get a look at an assistant and if there is no one on staff you wouldn’t give a shot too then is it really that important.

Louisville is a huge basketball school, arguably a top 10 program of all time. I assume Payne is going to be replaced. If its that important to do it early why would Louisville not go ahead and pull the plug (it seems they have a less buyout if they wait is one of the reasons)

Howard hasn’t done well at Michigan. Most assume he’s gone. Yet he’s still there too. (I’ve not kept up with his situation much)

Now I guess the argument is Louisville and Michigan are more desirable jobs and therefore they have the luxury to wait and VU doesn’t? But wouldn’t a coach if they’d rather be at one of those two places not jump at VU even if they offered early? Or even back out of VU.

Yes some schools do it early but many don’t I just don’t see it as a sign one way or the other that a move hasn’t been made yet.

Doesn’t mean I think a move is imminent nor that one isn’t. Just don’t think it’s a sign other than they haven’t fired or retained him for sure either way yet.

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College basketball is my favorite sport and I have been a fan for nearly 60 years. Every year speculation runs rampant about possible coaching changes, and Vanderbilt is not immune, regardless of whether a change happens or not. Anyway, I started to wonder this afternoon what hires surprised me the most over the years. If I was paying attention back then there was nothing on Coach K’s resume to recommend him to the Duke search committee. Bobby Knight to Texas Tech was a puzzle, and I always thought Steve Alford would find his way back to Assembly Hall. I did not see Bruce Pearl going to Auburn, and still believe he will eventually retire at a basketball-first school. Perhaps the most surprising hire of all, though, was when Louisville named Rick Pitino its head coach. That was a surprise to me anyway.

What are your most surprising hires, and if I may I want to impose a restriction on referencing any hires ever made by Vanderbilt, but I welcome surprises that came as a result of a hire in college football, as well as basketball.

Thanks and Anchor Down!

Before they hired Heupel, UT was all set to hire Greg Schiano and the fans revolted so badly, the AD had to walk it back and regroup. This is a far worse decision on paper, but due to our fanbase size and the incredible arrogance of the people in power at Vanderbilt, we have little to no power.

Still, we need to express our outrage. Could we get 100-200 people to picket outside McGuigin? I am down and could bring a handful. Picket outside and we don't leave until CSL comes out and addresses us. We have a voice and we deserve to be heard.

I know there are a lot of Titans fans in here. I’m curious to hear some of your thoughts with the Pollard signing and moving on from Henry.

Any update on whether they’ll be back for start of SEC play?

Have some buddies in town who want to go to the game tonight. Message me on here or on Twitter if u have four tix you’d be willing to part with

Time for a daily post on Bucky McMillan. There is a GREAT article on him in The Athletic that I think was written this week. I’ve been intrigued by him, but after reading the article, I’m 100% on board if a change is made. Here is the excerpt that completely sealed the deal for me—

***
McMillan describes how a recruit can prove himself worthy of Bucky Ball: “Ball is shot, he crashes the glass, he can’t get it but tries to dive on it, gets up, picks up his man full-court, goes to the other end and hawks the ball the whole time, ball comes off the rim, he blocks out, jumps over three people, gets knocked down again, gets off the floor in half a second, bats it to the other end of the floor, sprints down, tries to jump on it, gets the basketball, shot fakes, could lay it up but drops it to a teammate for a layup and then starts denying the guy on the press as hard as he can. That’s going to catch my attention.”

Oh, is that all?

“What is that right there I just described?” McMillan says. “An elite competitor, somebody who freakin’ hates to ever not do their best and not impact winning. That’s what I’ll always look for.”
***

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First to respond here with a valid phone number gets them.

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He’s QUICKLY getting out of our range.

F%#}ing DO IT!!!

Pat Kelsey with the #1 seed Cougars will take on Stony Brook in the Colonial Athletic Association title game.

I know everyone is in love with Bucky Ball, but Pat Kelsey would make a great HC at VU.

Maybe switch back and forth between innings of the IU at VU baseball game.

I went with Arkansas by single digits. Think it will be a good game.

This is what we need! PRESSURE.

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Candice operates in a world of consultants paid for with someone else’s money. She doesn’t have the ability to lead…doesn’t have a natural enterprising “feel” for the role…even with her professional “CEO Coach” that’s right she has a CEO Coach. She thinks she is a CEO and therefore got VU to hire her a CEO Coach. As if her salary isn’t bloated enough, once you add in the consultants, CEO Coach, DEI pursuits, assistant AD’s because she can’t do various components of her job etc. We are talking big $ folks. Throw in Stack’s salary, staff and buyout and we are talking REALLY BIG $.

It really is madness people. Madness. March Madness. Something Stack will never achieve.