NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt men’s basketball head coach Jerry Stackhouse recently joined The Rome Show on CBS Sports Radio.
The second-year leader of the Commodores spoke to host Jim Rome about the challenges of his first year at Vandy, the process of continuing to build his program and the ongoing fight against the global pandemic of COVID-19.
“Just trying to stay safe, stay out of harm’s way,” Stackhouse said. “We have to do everything virtually now. Just trying to make the best of it.”
Stackhouse and the Dores went 11-21 and 3-15 during the 2019-20 season. Their 86-73 loss in the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 11 turned out to be the final college basketball game played by any SEC member before the threat of COVID-19 forced a halt in competitive athletics.
Despite losing starting center Clevon Brown early in the season and then leading scorer Aaron Nesmith in January both to injury, Stackhouse’s squad showed flashes of promise, such as a victory over a ranked-LSU team in February and two straight wins to close the regular season.
“We just stayed the course,” Stackhouse said. “We had some challenges … but I thought our guys kept fighting and ended up on a really good note, winning a couple at the end and having a big win during the year against LSU.
“For us, there’s a lot of learning, a lot of teaching, a lot of film sessions trying to understand what we need to do – and do it consistently. We did it well for stretches but we didn’t do it for a long as we should. I think they really bought in at the end.”
Stackhouse also spoke to Rome about his coaching career to this point, his time as a player at North Carolina and his career at the professional level.
The complete interview with Stackhouse and Rome can be heard below:
