Former ISU coach gets three-year show cause penalty for NCAA violations

Posted on February 20, 2020
Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Kevin Stallings reacts to a play against the Syracuse Orange during the first half at the Carrier Dome. (Rich Barnes/USA TODAY Sports)

 

By Neil Doyle

NORMAL – Former Illinois State basketball coach Kevin Stallings has been hit with a three-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA.

The penalty is part of a negotiated settlement with the University of Pittsburgh following an NCAA investigation into alleged rules violations by the school’s men’s basketball and football programs, according to Sports Illustrated.

Stallings, who wasn’t named in the report but was the Pitt coach when the violations occurred, allowed non-coaching staff members to regularly perform coaching duties.  This resulted in in the program exceeding the number of permissible coaches. The NCAA said at the direction of Stallings, the men’s basketball program deleted practice film in an attempt to hide the violations and prevent the administration from detecting it.

Stallings was at Pitt from 2016-2018. If Stallings is employed by a member school during the period of his show cause, he must be suspended from 30% of the first season of his employment.

He got his coaching start at ISU in 1993. Stallings is the last coach to lead the Redbirds to the NCAA Tournament in 1998.  After ISU, Stallings coached at Vanderbilt for 17 seasons.

Neil Doyle can be reached at [email protected]

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…