Stallings optimistic about plan for Pitt basketball

players transferred. From there, the hits continued, with each decision contributing to an increasingly searing indictment of where Pitt was. Cameron Johnson, the team’s leading returning scorer, requested his release to transfer on March 31. Three weeks later, class of 2017 guard Aaron Thompson, Stallings’ first recruit, received a release from his national letter of intent.

In the span of seven weeks, the Panthers, who were already set to be down four senior starters, had lost six players, one of whom had yet to even arrive on campus. The program, to a sizable subset of its fanbase and to others viewing it from the outside, was a mess, one perhaps only outdone this offseason by the growing tumult engulfing Memphis and coach Tubby Smith.

For Stallings, there’s something of a disconnect. What might seem like chaos on the outside, to him, feels more secure and in line with a broader plan he has in place.

The first four departures were anticipated, ones he said he could have predicted months in advance. The more unexpected exits, though, were the ones that hurt the most, not just because of the surprise factor, but also for what they represented — a top returning player (and a local product, no less) and a building block toward what he hoped would be a brighter future.

“Any time a kid leaves, the uninformed probably view it as a negative,” Stallings said in an interview Thursday. “Sometimes, change is a positive. I just looked at it and had some very direct conversations with guys. I didn’t tell anybody they had to leave in the conversations, other than the one kid I dismissed, but I told them, ‘Here’s what your future looks like here.’ In being honest, that put the ball in their court as far as what they wanted to do. You kind of know what’s coming next. We’re very supportive of those kids. We want all of them to go places where they can play and have success and be happy. But I think the timing of that and Cam’s departure, that set off a little bit of panic. It will all work itself out in the long run.”

While Stallings declined to discuss the rationale behind Johnson and Thompson’s decisions, Johnson’s father, Gil, said in April the uncertainty surrounding Pitt was what prompted his son to seek options elsewhere as a graduate transfer. In the case of Thompson, who was trying to receive a release from a letter of intent he signed last November, Stallings felt handcuffed, left with no choice other than to grant it.

“We’re dealing in a landscape in college basketball right now that is as probably as difficult and peculiar as it’s ever been,” Stallings said. “It used to be if a kid signed his letter of intent and he wanted out of it, you had to play a year of junior-college ball to get out of it. The media didn’t basically force institutions to let people break a binding agreement.”

Because of that turnover, Pitt enters next season with just three returning players, six first-year Division I players (five of whom have signed) and a transfer in Malik Ellison who, because of NCAA rules, is ineligible to play until the 2018-19 season. The cupboard isn’t necessarily bare for next season, but it’s stocked with commodities that are either unproven or underwhelming.

It’s an imposing obstacle for most any coach, let alone one like Stallings who now works under an athletic director who didn’t hire him. The arrival of Heather Lyke in March raised questions and, in some respects, concerns for Stallings, fearful she might not understand or have the patience to oversee what he saw as his plan for the program. After a series of conversations, including a three-hour introductory meeting, that trepidation has waned.

“Obviously when you’re working for someone that didn’t hire you, that’s a question that’s always going to be in the back of your mind until you feel like that question has been answered,” Stallings said. “After that first meeting, she was quick to answer that question. I have really enjoyed what she has had to say, the direction she wants to go with it and the role she wants to play in it.”

It’s a partnership that, based on early indications, has left Stallings optimistic. After living out of a hotel room for more than a year, the home he is having built is expected to be ready soon, perhaps as early as next month. He said he’s committed to the program, to the school it represents and the city in which it resides.

Whether the events of the past seven weeks will impact materialization of that plan remains to be seen, particularly as he tries to replenish an understocked roster. Where some potential new players see uncertainty, others see opportunity in a program in need of impact transfers and freshmen. While Stallings said he’s sure competing schools vying for the same players have used Pitt’s turnover as a negative recruiting tool, he hasn’t found it to be detrimental to his efforts.

After all, according to him, the situation is fluid and the image some have of a damaged program will only persist for so long.

“There’s a different impact for each kid based on what they’re looking for,” Stallings said. “Have some people been negatively impacted by the uncertainty of the roster? I would say certainly, yes. But the roster’s not going to be unsettled forever. That’s a temporary thing. The longer we’re here and the more we have a chance to throw back to back to back recruiting classes together, hopefully we’ll create more stability.”

• NOTE — Khameron Davis, a 6-foot-4 guard from Forest Trail Academy in North Carolina, announced Thursday he has committed to Pitt. Davis, a Colorado native with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, becomes the seventh member of Pitt’s 2017 recruiting class, five of whom will be freshmen next season.