Transfers, as we're reminded so often during this time of year, are an occupational hazard in college basketball. College-aged men, hard as it may be to believe, sometimes change their minds and decide they want something other than what they presently have. It's not an epidemic -- it's people seeking what they believe to be better opportunities, which is to say they're humans being humans.
In a roundabout way, this brings us to Kevin Stallings. The past five weeks, even if just from a perception standpoint, have been a time of tumult for Stallings and his Pitt basketball program, which has seen four players transfer and a fifth get dismissed from the team.
For a while, those losses, while not ideal, were understandable. The first four departures -- Justice Kithcart, Crisshawn Clark, Corey Manigault and Damon Wilson -- averaged a combined 2.9 points per game and while each held some level of promise, their futures appeared limited under a coach who hadn't recruited them to campus. Any calm that remained, however, disappeared April 1 when the Post-Gazette and other outlets reported Cameron Johnson, the team's leading returning scorer and a player scouts regard as a legitimate NBA prospect, would graduate and transfer. Losing the lone returning starter is damaging enough for a team facing a wholesale rebuild. When that player happens to be a well-liked local product, it becomes that much more damning.
Questions have naturally shifted to Stallings and how much of the blame he should shoulder for the turnover. Some inquiries go beyond that -- how much of all this can be attributed to Stallings himself, his temperament and how he gets along with players?
To answer those, it's best to go back to his 17 seasons at Vanderbilt and see what kind of player-retention record he established. The short answer is it wasn't a bad one. At worst, you could say it was right around average. His first 16 Commodores teams lost 21 scholarship players to transfer or dismissal, or about 1.3 per year. While more than 700 players transferred in Division I last season, that’s an average of about two per school, so Stallings fell right below that.
In those 16 years, only once did Vanderbilt lose more than two players for those aforementioned reasons. That instance came with the 2013-14 team, which saw three players get dismissed. When paired with two transfers the previous season, one of whom was Sheldon Jeter, Stallings lost five players in the span of about 17 months.
Walk-ons were not considered in that figure, nor were players who left school early to turn pro. Losses from Stallings' 2015-16 squad were also not considered, as those could have very likely occurred due to his move to Pitt.
To get a better sense of those numbers, here's a year-by-year rundown, with brief explanations, on players Vanderbilt lost.
1999-00
Lost players: 1
Rick Jones: After signing with Stallings in the first months of his tenure, Jones averaged 5.7 points per game in his lone season in Nashville. He was dismissed from the team and resurfaced at Murray State, where he averaged 8.8 points per game in two seasons.
2000-01
Lost players: 2
Sam Lekwauwa: Averaged 5.1 points per game as a freshman, but left the school the following season. It isn't really clear, even with the wonderful power of the internet, where he ended up after that.
Billy Richmond: The rare prospect from Memphis to end up at Vanderbilt, Richmond was a top recruit who showed promise as a freshman, averaging 8.8 points per game. He was dismissed by Stallings shortly before the next season, however, for a violation of team rules. He then transferred to Memphis, where he played a season and change before being dismissed.
2001-02
Lost players: 1
Brendan Plavich: A starter for much of his sophomore season, Plavich averaged 10.1 points per game, but opted to transfer to Charlotte. He averaged 13.7 points per game as a senior for the 49ers while shooting 37.9 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from 3-point range.
2002-03
Lost players: 2
Brian Thornton: A fellow graduate of duPont Manual, the Harvard of Kentucky public high schools, Thornton started for the Commodores, averaging 11.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game as a sophomore. He transferred to Xavier, where he played two seasons and averaged 15.3 points per game as a senior.
Bryson Krueger: Sort of a strange case here. Krueger is listed on the school's 2002-03 roster, but doesn't appear to have played in a game and is not listed among all-time lettermen in Vandy's most recent media guide. Either way, the Tempe, Ariz., native ended up at hometown Arizona State, where he averaged 10.3 points per game during the 2005-06 season.
2003-04
Lost players: 1
Adam Payton: Largely tethered to the bench in his first two seasons in Nashville, Payton transferred to William & Mary, where he averaged 13.8 points per game as a senior.
2004-05
Lost players: 0
2005-06
Lost players: 2
DeMarre Carroll: A valued contributor in his first two seasons with the Commodores, averaging 10.8 points per game as a sophomore, Carroll transferred to Missouri when his uncle, Mike Anderson, was named the Tigers' head coach. He was a first-team all-Big 12 honoree and led Missouri to the Elite Eight as a senior in 2009. He is now in his second season with the Toronto Raptors.
Kyle Madsen: Madsen redshirted upon arriving at Vandy and after one season, homesickness set in and he transferred to Ohio State. He played sparingly for the Buckeyes, averaging 2.5 points per game as a senior.
2006-07
Lost players: 1
JeJuan Brown: Brown averaged 3.1 points per game as a freshman, but left the university shortly before the start of the 2007-08 season for personal reasons. He landed at Arkansas State, where he averaged 6.7 points per game in two seasons.
2007-08
Lost players: 1
Keegan Bell: Bell was a role player as a freshman, averaging 2.7 points per game, but decided to transfer after the season, saying Stallings' style of play didn't mesh with his identity as a point guard. He ended up at Chattanooga, where he averaged 8.4 points and 5.5 assists per game in three seasons.
2008-09
Lost players: 2
George Drake: After failing to carve out a meaningful niche with the Commodores, Drake left the team as a graduate transfer after his junior season. In his lone season with UAB, he averaged 6.5 points per game.
Charles Hinkle: Faced with a limited role at Vandy, Hinkle transferred to American, where he averaged 4.5 points per game as a junior before that average skyrocketed to 18.4 as a senior. He played one season in the D-League.
2009-10
Lost players: 0
2010-11
Lost players: 2
Andre Walker: Injuries limited Walker's production in his time at Vanderbilt. After that time, he went to Xavier as a graduate transfer and averaged 5.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in his lone season in Cincinnati.
Darshawn McClellan: A 6-foot-7 forward, McClellan averaged 2.2 points per game in three seasons at Vandy before transferring to Louisiana-Lafayette, where he averaged 9.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game as a senior.
2011-12
Lost players: 0
Sheldon Jeter dunks in a Jan. 2013 loss to Kentucky. (Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)
2012-13
Lost players: 2
A.J. Astroth: Saddled with meager playing time, Astroth transferred to Towson, where he played one season and averaged 3.3 points per game. After that, he transferred to Hampton, where he averaged 6.4 points per game.
Sheldon Jeter: We're all well-versed in this story. Jeter had a promising freshman season with the Commodores before deciding he wanted to be closer to his family in Pittsburgh. Stallings felt there was a level of tampering at play and forbade Jeter from transferring to Pitt. Jeter spent a year at a Florida junior college, where he didn't play so as not to burn a year of eligibility, and made it to Pitt, where he averaged 6.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in three seasons.
2013-14
Lost players: 3
Eric McClellan: A transfer from Tulsa, McClellan redshirted one season and played 12 games for the Commodores and averaged 14.3 points per game before being dismissed for violating academic policy and a misdemeanor theft charge from months earlier. He later played two seasons at Gonzaga and averaged 10.7 points per game as a senior.
Dai-Jon Parker: Parker averaged 8.3 points per game as a junior, but was dismissed from the team months later for not meeting the standards Stallings felt were needed to be a Vanderbilt basketball player. He played his final season at the University of Indianapolis and averaged 9.4 points per game. Parker's story comes with a tragic and unfortunate end, as he was found dead in an Indianapolis reservoir in May 2015, the victim of a drowning accident.
Kedren Johnson: The team's leading scorer as a sophomore, Johnson was suspended for the 2013-14 season for violating university policy. The university didn't specify the reason for the dismissal, but it was reportedly not related to academics, cheating or a crime. Johnson transferred to Memphis, where he averaged 5.5 points per game in two seasons.
While the slew of transfers and dismissals from the 2012-13 and 2013-14 teams didn't quite reach the level of Pitt's current situation, it was an uncharacteristically high level of turnover Stallings had to address entering the 2014-15 season, telling reporters in Oct. 2014 that he made the mistake of bringing in "guys that probably didn't belong here."
2014-15
Lost players: 1
Shelton Mitchell: A four-star guard out of Oak Hill Academy, Mitchell averaged 4.3 points per game in his lone season at Vandy, but announced after the season he would transfer, citing personal reasons (in a release, he said he loved his time playing for Stallings). He's now at Clemson, where he averaged 10.8 points per game as a sophomore last season, including a 12-point showing in a Jan. 28 win at Pitt.
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG
First Published: April 12, 2017, 4:35 p.m.
