Kevin Stallings apparently had some words for fans during Pitt’s blowout 77-51 loss to the Cardinals on Tuesday night at KFC Yum! Center.
Kevin Stallings to fans: “at least we didn’t pay our kids 100 thousand dollars”
— Lyndsey Gough (@LGonTV) January 3, 2018
Whoever it was I could hear them yell they weren’t a Louisville fan
— Lyndsey Gough (@LGonTV) January 3, 2018
Whether Stallings was addressing Louisville or Pittsburgh fans, he was referring to the Brian Bowen situation, where Adidas allegedly paid Bowen’s family $100,000 to ensure that he would attend Louisville and then sign with Adidas upon turning pro.
The scandal cost Louisville AD Tom Jurich and head coach Rick Pitino their jobs. The 6-foot-7 Bowen has said he had no knowledge of the payments and didn’t want to know if his father received money. He intends to transfer, but has not found a new school as of yet.
Stallings later explained his comments.
“Somebody said something bad about my players,” Stallings said when asked about the comments after the game. “And so I’m just going to stick up for my players. Probably said the wrong thing, but I’m not going to let people talk crap about my players. I probably should have used some different words, but the game is over and I’m always going to protect my players.”
Pitt’s Kevin Stallings on why he told Louisville fans ‘at least we don’t pay our players $100,000’
‘I probably said the wrong thing but I’m not going to let people talk crap about my players’
(via @ericcrawford) pic.twitter.com/rE8fW2WzCx
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 3, 2018
Photo: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
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