Pittsburgh’s Kevin Stallings Should Coach Panthers and Not Yell at the University of Louisville’s Fans

I was disappointed in the actions of Pitt coach Kevin Stallings recently when he reportedly taunted Louisville fans several times during his team’s 77-51 loss last week at the Yum Center.

Stallings turned around twice and yelled at the crowd: “At least we didn’t pay our kids $100,000.’’ Stallings were apparently referring to the case of Louisville recruit Brian Bowen, whom the school is accused of paying $100,000 to lock up his commitment last spring. The accusation was made by the FBI after its multi-year investigation in college basketball that uncovered wide spread wire fraud, bribery and corruption in the sport. The scandal led to the firing of Rick Pitino and AD Tom Jurich.

“Somebody said something bad about my players,’’ Stallings said when asked about his comments. “And I’m just going to stick up for my players. Probably said the wrong thing, but I’m not going to let people talk crap about my players. I probably should have used some different words, but the game is over and I’m always going to protect my players.

Stalling should stick to coaching his own team. Pitt is now 8-8 with a 30-point loss to Penn State. Yelling at Louisville fans in such a public way comes across as classless. And his explanation wasn’t much better. He’s been involved in enough road games to know there are occasionally going to be insults hurled at his players from fans.