New Vanderbilt basketball coach Jerry Stackhouse faces a steep learning curve in recruiting players to college for the first time, right?
National recruiting analysts aren’t buying it.
“Why would we assume that (former Vanderbilt coach) Bryce Drew can evaluate a player better than Jerry Stackhouse? I just don’t quite get the logic,” said Jerry Meyer, 247 Sports recruiting analyst. “Anyone can tell who a five-star is. The trick is having an identity in the program, where you put pieces together to create a synergistic effect so the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
“It’s not been proven if Jerry Stackhouse can do that. But I know Jerry Stackhouse knows who a good player is.”
Stackhouse, who was hired by Vanderbilt on Friday, has never coached in college. But he has experience that could help him evaluate and recruit players.
In 2011, he launched and ran his own AAU program, Stackhouse Elite, for 15, 16 and 17-year-olds in Atlanta.
“I think it also needs to be pointed out that when he first started jumping into the (NBA) coaching game, he spent a few years coaching at the NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp,” said Eric Bossi, Rivals national basketball analyst. “Those kids weren’t in the class of 2020 and 2021, but he’s been around high-level players. He has a good feel for that, and he will have a lot of connections in that world.”
Stackhouse better recruiter than retread coaches?
Skepticism over Stackhouse’s recruiting abilities is reasonable for any coach lacking college experience. As a successful NBA G League head coach, he was assigned players rather choosing them. The same was true for his stint as a Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach.
Recruiting inexperience is among the biggest differences between Stackhouse and other potential candidates Vanderbilt could have hired.
“Most of the criticisms are valid, but I don’t mind a little outside-the-box thinking,” Bossi said. “What they tried before (in hiring Drew) was conventional thinking, and it didn’t work. (College coaching experience) doesn’t hurt. But I’d rather try this than some retread guy who’s proven that he can be outstandingly average somewhere else.”
Meyer added: “I know some college coaches that are horrible evaluators. Just because you get a contract to coach in college, it doesn’t make you a good evaluator.”
Step one for Stackhouse will be learning the basics of NCAA rules and the recruiting calendar and making a long-term plan to utilize his 13 scholarships. Hiring assistant coaches and support staff with college experience could help. His staff has not been announced.
Step two will be adjusting to Vanderbilt’s high academic standards to narrow his recruiting pool of players.
“Specifically at Vanderbilt, you have to know the landscape from a recruiting standpoint, but also know the academic standpoint more than other places,” said Evan Daniels, 247Sports director of basketball recruiting. “Hiring the right staff is so important in all that.”
Stackhouse must recruit to a system
Drew’s final recruiting class was the best in Vanderbilt history, but it ended in disaster. Five-star point guard Darius Garland suffered a season-ending knee injury, and five-star forward Simi sh*ttu didn’t develop. Both declared for the NBA Draft, leaving only four-star guard Aaron Nesmith still on the roster.
The Commodores posted a 20-game losing streak and the first winless SEC record in 65 years, which led to Drew’s firing. After Garland’s injury, there was little cohesion to the remaining team.
“There wasn’t an identity. They just snagged the highest players,” Meyer said. “So if there’s a question mark with Stackhouse, it’s whether he can come up with a system and recruit the right players for that system.”
Aside from sh*ttu’s departure, shooter Matt Ryan and forward Yanni Wetzell are exploring transfer options, and four-star signee Austin Crowley requested a release from his national letter of intent.
That means Stackhouse can add players in the late signing period from April 17 to May 15. But finding available high-level players who meet Vanderbilt’s academic standards this late in the recruiting calendar will be difficult.
Stackhouse’s best immediate recruiting job may be in retaining four-star signee Dylan Disu and commitment Scotty Pippen Jr., as well aslanding a graduate transfer.
Can Stackhouse’s name win over recruits?
Stackhouse was an All-American at North Carolina and an 18-year NBA veteran. Over three decades, he built a reputation as a fiery player and elite scorer, but will his name resonate with high school players?
“For some kids, it will. But for others, they won’t know about Jerry Stackhouse as a player,” Bossi said. “But most people around them know very well who Jerry Stackhouse is — a lot of high school coaches, summer coaches, dads, moms, uncles. That’s going to help.
“But one thing kids love hearing is NBA, NBA, NBA. Jerry Stackhouse will have more NBA experience than just about anyone else that walks into a recruit’s living room.”
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Reach Adam Sparks at asparks@tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.
