Vukovcan: It’s Time for Allen Greene to Get to Work on Pitt Men’s Basketball

Man have things changed since October 18th in a downward way for Pitt’s money-making sports.

The reason I reference October 18 is because that’s the day Allen Greene was named Pitt’s new athletic director replacing Heather Lyke.

When Greene started, he must have thought ‘Man, the football team is 6-0 and with the offseason additions and returning players, the basketball program had a strong possibility of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament’.

Combine that with the success of Dan Fisher and women’s volleyball program, along with the two soccer programs, Pitt athletics were rolling.

To borrow the famous phrase from ESPN’s Lee Corso, ‘Not So Fast’.

Since Greene was introduced, the Panther football team went in the tank going 1-6 the rest of the way and the basketball program is currently in meltdown mode.

I can’t emphasize enough how baffling and disappointing this basketball season has been. In fact, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say the embarrassment that we’re being subjected to could setback the program for a couple years.

I know the current line (excuse) centers around NIL which impacts Pitt’s ability to truly compete.

Sorry, I’m not buying it.

I’m not trying to say that Pitt has the same funds that most of the SEC and Big Ten programs do because they don’t. However, that is a separate issue and has nothing to do with the embarrassment we’re seeing this season.

This current roster with Jaland Lowe, Ish Leggett, Cam Corhen, Zack Austin, the Diaz-Graham brothers, Brandin Cummings, Amsal Delalic, etc. should not be only 16-14/7-12 (ACC) and missing the NCAA tournament.

Pitt basketball

Totally inexcusable. Greene needs to do some digging and find out what is going on.

If you ask me, the problem isn’t the talent. Instead, it has to do with the message from the coaching staff not getting across. When that becomes the case, that’s a huge issue and falls both on the players and the coaching staff.

Coaches getting tuned out, coaching system, unmotivated players and ones that don’t truly care about the name on the front of their uniforms are signs that your team is in trouble, which is obviously the case with Pitt.

Instead of the Pitt fan base talking about and making plans to go watch Pitt in the upcoming ACC or NCAA Tournament, the entire conversation centers around this team’s meltdown and who should be fired, or which players will be transferring.

And make no mistake about it, this will and should be a busy offseason in terms of roster movement. It has to because what we’ve witnessed this season can’t be tolerated.

As was the case with Robert Morris last season, Jeff Capel must make changes to his coaching staff. This will no doubt be a difficult thing for him to do because of the relationship he was with these men, but it should not be negotiable. Multiple changes need to be made in order to bring in new voices, new thoughts and a different approach because the current one isn’t good enough.

My track record is to avoid firing coaches because in general, I believe it’s done too much in all sports. However, in this situation, this current staff has had more than enough time to turn this around and for the most part, haven’t been able to do so. I don’t want to hear about the mess that Capel inherited from Kevin Stallings because that’s a lifetime ago. I can give you list of coaches that have been able to turn around programs in three years or less. Bottom line is that Capel and his assistants have had more than enough time.

Capel needs to bring in a higher quality of assistant coach to help him with recruiting, player development and what we see on the court on gameday.

Pitt coach Jeff Capel calls out to his team as they played against Duke on Jan. 7, 2025, in Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C. (Mitchell Northam / Pittsburgh Sports Now)

With all of that being said, I’m not going to lay this entire mess at the feet of the coaches either because these players should shoulder a great deal of the blame.

A portion of this roster has let Capel down and there should be consequences for that.

It is hard to even guess how different this roster could look next season. Not only will certain players decide on their own not to return due to unhappiness with their situation but I’m sure others will be encouraged to find another basketball home.

Although I’m just speculating, and sometimes that can be bad, but it wouldn’t shock me if a LARGE majority of this current roster isn’t wearing Pitt uniforms next season. To be honest with you, I wouldn’t have a problem with that.

In today’s age of fundraising, NIL and trying to squeeze every dollar you can from the fan base as well as corporate America, programs must be putting a product on the court/field that’s worthy of demanding money.

Right now, Pitt basketball isn’t doing that and needs a reboot, and it will start with the leadership of Greene.

It’s time for him to get visible and in front of this problem. The off-season is coming up very shortly, so it’s time to get to work.