Is Kevin Stallings the guy?

I was told and reported earlier this evening that this thing is closing in on being done and it will be announced Monday or Tuesday and now we at least have a good idea who Pitt has zeroed in on - emphasis on a good idea because while some people are fairly sure, nobody seems to be 100 percent sure......

I have multiple sources telling me Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings is heavily involved in this job search and is one of the leading candidates. I was also told by a very good source that his buyout has to be negotiated and that is not considered an obstacle, that it can be worked out.

Credit where it is due -—Matt Steinbrink of Pantherlair.com was the first to report he had interviewed for the job and since then the whole thing has blown up.

Several good sources confirmed to me Stallings as a candidate for me and also one told me they were negotiating his buyout.

And then ESPN’s Jeff Goodman reported that he is a serious candidate for the job and then CBS Sports Jon Rothstein reported he was offered the job and is expected to accept the job and be introduced Monday or Tuesday.

I haven’t had anyone tell me he is absolutely the guy - just that he is indeed a very serious candidate and they are negotiating his buyout and expected to be able to get through any of those issues.

But.........(always a but, and this is an important but)

I have had at least three different sources, one who is fairly decent, tell me to be careful because schools negotiate the framework of deals with multiple candidates in all of these searches and so that doesn’t mean Stallings is the front runner or going to be hired.

The fact that there are some negotiations going on doesn’t mean one guy or the other is going to be hired, it means they are trying to put together the framework for a deal to see if a deal can be made and it if it can, then they ”offer” a guy the job....

Now, I had the same sources tell me that Stallings may be a smoke screen leaked by his agent or the search firm while Barnes negotiates with one of the other two guys we know that are linked with that search firm - Kevin Keatts and Will Wade. 

That’s some heavy conspiracy theory stuff there so I really don’t know what to believe, other than to say the source that told me that they are negotiating Stallings buyout is one of the best and most reliable sources I have and I have two others I trust telling me the same thing.

I’ll go with what we do know -—here are the facts as we know them:

1) Barnes returned from the road today after interviewing a bunch of candidates.

2) Barnes informed candidates that they were not going to get the job —most notably Brandin Knight was told he was out.

3) Multiple sources confirm that Barnes had settled in on a candidate and was on his way towards hammering out a deal and that it could be announced as soon as Monday or Tuesday.

4) Kevin Stallings is involved on some level with the Pitt coaching search and there has been some level of negotiations going on.

Those are the only facts we absolutely know to be true.

Again, I’ll pause ——-—Please remember the first post of the week - “nothing is done until it is signed, sealed and delivered” and “guys can change minds and dollar amounts can differ enough that deals fall apart” and the thing goes back to square one.

Nobody reported that Stallings was hired (though Rothstein has gone the farthest and said he was offered and will accept) and for good reason —there is no evidence that he has been hired. There are some signs that things may be headed in that direction but nowhere have I seen evidence that suggests he is definitely been hired.

He was reported to be a serious candidate and maybe even the front runner by several outlets and he might still be one of those things but until he is signed, sealed and delivered relax a little bit. Again, my sources have told me he is definitely a candidate but what that actually means, well, again can be interpreted a number of ways.

So that brings us to the other, what I call, interview guys (guys who were interviewed, depending on your definition of interview of course) — 

I would think that a timetable of Monday or Tuesday would mean Bryce Drew and Mike Lonergan would be out just because they are both still coaching in the NIT and their teams don’t play until Tuesday.

That would leave of the known interview guys USC’s Andy Enfield, Wade and Keatts.

All three would be “win the press conference guys”, but Keatts obviously would have lots of questions to answer.

Like Keatts, Wade is a client of that search firm Collegiate Sports Associates and so for the ”wrong leaked name” or ”smoke screen leaked name” conspiracy theories, there is that link with those two guys (and I am willing to bet Pitt fans could live with either).

I actually believe this based on all I know about what Barnes is looking for - if it weren’t for the Louisville mess, Keatts might very well be the guy. Barnes apparently really is intrigued by him, which is why he interviewed him even though it is very much in question whether he could hire him or not.

And that brings up Enfield, the strange thing about him is his name has been out for a couple of days and there has been nothing at all out of USC, not even a non-denial denial type thing. So that tells me he is likely going to get an contract extension and raise from USC soon.....

Now I was told there was at least two other interviews of guys whose names we haven’t confirmed (could Linc Darner be one of them?) and now we come to find out that one of them was Stallings.

I will say this - I don’t think Barnes can hire Keatts but if he does it means this dude has, um, onions and ain’t afraid to roll the dice.

Oh and one other thing - Herb Sendek rumors are and were always silly. He reached out but Pitt never talked to him. All is not lost for him though as he is expected to be the next coach at Santa Clara.......

I will continue to update you with any nugget of information I can come up with and hopefully I’ll be able to solidify this thing with Stallings as quickly as possible......(Barnes, however, has done a great job of keeping all this stuff close to the vest and even people who would normally be in the know, don’t really know much of anything...)  

And just for those keeping score...

Steinbrink first on Stallings interviewed, I was first on ”a deal is being negotiated and be announced on Monday or Tuesday” and Rothstein was first on ”offered and will accept”

That’s how a story advances and why it is so hard to get a clean break on a story these days.

Are we having fun yet?