LEXINGTON, Ky. — You might make the understandable assumption that being 2-8 in the SEC and 6-10 overall would make Jerry Stackhouse and his Vanderbilt Commodores quite easy to ignore.
But when Kentucky visits Memorial Gym at 7 p.m. Wednesday (SEC Network), the Wildcats will encounter a Vanderbilt team with new-found momentum and a coach who sparked a recent firestorm by speaking his mind.
In an interview with Joe Rexrode of The Athletic, Stackhouse addressed the critics who harp on his 5-23 SEC mark and 17-31 overall record. Critics who claim he has proven to be a bad fit for the program and the school.
"How am I not qualified when I played basketball at the highest level and played under some Hall of Fame coaches? I don't have the acumen to know what I'm looking at?" Stackhouse told Rexrode. "What's the angst? And it becomes the things we see right in front of us, man. All I can say is, 75 million people voted for Trump. That's all I can say. You ain't fooling me."
Many read the statement as a shot at the Vanderbilt fan base, a charge denied by Stackhouse, who says the quote was taken out of context. In response, Rexrode tweeted, "I definitely did not take it as attacking fans ... I took it as critics in general, some of whom are racists."
Still, Music City has been a rocky ride for the 46-year-old Stackhouse, the former North Carolina star who spent over 20 seasons in the NBA as a player and assistant coach, including directing Toronto's team to a G League title in 2017 before Vandy Athletic Director Malcolm Turner, former G League president, fired Bryce Drew as coach in 2019 and hired Stackhouse.
Turner is gone, out after just a year, replaced by Candice Storey Lee, former captain of the Vanderbilt women's basketball team. Meanwhile, Stackhouse inherited a team that went 0-18 in the SEC under Drew, the first conference member to go winless in 65 years. The Commodores finished 3-15 in the SEC and 11-21 overall in Coach Stack's debut. The SEC's preseason media poll picked Vandy to finish last again this season.
And indeed the 'Dores bring up the bottom of the standings. But further study shows they lost by three at Kentucky (77-74), by three against Mississippi State (84-81), by seven at Florida (78-71), by three at Georgia (73-70) and by six to Auburn (73-67) before a head-turning 72-51 thumping of Mississippi State last Saturday, just after The Athletic story broke.
"It's been a pretty whirlwind 24 hours to say the least," said Stackhouse after his team made 10 3-pointers in the first half for its second win in its last four games.
"They play really hard," Kentucky assistant Bruiser Flint said Tuesday. "The one thing you know is that you're going to get good effort. They're still engaged with their coach."
Stackhouse can be salty. This is the same guy who once punched teammate (and friend) Christian Laettner during a card game, who after his team's 21-point loss to Arkansas this season said he had "some guys who don't want to play no damn basketball" and who were "just doing dumb stuff over and over again."
And despite his NBA background, Stackhouse says he has little desire to recruit solely from the scouting service lists. He has signed 247Sports' No. 138 (Peyton Daniels) and No. 170 (Gabe Dorsey) prospects for next season, but says he wants a team that will "grow old" together.
He insists he will grow with them, swatting away speculation he will bail on his six-year contract and return to the pro ranks. At the same time, he's not likely to change what he thinks. Or says.
"I am a Black man that has one of the few Power Five jobs, and I'm not foolish enough to think that everybody's happy for me and everybody wants me in this position," said Stackhouse at Mississippi State. "That's what I was addressing."
He also said this: "I am here for the long haul."
