As of last week, I am told Vanderbilt wanted to make this work with Stackhouse, and was working with him to try to ease some of the hot-button issues (I presume Twitter-blocking would be one) and such in order to make a return more palatable. And maybe that accounts for a lot of the language he used in the media opportunity today, thinking that he felt safe based on communications with people at the school.
However, it's the opinion of some I speak with that the Alabama game could have changed things.
Specifically, multiple sources have told me the former player contingent (which had a hand in running Kevin Stallings out) isn't super pleased.
"It's gone from sadness to anger," and, "The former player crowd is fit to be tied," a source told me tonight, adding that the feelings among boosters were similar.
This source believes that whether Stackhouse will return will down to two things: whether the team can finish "with positive momentum going into next year and can he hold the roster intact?"
That makes Saturday's game against Ole Miss important.
"This game is to Vanderbilt what Tuesday's game was to Alabama. It's how to you respond to a loss that really bothers you."
As for transfers, the source believes there will be several--his opinion was that there would be "two or three" based on where things stand.
"Who am I and what is my role? Most of (the players) don't know," the source said.
A complicating factor, too, is injuries and whether those could be used as cover not to make a change. Further complicating that, it's believed that Jordan Wright will miss Saturday's game after the collision with Liam Robbins in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.
Another issue that has come up is money, and with that, an important thing that I learned tonight: a seperate source told me tonight that in addition to Stackhouse's buyout, his assistants also have multi-year deals with accompanying buyouts. Because of that, the source termed it "expensive to make a move."
The first source added some context to that.
"He's got the biggest assistant budget Vanderbilt's ever had. ... I don't know that it's unlimited but it's close," the source said. "At the end of his first year they had the second-highest payroll in the league behind Kentucky," adding he didn't know whether that was still true now.
That source didn't know the exact number of staff members,
but the 16 staff members listed on Vanderbilt's official site (in addition to Stackhouse and his three assistants) would make that number 20.
The same source thinks it's a possibility that Vanderbilt could opt to not make a change to save money, but ultimately thinks that athletic director Candice Lee will yield to the wishes of chancellor Daniel Diermeier, whatever those may be.
Which brings us back to Saturday, which will be Vanderbilt's first game after the odd statements Stackhouse made to media on Thursday.
"He's basically put a flag in the ground of my way or the highway, and it's either going to work or not work," a source said.
