Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings

[tornado]

I suddenly have a lot of respect for Coach Stallings..read what he did...
when he was asked to pay a ridiculous admission fee to an AAU event....even after driving three hours to get there,
he turned right around and walked out......... good for him, and I wish more would do the same.

Basically the AAU thugs were trying to extort money from the coaches!

"At numerous events this summer, coaches have changed out of their university-logoed shirts to watch games disguised as fans to save hundreds of dollars."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/sports/ncaabasketball/27hoops.html?_r=2&ref=sports

[tornado]

here's more on the same story....and a pic of several coaches...
I think there's a Valley coach among them...

http://deadspin.com/5323870/recruiting-information-wants-to-be-free

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Yet-another-way-AAU-types-scam-pro-coaches-pric?urn=ncaab,178873

[DannyCooksey]

Great photo!! Love the publicity. There are 4 excellent head coaches in that photo. Thanks for posting!!!

[SFP]

Great photo!! Love the publicity. There are 4 excellent head coaches in that photo. Thanks for posting!!!

I see 3 who's the 4th! You're not including that guy with the phone as the 4th??? I guess we have a different opinion on excellence! LOL

[tornado]

actually that picture comes from an article that's almost two years old...

http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2007/11/tubbys-first-gopher-class.html

[SFP]

Here's a little more fuel regarding amateur handlers and NCAA sleaze.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4359729

Will the NCAA do anything to Self?

[tornado]

when elephants fly..

but Bill Self does it this way to funnel his $$ to the sleazy AAU people for the likes of grade-changing Darrell Arthur and Sherron Collins,
he's long ago figured out ways that even the NCAA hasn't caught on to yet!!

[tornado]

There's a little flap about Stallings paying for the team's preseason tour to Australia..

Nice gesture and Stallings is getting some praise for it..but...

..seems if he did, it's no different than Rick Majerus buying the whole team hamburgers...it is an impermissible gift and a violation.
But..let's see if the NCAA actually even notices, even though supposedly this was close to $100K.

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/sports/vanderbilt-coach-goes-extra-mile-financially-fund-team-trip

[Nacho]

You're really knocking a coach for giving up $100K of his own money to give his team a chance to play in Australia???

You really think the NCAA should investigate this??????

Unbelievable...

[tornado]

I have not knocked him, or did you fail to read that I complimented him for his nice gesture.
But he's presently trying to work a deal so that he doesn't accept $100,000 of his salary and then the university supposedly pays for the trip.
However, Nacho, don't you think it's a pretty good recruiting tool if the coach can tell a recruit...
"I will buy you a full paid, 10-day trip halfway around the world"?
Like I said, nice gesture, but it does amount to a huge advantage if the coach is allowed to give $100,000 worth of gifts to the players.

If this is nothing but good, then wasn't a $1200 gift by Star Transport to POB really a selfless, nice act as well?

[Braves4Life]

You're really knocking a coach for giving up $100K of his own money to give his team a chance to play in Australia???

You really think the NCAA should investigate this??????

Unbelievable...

I see your point Nacho..... but this IS an unfair advantage. How may coaches make enough money to do this? I'm sure Davidson, Bradley, VCU, George Mason, Butler and other BCS coaches would love to do the same but the coach doesn't make enough money to "foot the bill".

If the NCAA looks the other way then the "big schools" (BCS) could just overpay the coach and -- wink wink, nudge nudge -- the coach "graciously" pays for an overseas trip for his team.

See my point?

[Nacho]

Well based on the posts above... everyone should know and understand that Stallings is a guy of great class... by not paying a ridiculous fee to attend that AAU event, you know what his moral compass is...

The adminstration told Stallings and the players they would be able to take a tour this year... due to the economy, the admin told Stallings it wouldn't happen. He willingly gave up $100K of his own money to send the team... Seems pretty cut and dry to me- a selfless act to follow through on a promise that the university made- that they cound not keep.

And Bravels4Life...

If the NCAA looks the other way then the "big schools" (BCS) could just overpay the coach and -- wink wink, nudge nudge -- the coach "graciously" pays for an overseas trip for his team.

What is the differnce in the school paying for the trip (as BU did), or the school "overpaying a coach, then the coach paying for it". Either way the school is paying for it... I think you are missing the point here...

It would make no sense for Vandy to "overpay" Stallings, then have him foot the bill for this... the money is going out of the pocket of the school either way...EXCEPT IN THIS CASE where Vandy is saving $100K by Stallings paying for it out of pocket so this kids can go...

[jeffsu]

First off -- I don't think anyone is saying Stallings isn't a class act. Or that he's not doing things the right way. I think we all appreciate someone who's willing to tell those AAU guys to buzz off and take his kids on a foreign trip out of his own pocket. We know he's good.

I think B4L's comment has more to do with what that could lead to. Another case of the few ruining it for the masses. If it was "okay" for a coach to pay for these trips (and potentially skirt some regulations), what would stop a big-boy school from finding a loophole in there and exploiting it? Give a coach $150,000 to take the guys and only spend $100,000. Coach pockets the rest. Nice way to lure in an extra bonus for coaches, eh? ("You bet, coach. And don't forget, we'll take a trip every four years. You'll take the team to some location across the world and get a bonus of $50,000 for it! Sign here, please...")

Corruption doesn't just go from Coach to Player... it happen University to Coach, too..

[tornado]

The rules on benefits given to athletes are quite clear....extra benefits cannot come from any source!
..even a ring or an individual trophy would have been impermissible had the players been given such in Brazil. And it doesn't matter at all where the impermissibble benefit comes from.
It can come from a booster as we see all the time at Kansas,

it can come from the coach as a lot of the recent announced NCAA violations have shown and was what happened when Rick Majerus got into trouble when he bought food for his players,

it can come from almost any outside source as in Star Trucking,

and it could even be anyone else representing the university or any other professional interest - as in the OJ Mayo case.

But certainly a few eyebrows are raised in the NCAA offices if and when a D-I coach spends $100,000 to purchase something FOR THE PLAYERS, that was not also available to every other student at Vandy.

[Nacho]

Would you guys assume (like myself) that Vandy checked with the NCAA before allowing this? It seems like a forgone conclusion (to me) that this would have happened... but I suppose not.

What do you guys think?