Stallings loses assistant to retirement
Pitt men’s basketball assistant coach Tom Richardson, a longtime lieutenant of Panthers coach Kevin Stallings, retired, and his spot on the staff has been filled by director of basketball operations Dan Cage, the school announced Friday.
Additionally, video coordinator/director of analytics Jason Richards will fill the director of operations role vacated by Cage, and Chris Jones, who was a senior starter last season, will join the staff as a graduate manager, replacing former Pitt center Ontario Lett, who graduated in the spring.
The move for Richardson comes two months after having hip-replacement surgery. He was an assistant coach under Stallings for 20 seasons, including a 14-year run at Vanderbilt and Pitt that came after a head-coaching stint at Illinois State, where he replaced Stallings.
“Tom is an outstanding coach and an even better person and friend,” Stallings said. “He is one of the best at teaching the fundamentals of the game and will be missed. I am extremely grateful for the many years we have been together and the lasting impact he has had on my coaching career. It will be different not having him next to me on the sideline, but I know he will be watching and always willing to talk basketball.”
Richardson had a sizable hand in player instruction and development, but he also had an active role in Pitt landing freshmen Marcus Carr and Shamiel Stevenson in the 2017 recruiting class. While he was recovering from his procedure, Cage fulfilled many of his duties. Before occupying the role at Pitt, Cage was the director of basketball operations at Vanderbilt for four seasons.
Richards, a former standout alongside two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry at Davidson, will continue to help with video and analytics responsibilities, working alongside special assistant Matt Woodley, who was hired in May. The addition of a former player such as Jones, who averaged 7.2 points per game as a senior, is an important one for Stallings, even symbolically, in an offseason in which Pitt has had five players transfer after Stallings’ first season at the school.
Athletic department hire
Pitt hired Kelly Brennan as executive director for strategic initiatives and engagement.
Brennan comes to Oakland by way of Eastern Michigan, where she worked for four years as the director of presidential events and protocol while Panthers athletic director Heather Lyke held the same position at the school.
All three of the administrative staff additions Lyke has made over the past five weeks have been people with whom she worked at Eastern Michigan. At Pitt, Brennanwill be tasked with developing departmental strategic initiatives and planning events for donors, fans, coaches and athletes, among other responsibilities.