Rick Carlisle On Jerry Stackhouse landing Vanderbilt gig

NBAE/Getty Images

Last week, former NBA star Jerry Stackhouse agreed to terms with Vanderbilt to become the head coach Men’s basketball team for the next six years Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Stackhouse is currently an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies and before his time in Memphis, he was a head coach of the Toronto’s G League affiliate the Raptors 905. With the 905, he spent two seasons and helped lead them to a championship in 2017, also capturing the G League Coach of the Year. In his first season with the Raptors 905, Stackhouse led his team to a 39-11 record and their first Central Division title.

According to Woj, Stackhouse is very excited to be joining the Commodores and looking to build something great.

“I am extremely excited to join the Vanderbilt family and build on the incredible accomplishments of its athletics program and men’s basketball program,” Stackhouse said in a statement. “I look forward to furthering Vanderbilt’s unique approach to athletics — blending a powerhouse competitive spirit with elite academics to holistically develop talented student-athletes and celebrate victories on and off the court.

“I would like to thank Malcolm Turner and Chancellor [Nicholas] Zeppos for giving me this fantastic opportunity to direct the Vanderbilt men’s basketball program into its next great era.”

Malcolm Turner, Vanderbilt’s new Athletic Director, has been watching Stackhouse’s growth as a coach ever since he was in charge of the president of the NBA’s G League.

Stackhouse has had numerous mentors throughout his 18 careers in the NBA and his during his time at UNC. Coaches such as Dean Smith, Former Dallas Maverick Coaches Don Nelson, Avery Johnson, Gregg Popovich, and even former Celtic and current Mavs coach Rick Carlisle can be seen as contributors to Stack’s coaching success.

Last May, Stackhouse was a guest on the Scoop B Radio Podcast and credited each coach with teaching him how to get the best out of their players.

“Avery took over and it was just the same language that I learned from Coach Smith and how I think the game should be played and how to share the ball, how you play the game defensively, it was all the same language, he told Heavy‘s Brandon Robinson.

“I got a lot of that from [Gregg] Popovich, Popovich got a lot of that from Larry Brown, who had got a lot from Coach Smith. So, I think once we were able to kind of align our minds, we thought this was really good and obviously we had good players, a good team and we made it to the Finals. So yeah, that was kind of the start of my thinking about coaching because Avery put me in that role.”

As a member of the Dallas Mavericks during the 2004-05 season, Stackhouse was able to watch his former coach Don Nelson build his relationships with his players, staff, others within the Mavericks organization and the same with former Celtic guard turned head coach Rick Carlisle when he played under him in the 2008-09 season.

“I really enjoyed playing for Nelly,” said Stackhouse.

“I didn’t know that I would have when we first got together. It kind of seemed like it was a throw in for a bigger deal that they were trying to do. I think there were whispers that Shaq was available and that there was possibly a trade for Shaq at that time. So I never thought it was going to be home for me or turn into kind of a resting spot for a while but we hit it off really good.”

“His thoughts or philosophies for the game, but now that I’m on the coaching side, I see where he was trying to get over. Like I said, I played for a lot of smart coaches and now I’m just trying to apply those things and input my own touch to it as well and to hopefully have a good system this year as well as try to develop guys.”

During his 19-year career in the NBA, Stackhouse averaged 16.9 points, 3,2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, adding two All-Star appearances and earned an All-Rookie selection in 1995-96.

Rick Carlisle before the Dallas Mavericks took on the Memphis Grizzlies had this to say about Stackhouse landing the Vanderbilt job.

“I’m really happy for him and what an amazing opportunity. I don’t know much about the SEC. I played in the ACC back in the day when the ACC had eight teams kind of the eight original teams. The conferences have changed so much and the thing I really admire about Stack. He got into coaching and he has put in the work and paid dues. He wanted to coach their G League team in Toronto so he could get head coaching experiences, A lot of guys would not want to do that showed real humility and respect for the game. I figured that Stack would be an NBA coach at some point, so his decision to go to college is probably a little bit surprising to some, but Vanderbilt is an amazing school. And he has an iron will and I’m sure he will turn it around,” said Carlisle.

Stackhouse will be taking over for Bryce Drew, who was relieved from his position with the Commodores after going winless in conference play this past season.

[protected-iframe id=”bbab21f6743c4fa9cb22b238daca97c5-134770808-98521194″ info=”chrome-extension://kdfieneakcjfaiglcfcgkidlkmlijjnh/content/popups/definitionPopup/index.html?title=amazing&description=inspiring%20awe%20or%20admiration%20or%20wonder” class=”ginger-extension-definitionpopup”]

SHARE ON FACEBOOK SHARE ON TWITTER

Tags: Adrian Wojnarowski, Avery Johnson, Boston, Brandon Robinson, Commodores, Dean Smith, Don Nelson, ESPN, Gregg Popovich, Jerry Stackhouse, Landon Buford, Malcolm Turner, NBA, NBA G League, Raptors 905, Rick Carlisle, Scoop B Radio, The Hype Magazine, Vanderbilt

About the Author

Landon Buford Washington State Graduate Past Interviews include Grammy Award Winner Kenny G, David Banner, WNBA President Lisa Borders, What's Trending's CEO Shira Lazar, Ice Cube, NBC's Chicago PD LaRoyce Hawkins, Family Matters Darius McCrary, En Vogues Maxine Jones, Team USA Track & Field Member Norris Frederick, James Kyson, WNBA Great Lauren Jackson, and more.