Kovacevic: Stallings outshines his boss

The press conference was going to be tough, and all concerned had to have realized that.

Or so one might think.

The reaction from the Pitt community to the hiring of Kevin Stallings over the weekend was unlike anything I'd experienced in a really long time of doing this. It was instant, animated, angry and demonstrably legitimate, with people boasting online and elsewhere of having canceled their season tickets. My goodness, there were even West Virginia and Penn State fans expressing (mostly) troll-free consolations on social media, including here on this site.

And yet, from the moment Monday afternoon when Stallings and athletic director Scott Barnes were paraded through a line of cheerleaders on the Petersen Events Center court toward the makeshift stage where the coach was to be formally introduced by the media, it was eminently clear that only one of these two men was equipped for what was to come.

It was the coach.

And that's both encouraging and troubling for the future of the university's athletics.



Very little about Stallings' history at Vanderbilt impresses me, but his poise and presence at this gathering absolutely did. His first question, tough but fair, was about his handling of Sheldon Jeter's transfer, and he stumbled through it somewhat before ultimately deciding it was personal and he didn't want to expound. But after that, he took hardball after hardball -- on fair topics like replacing Jamie Dixon, coming to a better conference, his claims of playing with pace that aren't supported by statistics, among others -- and fielded them all cleanly.

Stallings was impressive. He behaved like a man who's spent his life around a big-time athletics program, and it showed.

Barnes, in stark contrast, was visibly edgy, agitated, defensive and, at one point, came perilously close to criticizing the fan base should anyone choose not to back Stallings.

This was his response to one of several questions I sent his way, specifically regarding the public reaction: "I'm gonna tell you, I'm delighted to be here because we're gonna be above the noise, and you've just met the man that's gonna lead our ship. And if you're not impressed with him, then you maybe aren't in the right spot."

Here's the full press conference, if you missed it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JWrs7o4mUk

Barnes' transparent attitude all through the press conference and then after it was that he made his call and everyone else was ... well, what exactly was everyone else thinking, anyway? It was as if he'd just made it to a major program in 2015 after eight years at Utah State and had never encountered anything resembling resistance to any decision he'd made.

He should have sought advice from the big-time professional seated to his left.

• In asking Barnes the first few questions of this press conference, I included the phrase "come clean" in reference to explaining to fans his search process. I don't ever script questions, and that's generally worked well, but not this time. That came off as accusatory, and it did so without cause. It was awful.

I approached Barnes after the press conference to apologize, not for the tough general questioning, but for using that term specifically.

• The best and smartest points Stallings made were to glance occasionally over at his current players, seated right behind his family to the left of the media, and make it known not only that they were the priority but also that he had to prove himself to them. It was precisely the kind of authenticity and humility that Pittsburghers value. A tremendous touch.

• Man, Pat Narduzzi's energy is infectious. After the press conference, he buzzed the room, shaking hands and bumping fists left and right before finally telling someone, "Gotta go! Time for football!"

In March, no less.

Here's hoping, for all concerned, that Stallings can bring it like that. Too much has been invested in Pitt basketball by far too many for far too long to passively accept any decline.

• The Penguins are starting to take on that team-nobody-wants-to-face look, aren't they?

It's not just the 8-1 run or the big weekend in Detroit and New York. It's the how. It's skating good teams into the ground, especially teams like the Red Wings that have the audacity to think they can keep up. That's speed and offensive creation, two rare elements in hockey that don't hit slumps, and that's got to be bona fide scary no matter the first-round pairing.

I don't like to mix sports, but it's a little reminiscent of the Steelers' surge heading into the most recent playoffs, albeit with one notable exception: The Steelers knew they weren't getting Le'Veon Bell back, and the Penguins probably will get Evgeni Malkin back.

I brought this up with Marc-Andre Fleury before the weekend, and he replied: "We know what we've got now, and we know what we've got with Geno. We just need to get there."

• Are we still complaining about Phil Kessel's whippy stick?



My goodness. I'd never seen a hockey player with a harder wrist shot than Petr Nedved's until this one. It's astonishing. And given that Kessel, unlike Nedved, plays in an era where the wrister is barely used, it's that much harder for goaltenders to anticipate, much less track.

• In playing all 75 games, Kessel has 23 goals, 31 assists and a team-high 247 shots. If Pittsburgh really has a problem with that, we should rename our city Toronto.

• Is it just me or does it look like Kessel can't stand the idea that Carl Hagelin might be the fastest skater on his line?

Hey, whatever works.

• Matt Murray needs to start Tuesday night against the Sabres, and he needs to get into one or two more games, as well, down this seven-game closing stretch. Sure, all the games still matter -- the Penguins are only five points above the final playoff berth -- but so does having the starting goaltender fresh and the backup involved. Both will be needed.

• Wait, Matt Cullen still hasn't been signed for next season? Why not? He'll only be 40 years young and still owns some of the NHL's fastest blades.

• The subject of brain injuries, concussions and related medication is far too large to condense into any bullet-point thought, so I'd encourage all hockey fans to read this amazing set of emails unsealed Monday to Canada's TSN exposing conversations between Gary Bettman and other NHL officials on that specific topic back in 2011. Plenty revealing.

• I could spend the entire day Tuesday trying to concoct a reason why Juan Nicasio shouldn't open the season in the Pirates' rotation and not come up with a single one.

It sure isn't spring numbers: Nicasio has pitched 15 scoreless innings, struck out 24 and walked five. Jeff Locke has been hammered for 14 runs, Ryan Vogelsong nine. The latter two have combined for 15 strikeouts and nine walks. This isn't even interesting.

It sure isn't recent history in real games: Nicasio pitched in the Dodgers' pen, but he was far better at his job than Locke and Vogelsong were at theirs.

And it absolutely, positively isn't the eye test. I saw first-hand what Nicasio is doing down there -- starts in Sarasota and Fort Myers last week -- and it's as legit as it gets for Grapefruit ball. Hitters are just overmatched against him.

Heck, I'm not even bothering to toss in that Jon Niese has, despite getting off scot-free from this discussion in every quarter, been worse than anyone: He's served up 12 runs in 11 innings, including three home runs by a ground-ball pitcher.

So why not?

Start Nicasio out in April, see what he's got, and adjust if he can't handle it.

• Spring stats mean nothing, of course, but it's at least mildly amusing that, of Andrew McCutchen's nine hits, five are home runs. And that prospective leadoff man John Jaso has more walks than hits by a 10-7 count. Or that utility infielder Pedro Florimon leads the team with 12 RBIs.

• Another corner gone?

Awesome! Yet another reason for the Steelers to adopt the seven-corner draft strategy!

• Don't believe for a second that Markus Wheaton could lose his job as No. 2 wide receiver to Sammie Coates, as Mike Tomlin at least peripherally suggested to our Jason Mackey this week. Not that Tomlin was being disingenuous. There shouldn't be any doubt that, if Wheaton were to disappoint in Latrobe, Coates would and should be Plan B.

At the same time, Wheaton is ... he's a different cat, to borrow from a wise man. He needs the occasional shove. He's a diligent worker and all that. This is a reference to that extra edge that all top NFL performers need to hold. And Tomlin's reference, in turn, surely was meant to keep that edge sharp.

• That thing about not liking to mix sports?

Eh, there are exceptions. I'll admit I'm a total sucker for any cross-interaction between Pittsburgh's teams, especially when it offers the fly-on-the-wall vision of hearing Tomlin address the Pirates with priceless Tomlin-isms such as "Be where you are." That one was his way of instructing the players to focus on spring training while they're still there, and it obviously could apply to any sport.

Obviously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SVLcOqCo1E

• In both hindsight and conclusion, Narduzzi should just run everything.