NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt basketball has its man.
The Commodores officially introduced Jerry Stackhouse as the program’s new basketball coach at a press conference on Monday at Memorial Gymnasium. Stackhouse was joined by Malcolm Turner, Vanderbilt’s Vice Chancellor for Athletics and University Affairs and Athletics Director.
Stackhouse and Turner were also flanked by current and former Commodore student-athletes like Shan Foster and Will Perdue, as well as Vanderbilt head coaches from other sports like football’s Derek Mason and men’s golf’s Scott Limbaugh.
Here is what Stackhouse and Turner had to say:
• Turner on Stackhouse’s coaching credentials: “Jerry is someone who has competed at the highest level of the game, whether that’s under legendary head coach Dean Smith at North Carolina or his two-decade stint with the NBA. He is someone who coached and developed young players with great success at all levels from AAU to the G League to the NBA.”
• Turner on what led his search to Stackhouse: “Jerry is someone who has consistently turned heads throughout the basketball community with his ability to connect, his ability to relate to players at all levels, and his ability to make players better, and ultimately his ability to win games. His teams play hard. They compete. They are well prepared. They have great culture. They develop and they win.”
• Stackhouse: “I am ready to Anchor Down, get it going. I’m incredibly humbled.”
• Stackhouse on transitioning from NBA to college coaching: “As a head coach, I want to teach. It didn’t matter what level that I got in. People felt that I was on a trajectory in the NBA, but when I had an opportunity to come here and met with Malcolm and talked about this excellent university, what it stands for from an academic standpoint, the confidence that we play in the SEC, playing at the highest level, it was just an opportunity that I couldn’t resist.”
• Stackhouse thanked his mother and father for their influence in helping him reach this point in his career. “I just want to thank them for rolling me out of bed every morning at 5 a.m. to get on my knees, say my prayers, waking me up every Sunday morning, we were in church every Sunday morning, Bible study, everything. That’s why I’m here. That’s what they’re getting.”
• Stackhouse on lessons learned from playing under legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith: “Those are the lessons and things you couldn’t see as an 18-year-old. I think those stories that I can share with young student-athletes now should resonate.”
• Stackhouse on his experience as an NBA player and coach: “I don’t think there’s really a coach in the country that has a better blueprint of what’s needed and what is prepared to go to that next level, because I’ve done it. I see the kids coming in, see the development that’s needed for them to have success.”
• Stackhouse on working with Malcolm Turner, with whom he had a previously relationship in the NBA: “I was on pace to sit down and talk for a head coaching job in the NBA this offseason already with a couple of teams, had those interviews lined up. But when Malcolm approached me about the possibility of this job, just being here, all encompassing with this university, it was hard for me to say no to him.”
