One last time, Stackhouse can Coach, ask John Calipari, I did
Nashville, Tn.- I don't like to repeat myself over and over, so for those who have figured out that Jerry Stackhouse can coach the game of basketball, you may move along to other things, but for those who still think that wins and losses in year one as head coach at Vanderbilt are the only measure of what a coach is doing, let's beat this horse one final time before I bury it.
Yes the Commodores are a dismal 9-15 overall and an even worse 1-10 in SEC play, and that's not good, or what I would be trying to write about as a positive if we were in year three or four of a head coaches tenure, but this isn't that.
In year one, with two of his best players down with injuries Stackhouse has this team competing with everything they have. It's not often pretty and it's not ending in victories but if you can get past whatever it is that's hanging you up here, you might just see that there's something going on deep down that's worth paying attention.
Don't believe me then would you believe John Calipari?
Calipari and his Cats have faced Stackhouse and his Commodores twice now, and both times Stackhouse, with his depleted roster of one four-star, a couple of three-stars and the rest have scared the life out of the Cats and their fans
Vanderbilt's Scottie Pippen Jr. drives to the basket defended by Kentucky's Nick Richards during the Wildcats 78-64 win in Nashville.
Photo By: Noah Freeman/SI.com
So to prove to myself once and for all that I am not crazy in thinking this, I took the opportunity to ask a national championship-winning coach what he thought.
I won't waste my time transcribing his words, you can listen to them unedited above and make your own decision.
Make no mistake, if the Commodores are mired in a 9-15 season and have won just one conference game against ten losses, I'll be writing how badly Stackhouse has done with this program, but that's not today.
History may prove me wrong, but I'm willing to take that risk and wait to see how it plays out.
In the meantime, I like what I'm seeing when you look deeper than wins and losses, and Calipari agrees with me.
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