Ex-Pitt players support hiring of Stallings
Former Pitt point guard James Robinson said Monday night he has no quarrel with new basketball coach Kevin Stallings. He doesn't want to judge a man he hasn't met.
“I'm going to take (athletic director) Scott Barnes' word and be encouraged for Pitt basketball,” he said.
But it's more than blind faith driving Robinson's optimism for the future of a program he helped lead the past four seasons as a starter.
“Regardless of who came in to coach, it's a great group of (players), hard-working guys,” he said.
“I think Coach Stallings will have a lot to work with.”
Likewise, former Pitt guard Tray Woodall, who lobbied for assistant coach Brandin Knight to get the job, supports the hiring of Stallings, who spent the past 17 years at Vanderbilt.
“He's someone with experience and loyalty to one school,” said Woodall, who scored 1,108 points in five seasons (2009-2013) at Pitt.
Robinson said players supported Knight for the job because of their familiarity with him.
“He was the most comfortable (candidate) in terms of possible people who could get the job,” he said of Knight, a Pitt assistant since 2008. “We saw how well he worked with us on a day-to-day basis, the passion he had for Pittsburgh in general, the relationship he had with the players.
“The players definitely think he is a strong candidate (to become a head coach). It just didn't go that way (at Pitt). One day, he will be a terrific head coach.”
Robinson is spending his final days at Pitt — he graduates in May with a degree in communication — working out at Petersen Events Center in preparation for what he hopes will be a career in professional basketball.
He said the team's final meeting with Dixon before he left for TCU was emotional.
“It was tough for everybody to see him leave,” Robinson said. “When you have a guy who has worked here for so many years ... he poured his heart out to the University of Pittsburgh, obviously the basketball team and just the entire city.
“In that sense, it was definitely emotional. It was the first change in the basketball coach in I don't know how many years.”
Robinson said players became accustomed to stories about the possibility of Dixon leaving.
“Every year, just about, when the season was over, there were rumors he was being offered whatever opportunity,” he said. “This year, we figured it was no different.
“The opportunity to coach at his alma mater was a tough one to turn down. We definitely wish him the best, and they will keep rolling with Coach Stallings.”
Woodall insisted the Final Four talk during Stallings' introductory news conference Monday — a lofty goal Pitt hasn't reached since 1941 — was understated.
“I think these guys want to win a championship,” he said.
Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.
