Pittsburgh basketball head coach Kevin Stallings was not in a good mood during the Panthers’ 77-51 loss on Tuesday night at Louisville, and had quite the response to Louisiville fans that were heckling his team.
Stallings reportedly told Louisville fans, “At least we didn’t pay our kids $100,000.”
Kevin Stallings has turned around twice and said to fans in the stands, "At least we didn't pay our kids $100,000" according to @LGonTV & @WHAS11Whitney who are sitting right next to the Pitt bench.
— Mark Blankenbaker (@UofLSheriff50) January 3, 2018
Kevin Stallings to fans: “at least we didn’t pay our kids 100 thousand dollars”
— Lyndsey Gough (@LGonTV) January 3, 2018
That comment is a reference to the FBI-led investigation that accused Louisville of funneling $100,000 to five-star recruit Brian Bowen, and resulted in head coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich being fired.
After the game, Stallings was asked about the exchange with the Louisville fans, and said, “I probably said the wrong thing, but I’m not going to let people talk crap about my players.”
Somebody said something bad about my players. So I’m going to stick up for my players. I probably said the wrong thing, but I’m not going to let people talk crap about my players. You know we’re down, the game’s over with, you don’t need to insult kids that are out there trying to fight hard and do their best. Like I said, I probably should’ve chosen some different words, but I’m not going to let people take shots at our players.”
UPDATE: Here’s audio of Stallings’ comments to the Louisville crowd.
Here it is: the audio of Kevin Stallings saying "At least we didn't pay our players 100 thousand dollars." @WHAS11 pic.twitter.com/lwAwrAUXj7
— Whitney Harding (@WhitneyNBC4) January 3, 2018
