From ecstasy to agony: A timeline of the decline of Pitt men's basketball
How did it get to this point?
It's an exasperated question that has been frequently raised over the better part of the past six years, as the Pitt men's basketball program has devolved from a consistent winner to an afterthought, if not something worse. Not long ago, the Panthers were one of the sport's best programs, a rather improbable success story that rapidly rose from mediocrity to become a powerhouse in the sport's toughest conference. During a 15-year period from 2001-16, Pitt made the NCAA tournament 13 times, advanced to the tournament's second week five times and won nearly 75% of its games. It inspired hope locally and earned respect nationally.
Since then, it has gone 75-110 over the past six years, with no NCAA tournament appearances and no seasons over .500. In that time, it has never finished higher than 12th in the 15-team ACC. The national relevance it once enjoyed has vanished. Games at Petersen Events Center, once the most sought-after ticket in a sports-crazed town, are seldom more than half full. Excitement has given way to apathy.
While some factors loom larger than others, the downfall wasn't caused by a singular, calamitous act. A slew of events and circumstances in a particular, destructive order contributed to it. A conference change. Poor coaching hires. Recruiting misfires. Transfers and other unexpectedly early departures. Together, they turned the Panthers into a comet, one of several programs littered throughout college basketball history that rose to prominence only to fade away even quicker than they emerged.
How Pitt became that is the product of a confluence of variables more than a decade in the making.
March 19, 2011: After winning the Big East regular-season championship and earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, Pitt loses to No. 8 seed Butler in the tournament's second round, 71-70, on a Matt Howard free throw with 0.8 seconds remaining following a foul on Panthers forward Nasir Robinson. The Panthers finish the season 28-6.
Sept. 18, 2011: Pitt announces it has been accepted as a member of the ACC. The Panthers, along with Syracuse, begin play in the conference in the 2013-14 academic year. With the move, Pitt leaves the Big East after three decades in the league. For many of their most successful years, the Panthers had used their affiliation with the Big East to attract recruits from New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, selling them on a league they grew up watching and the opportunity to play games close to home. "No matter what, if you're from Pittsburgh and you have success, you're going to be a physical, tough, defensive-minded team even though we've been Number 1 in the country in offensive efficiency," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said at the time. "We'll adapt."
Nov. 16, 2011: Ranked No. 9 nationally, Pitt is stunned at home by Long Beach State, 86-76. It's only the Panthers' second loss at Petersen Events Center to a team from outside one of the sport's six major conferences. One month later, Pitt loses again at home, this time to Wagner, 59-54.
Dec. 16, 2011: Five-star freshman center Khem Birch leaves the program. In a statement, Dixon said Birch departed for "personal reasons." Ryan Hurd, Birch's coach at Notre Dame Prep, said at the time Birch was "being led down a road by so-called advisers. It's going to end poorly for Khem, and that is sad for me because I care about the kid." Birch spent two seasons at UNLV before going undrafted in 2014. He's currently in his fifth season in the NBA.
March 11, 2012: With a 17-16 record, Pitt misses the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001. The Panthers accept an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational, where they defeat Washington State in the championship series to finish the season 22-17.
NBA Commissioner David Stern shakes hands with Pitt's Steven Adams at the 2013 NBA draft.(Kathy Willens/Associated Press)April 3, 2013: Thirteen days after Pitt's season ends with a first-round NCAA tournament loss to Wichita State, five-star freshman center Steven Adams declares for the NBA draft. In his lone season at the school, he averaged 7.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. He is taken by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the No. 12 pick in the draft and is in his ninth season in the league.
April 21, 2014: Following an NCAA tournament appearance in its first season in the ACC, Pitt completes a 2014 recruiting class that is No. 87 nationally, according to 247 Sports. It's the Panthers' worst ranking since the website began tracking classes in 2003. The following year, Dixon brings in the nation's No. 80 class.
June 26, 2014: Standout guard Lamar Patterson is taken with the No. 48 overall pick in the NBA draft. Pitt hasn't had a player go directly from the school to being an NBA draft selection since.
March 15, 2015: At 19-14, and with six losses in its final nine games, Pitt misses the NCAA tournament for the second time in four seasons. It plays in the National Invitation Tournament, where it loses at home in the first round to George Washington.
April 17, 2015: Five-star shooting guard Mustapha Heron decommits from Pitt. He ends up at Auburn, where he earns SEC all-freshman honors in 2017.
April 23, 2015: Scott Barnes is hired as Pitt's next athletic director, replacing Steve Pederson, who was fired in Dec. 2014, seven years into his second stint at the school. Barnes had been the athletic director at Utah State since 2008. A former college basketball player at Fresno State, Barnes had served as the chair of the NCAA men's basketball committee for the 2014-15 season.
March 18, 2016: As a No. 10 seed, Pitt loses to Wisconsin, 47-43, in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The 43 points are the Panthers' fewest in an NCAA tournament game since 1941. After a 14-1 start, Pitt went 7-11 the rest of the season.
March 21, 2016: After 13 seasons as head coach, Dixon leaves Pitt for TCU, his alma mater. Unlike in past years, when Pitt would enhance Dixon's contract to try to prevent him from taking other jobs, the university worked with TCU to negotiate a smaller buyout from Dixon's contract to facilitate the move. At a news conference, Barnes said "we knew where his heart and his head were, and it wouldn't have been good for our program to hold him hostage." Dixon left Pitt with a 328-123 record, the highest win percentage in program history. Under his guidance, the Panthers made 11 NCAA tournaments; advanced to two Sweet 16s and one Elite Eight; and won two Big East regular-season championships and one Big East tournament title. After going 240-69 (0.777 win percentage) in his first nine seasons, Dixon's teams went 88-54 (0.62) in his final four seasons. Last season, Dixon led TCU to the NCAA tournament for the second time in the past four complete seasons. Prior to his arrival, the Horned Frogs had made the NCAA tournament just once since 1987.
Jamie Dixon is unveiled as TCU's new coach on March 22, 2016, a day after departing Pitt following 13 seasons in charge of the Panthers.(Ron T. Ennis/Special to the Star-Telegram)March 27, 2016: Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings is hired as Dixon's replacement. USC's Andy Enfield, George Washington's Mike Lonergan and Valparaiso's Bryce Drew were among those reportedly interviewed or considered for the position. In 17 years at Vanderbilt, Stallings went 332-220 and made seven NCAA tournaments, but in his final four seasons, his teams went just 71-61 and missed the tournament three times. In his final season, a talent-laden roster that was ranked in the top 20 entering the season went 19-14 and lost by 20 to Wichita State in a tournament play-in game. Numerous reports at the time indicated that Vanderbilt was going to fire him. The hire drew criticism and angered fans. Longtime Sporting News college basketball writer Mike DeCourcy, a Pittsburgh native, described it as an "almost a comically poor decision." The move also raised questions of a potential conflict of interest on Barnes' behalf. Pitt was assisted in its search by Collegiate Sports Associates, a search and consulting firm led by Todd Turner, who was the athletic director at Washington when Barnes was the school's associate athletic director. Turner was also the athletic director at Vanderbilt when it hired Stallings in 1999. At Stallings' now-infamous introductory press conference, Barnes attempted to assuage concerns by saying "We're going to be above the noise. You've just met the man that is going to lead our ship and if you're not impressed with him, then maybe you aren't in the right spot."
April 1, 2016: Stallings retains Dixon's three-man 2016 recruiting class of Justice Kithcart, Corey Manigault and Crisshawn Clark. The class was ranked 112th nationally by 247.
Nov. 11, 2016: A Pitt team returning six of its top seven scorers from the previous season's NCAA tournament appearance needs two overtimes to beat Eastern Michigan, 93-90, in Stallings' first game.
Dec. 2, 2016: Three days after beating Maryland on the road, Pitt loses to Duquesne in the City Game for the first time in 16 years. As he paces the sideline and the final seconds tick off the clock, Stallings tells his players, "They're going to rush the floor. Hope you enjoy this." The loss came without star guard Jamel Artis, who was suspended for the game. When asked five days later what lesson he took from the suspension, Artis replies, "I'm pretty valuable to this team."
Dec. 22, 2016: Barnes leaves Pitt to become the new athletic director at Oregon State. In a statement, Barnes said the decision was based on "some very important personal family considerations."
Jan. 24, 2017: Pitt loses at home to Louisville, 106-51, the program's most lopsided loss since 1906. With just under 15 minutes remaining and his team trailing by 41, Stallings, seemingly unable to watch his team anymore, is ejected for arguing with an official. In a press conference one day earlier, Stallings had questioned his team's buy-in and said the older players on the roster weren't providing sufficient leadership.
Feb. 4, 2017: Pitt loses to Duke, 72-64, for its eighth consecutive conference loss. It's the Panthers' longest conference losing streak since 1994.
March 8, 2017: Pitt falls to Virginia in the second round of the ACC tournament and ends the season at 16-17. It's the program's first losing season in 17 years. The sub-.500 mark came despite having two of the conference's top six scorers in Michael Young and Artis, as well as two other senior starters (Sheldon Jeter and Chris Jones) and a future NBA lottery pick (Cameron Johnson). After the season, four of its top five scorers graduated.
March 19, 2017: Heather Lyke is hired as Pitt's next athletic director. She had been the athletic director at Eastern Michigan since 2013.
New Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke at her introductory news conference on March 20, 2017, at Petersen Events Center.(Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)April 1, 2017: Johnson, a Moon native who was set to be the team's leading returning scorer, requests his release from the university. He eventually ends up at North Carolina, where he became a first-team all-ACC selection in 2019. After being drafted 11th overall in 2019, Johnson is a key rotation player for the Phoenix Suns, who advanced to the NBA Finals last season. Johnson's father, Gil, cited uncertainty surrounding the program as the reason for the transfer. Johnson is one of five players to transfer that offseason. A sixth, Kithcart, was dismissed from the program the day before the regular-season finale.
April 21, 2017: Guard Aaron Thompson, Stallings' first recruit at Pitt, asks for and is granted a release from his letter of intent. Thompson went on to become a five-year starter at Butler, where he finished last season as the school's career assists leader.
Aug. 8, 2017: With a commitment from junior-college forward Kene Chukwuka, Stallings completes an 11-player 2017 recruiting class he hopes will replenish a roster gutted by graduations and transfers. Of those 11 players, nine have no Division I experience and seven are freshmen. Only one of those freshmen — guard Marcus Carr — was ranked higher than a three-star prospect. Three of the freshmen had no stars.
Nov. 21, 2017: A loss to Oklahoma State drops Pitt to 1-4, its worst five-game start since 1996. That stretch of games included a season-opening loss at Navy, a home loss to Montana and a 31-point loss to Penn State in Brooklyn, a game in which the Nittany Lions led by 41 with about eight minutes remaining.
Jan. 2, 2018: In response to jeering fans in a 77-51 loss at Louisville, Stallings shouted, "At least we didn't pay our guys $100,000" — a reference to the Cardinals' role in the FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball. Stallings said the comment was in response to fans saying "something bad" about his players. Pitt later tries to use the incident as part of a larger case to fire Stallings for cause.
Feb. 24, 2018: Pitt loses at home to Virginia on senior day, 66-37. The Panthers trailed 30-7 at halftime and were booed off the court. With 6,534 fans present for the home finale, Pitt finishes the season with an average home crowd of 4,116 in a building that seats 12,508. It's the program's lowest average attendance since the Petersen Events Center opened in 2002.
Pitt coach Kevin Stallings bows his head as he walks back to the bench as Virginia extends its lead to 29 points on Feb. 24, 2018, at Petersen Events Center.(Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)Feb. 28, 2018: Pitt falls to Notre Dame in its regular season finale, 73-56, and finishes winless in ACC play. It becomes just the second ACC team since 1986-87 to fail to win a conference game in a season. The Panthers lost their 18 ACC games by an average of 19.1 points per contest. Only two of those setbacks came by fewer than 10 points and three were decided by at least 30 points.
March 8, 2018: Two days after his team's first-round ACC tournament loss, Stallings is fired after two seasons. In that time, he went 24-41 overall and 5-34 in ACC play. His total win percentage is the lowest by a Pitt coach since Benjamin F. Prinz, who coached at the school from 1905-07.
March 27, 2018: After being turned down by its first choice, Dan Hurley, who went to Connecticut, a lengthy, meandering search ends with Pitt hiring Jeff Capel, the former Oklahoma and VCU head coach who spent the previous seven years as an assistant coach at Duke, his alma mater. He was part of a Blue Devils staff that guided the program to a national championship in 2015 and his recruiting efforts helped land legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski four No. 1 classes in a five-year stretch. The move is widely applauded among Pitt fans and throughout the college basketball world. Mark Schmidt, Tom Crean and Thad Matta were also interviewed for the position. Lyke also discussed the job with then-Arizona coach Sean Miller, a Pitt graduate.
April 16, 2018: Capel hires Milan Brown to complete his coaching staff. Of his three primary assistants, only one of them, Tim O'Toole, had previous experience at the major-conference level.
April 20, 2018: Ryan Luther, Carr and Parker Stewart transfer, depriving Pitt of three of its top four scorers. The five other players who requested their release to transfer ultimately return, including leading scorer Jared Wilson-Frame.
April 24, 2018: Capel gets a commitment from top-100 recruit Trey McGowens, a guard who becomes Pitt's highest-rated recruit since Steven Adams. Six weeks later, he lands a commitment from Au'Diese Toney, another top-150 recruit. Those two, along with guard Xavier Johnson, give Pitt the No. 32 recruiting class nationally, its best finish in five years.
Jan. 6, 2019: Center Kofi Cockburn, a top-50 recruit in the 2019 class, commits to Illinois. Pitt was one of his finalists. As a junior last season, Cockburn was a first-team all-American.
Jan. 14, 2019: Behind 30 points from McGowens and 18 from Johnson, Pitt beats No. 11 Florida State to move to 12-5 in Capel's first season. It came five days after beating Louisville, giving the Panthers two ACC wins in a week after going the previous 22 months without one.
March 13, 2019: A loss to Syracuse in the second round of the ACC tournament ends Capel's first season with a 14-19 record. It marked a six-win improvement from the previous season and Johnson made the all-ACC freshman team alongside three of the top seven picks in that year's NBA draft. But after the Florida State victory, the Panthers lost 14 of their final 16 games. Eight of the losses were by at least 10 points.
Oct. 21, 2019: Four-star guard R.J. Davis commits to North Carolina. Pitt had been one of his finalists. Last season, Davis was a starter on a Tar Heels team that advanced to the national championship game.
Dec. 30, 2019: Jalen Hood-Schifino, a Pittsburgh-area native and a five-star guard in the 2022 recruiting class, commits to the Panthers. He surpasses McGowens as Pitt's highest-rated recruit since Adams.
Jan. 8, 2020: Fourteen games into the second season of a seven-year contract, Capel signs a two-year contract extension that runs through the 2026-27 season. Later that day, Pitt wins at North Carolina, snaps a 22-game road conference losing streak and improves to 11-4 on the season.
Feb. 8, 2020: Led by 30 points and nine rebounds from star freshman Justin Champagnie, Pitt beats Georgia Tech to move to 15-9 with seven regular-season games remaining.
Feb. 18, 2020: Following an 82-67 loss at Florida State, his team's third-consecutive setback following the Georgia Tech win, a frustrated Capel said he took over "a dumpster fire" when asked about the Seminoles' depth compared to his own team's. "There's an energy about our basketball program right now, but it's not going to happen overnight," Capel said.
Pitt coach Jeff Capel shouts directions to the team during a game against Florida State on Feb. 18, 2020.(Mark Wallheiser/Associated Press)Feb. 20, 2020: Pitt is hit with NCAA Level II violations stemming from exceeding the number of permissible coaches during practices and Stallings developing an alert system to ensure those extra coaches wouldn't be caught on the court. The transgressions were self-reported by Pitt. The university's athletic department was placed on probation for three years, and Stallings, who hasn't coached college basketball since his firing in 2018, was dealt a three-year show cause.
March 11, 2020: Pitt falls to N.C. State in the second round of the ACC tournament to finish the season 16-17. It was its eighth loss in its final 10 games following the 15-9 start. After the game, McGowens cites "personal agendas" as a reason for the team's late-season slide.
March 18, 2020: McGowens enters the transfer portal, propelled primarily by a desire to play point guard. As a sophomore, he averaged 11.5 points and 3.6 assists per game. He ends up at Nebraska. McGowens isn't the only starter to depart, as Ryan Murphy, the team's No. 5 scorer, also transfers.
April 28, 2020: Erie native William Jeffress, a top-100 recruit in the 2020 class, commits to Pitt, rounding out a five-member freshman class that includes another top-100 recruit in Cleveland big man John Hugley. The class — which also features Femi Odukale, Noah Collier and Max Amadasun — is ranked 17th among all Division I teams nationally by Rivals.com, Pitt's highest-rated class in nine years.
July 27, 2020: Hood-Schifino decommits from the program. He eventually signs with Indiana, where he will play next season.
Nov. 25, 2020: The Panthers lose their season-opener, 80-70, to Saint Francis (Pa.). It marks the third time in three seasons in which Pitt is upset at home by a low-major opponent (Niagara in 2018, Nicholls State in 2019).
Jan. 15, 2021: Hugley is indefinitely suspended from the team after being charged with three felony counts stemming from the theft of a car. In seven games, Hugley averaged 5.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest. He is reinstated to the team that May when the charges are withdrawn at a preliminary hearing.
Jan. 19, 2021: Pitt beats Duke, 79-73, behind 31 points and 14 rebounds from Champagnie, the ACC player of the year front-runner at the time. Following the victory, which improved the Panthers' record to 8-2, Champagnie proclaims, "Pitt is back," after he's asked about the symbolism of the win.
Feb. 20, 2021: Days after a loss to Florida State, the team's seventh in its past eight games, Johnson enters the transfer portal. The following day, Toney leaves the program, as well. The two three-year starters are the Nos. 2 and 3 scorers at the time of their departure. While specific reasons for the moves aren't cited by the players, the transfers were prompted by an untenable rift that had developed between the two and Champagnie. Johnson ended up at Indiana, and Toney committed to Arkansas. Both players were starters last season on NCAA tournament teams.
March 9, 2021: Pitt loses to Miami in the first round of the ACC tournament, ending its season with a 10-12 record. After the Duke victory, the Panthers lost 10 of their final 12 games, the third late-season slide in as many years under Capel.
March 24, 2021: Abdoul Karim Coulibaly, the team's starting center for much of the season, enters the transfer portal. He eventually signs with St. Bonaventure.
May 10, 2021: After a sophomore season in which he was a first-team all-ACC honoree, Champagnie opts to bypass his final three years of remaining eligibility, sign with an agent and enter the NBA draft. Without him, Pitt is down its top three scorers from the previous season. Champagnie goes undrafted but signs a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors.
May 31, 2021: Stony Brook graduate transfer Mouhamadou Gueye commits to Pitt, completing a five-player class made up primarily of transfers that also included Jamarius Burton (Texas Tech), Dan Oladapo (Oakland), Chris Payton (Indian Hills Community College) and high-schooler Nate Santos.
Oct. 19, 2021: The Panthers are picked to finish 14th of 15 teams in the ACC's preseason poll.
Nov. 1, 2021: Guard Nike Sibande, the team's second-leading returning scorer, tears his ACL in an exhibition victory against Gannon. He misses the rest of the season.
Nov. 6, 2021: Guard Ithiel Horton, the Panthers' leading returning scorer, is arrested for allegedly hitting a police officer on the South Side. Facing charges of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness, he is indefinitely suspended from the program two days later. He misses 19 games before being reinstated to the team in late January after he agrees to a negotiated plea in which the assault and resisting arrest charges are dropped.
Nov. 9, 2021: Without Horton and Sibande, Pitt loses to The Citadel, 78-63, to open the 2021-22 season. The next day, Judah Mintz, a four-star guard who had committed to Pitt over the summer, reopens his recruitment, leaving the Panthers with no players in their 2022 recruiting class. Five months later, Mintz commits to Syracuse.
The Citadel's Stephen Clark tips the ball away from Pittsburgh's Femi Odukale during the Bulldogs' upset win over the Panthers on Nov. 9, 2021, at Petersen Events Center.(Keith Srakocic/Associated Press)Nov. 27, 2021: Pitt is topped again at home by a low-major opponent, this time in a 10-point loss to UMBC. It's the Panthers' sixth loss to a team ranked outside the top 200 of the KenPom.com rankings since 2016. Prior to then — and going back to 2002, when the rankings began — they had only one such defeat.
Feb. 16, 2022: The Panthers defeat eventual national runner-up North Carolina, 76-67, on the road after leading by as many as 21 in the second half. It's their third-consecutive victory following an 8-16 start to the season. After the game, Horton says Pitt is "one of the best teams in the conference."
March 8, 2022: Pitt is blown out by Boston College, 66-46, in the first round of the ACC tournament. Following the North Carolina upset, the Panthers ended the season on a five-game losing streak, with the final four losses coming by an average of 23.8 points per game. They finished the season with an 11-21 record, giving them their second-worst win percentage in a season since 1977. It's the program's sixth-consecutive losing season, the first time that had happened since 1946-52. After the Boston College loss, Capel bluntly says "We have to get better players."
March 11, 2022: In a statement, Lyke announces that Capel will return for a fifth season as Pitt's head coach, noting that she is "confident Jeff will continue to assess and evaluate every aspect of our program and work tirelessly to continue building it the right way." In a meeting with reporters 11 days later, Lyke said that Capel's prohibitive buyout — reportedly between $15 million and $17 million should he have been fired after last season — did not factor into her decision.
March 23, 2022: Horton enters the transfer portal, with his father telling Pittsburgh Sports Now that Capel's offense is "stagnated" and that "the in-game coaching is the issue." Nine days later, Odukale also transfers, becoming the seventh Pitt scholarship player and second starter to enter the portal this offseason. Since the start of the 2018-19 season, Capel's first at the school, 20 scholarship players have transferred from the Panthers. Of the 18 scholarship players with multiple years of eligibility remaining that Capel recruited from the start of his tenure, 13 left the program early, 12 of whom transferred.
Pitt's Ithiel Horton sprints back to the locker roon after a win against North at the Dean E. Smith Center on Feb. 16, 2022 in Chapel Hill, N.C. After the win, Horton declared Pitt to be "one of the best teams in the conference." A little over a month later, he entered the transfer portal.(Grant Halverson/Getty Images)Where Pitt goes from here is an all-important next question, one that may not come with a satisfactory answer for years. The Panthers currently have seven open scholarships for next season as Capel embarks on yet another roster rebuild in a tenure that is becoming increasingly defined by them.
The program isn't doomed to its stay mired in its current woes. Pitt is historically above average, with an all-time win percentage of 0.576 and multiple runs as a national-title contender. While it's unlikely the Panthers will ever enjoy the wild and sustained success they did under Ben Howland and Dixon again, there's a road back to respectability that exists. If the past 25 years have shown anything, it's that a sudden, unexpected rise is possible — but also that matters, hopeless or frustrating as they may seem in a given moment, can always get worse.
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG
First Published April 18, 2022, 6:00am
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