Kevin Stallings Reportedly Accepts Pitt Basketball Head Coaching Job

The Pittsburgh Panthers basketball program has reportedly found a new head coach following the departure of Jamie Dixon to his alma mater, TCU.

Continue for updates.

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Stallings Reportedly Accepts Pitt Job

Sunday, March 27

ESPN's Jeff Goodman, citing sources, reported Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Kevin Stallings has accepted Pitt's offer to become the new head coach.

NBC Sports' Rob Dauster, citing a source, reported "Stallings has called his players and informed them that he's taken the Pitt job."

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Pitt Were Interested in Multiple Candidates

Wednesday, March 23

Coach	School
Bryce Drew	Valparaiso
Andy Enfield	USC
Jerod Haase	Alabama-Birmingham
Chris Holtmann	Butler
King Rice	Monmouth
Mike Lonergan	George Washington
Linc Darner	Green Bay
Chris Beard	Arkansas-Little Rock
Dan Hurley	Rhode Island
Kevin Willard	Seton Hall
Herb Sendek	Formerly of Arizona State

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Howland Reportedly Rejected Pitt

Wednesday, March 23

Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv reported Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland turned down Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

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Sean Miller Refuted Pitt Rumors

Tuesday, March 22

Arizona head coach Sean Miller released a statement Tuesday denying interest in the Pittsburgh head coaching job:

"

pic.twitter.com/iTah3d0Dxn

— Sean Miller (@UACoachMiller) March 22, 2016"

Rothstein added the coach was not in Pittsburgh, as had been previously reported.

Earlier Tuesday, Rich Walsh of KDKA reported Miller had been offered the job at Pittsburgh and noted that while Miller was in town, no deal had been finalized.

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Pitt AD Had List of Candidates for Next Head Coach

Monday, March 21

Panthers athletic director Scott Barnes indicated he has some potential candidates in mind to replace Dixon, per Dan Sostek of the Pitt News:

Colin Dunlap of 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh speculated the AD might already have one particular candidate in mind:

Barnes went on to elaborate on what he's looking for in Dixon's successor, per Sostek:

Barnes added that he wouldn't require the new head coach to keep any of Dixon's assistants on staff, per Sostek. Chancellor Patrick Gallagher of the University of Pittsburgh released a statement thanking Dixon for his contributions:

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For 17 years—13 as head coach—Jamie Dixon has been a remarkable ambassador for the University of Pittsburgh. He was a great leader who cared deeply for our student-athletes and our entire basketball program. I can appreciate that the rare chance of coaching for your alma mater does not come up very often and is hard to pass up, but we will miss him here at Pitt. We wish him the best and we now turn our attention to advancing our program, building on the solid foundation Jamie left us.

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Dixon leaving a respected program like Pitt for TCU is nothing short of a step down, even if it is his alma mater. The Horned Frogs have reached the NCAA tournament only seven times in program history and haven't competed in the Big Dance since 1998.

At Pitt, Dixon compiled a 328-123 record, led the Panthers to Big East regular-season titles in 2004 and 2011 and was named the USA Basketball Coach of the Year in 2009.

But the Panthers haven't gone past the round of 32 in the tournament since reaching the Elite Eight in 2009 and missed the tournament altogether in two of the past five years. A 47-43 loss to Wisconsin on March 18 bounced them from the tournament in this year's first round.

In a competitive ACC that has six teams in the Sweet 16 this season, the Panthers are hoping to contend with the conference heavyweights—and quickly.