I posted this in another thread, but I'm still curious to know what most fans' opinions are.
We all agree that the last few seasons of men's hoops have been frustrating, but that the program is again on an upward trajectory and the future is bright. I think most of us also have agreed that CKS needs to make the NCAA Tournament next season and that if he doesn't, it might be time to consider a change of head coach.
But now a player, albeit a reserve, has left the program (the 9th player to exit the program early in the last five seasons). These early exits have contributed significantly to the frustrating results on the court (if we'd retained some of these players, we'd have performed better). Stallings has largely been given a pass, with the line of thinking being that it wasn't his fault that Player X let his friends into the dorms to steal from students, or it wasn't his fault that Player Y was recruited to transfer by his hometown university, or it wasn't his fault that Player Z's mother got cancer. And so we all said give him one more year with an intact lineup; he's learned his lesson about recruiting kids that aren't a good fit for Vanderbilt.
But now that, for the sixth season in a row, the lineup will not be without changes (excluding graduating seniors), do we need to adjust our expectations? Since a player is transferring and this is out of CKS's control, should we revise our expectations for 2015-16 and give Stallings another season to achieve stability and right the ship? Or is it still NCAAT or bust for 15-16?
We all agree that the last few seasons of men's hoops have been frustrating, but that the program is again on an upward trajectory and the future is bright. I think most of us also have agreed that CKS needs to make the NCAA Tournament next season and that if he doesn't, it might be time to consider a change of head coach.
But now a player, albeit a reserve, has left the program (the 9th player to exit the program early in the last five seasons). These early exits have contributed significantly to the frustrating results on the court (if we'd retained some of these players, we'd have performed better). Stallings has largely been given a pass, with the line of thinking being that it wasn't his fault that Player X let his friends into the dorms to steal from students, or it wasn't his fault that Player Y was recruited to transfer by his hometown university, or it wasn't his fault that Player Z's mother got cancer. And so we all said give him one more year with an intact lineup; he's learned his lesson about recruiting kids that aren't a good fit for Vanderbilt.
But now that, for the sixth season in a row, the lineup will not be without changes (excluding graduating seniors), do we need to adjust our expectations? Since a player is transferring and this is out of CKS's control, should we revise our expectations for 2015-16 and give Stallings another season to achieve stability and right the ship? Or is it still NCAAT or bust for 15-16?
