Kevin Stallings Biography
Since taking over as the head coach for the Vanderbilt University basketball program 9 seasons ago, Kevin Stallings has played a key role in elevating the Vanderbilt Commodores from a middling major conference also-ran into a major player in NCAA basketball. And it could not have come at a better time, as prior to his arrival, Vanderbilt basketball was coming off some difficult years.
Kevin Stalling was a talented 6'5" guard in high school, where he played at Collinsville High School, located in the town of Collinsville, Illinois. During the four years he spent at Collinsville High School, he was coached by the renowned head coach Vergil Fletcher, and some of his outstanding coaching undoubtedly rubbed off him at an early age.
His high school team had a remarkable 58-4 combined record over the course of his final two seasons at Collinsville High School. In his senior season, Stallings helped lead his team to the semifinals of the Illinois State Tournament before ultimately losing to Lockport Central, the team that eventually went on to win the Championship.
After graduating from Collinsville, Stallings went on to Belleville Junior College, where he played one season before eventually transferring to Purdue University, where be played his final three seasons of college basketball.
During his years at Purdue, the Boilermakers reached the NCAA Final Four once and reached the NIT Final Four twice. Stallings final two seasons as a player at Purdue also coincided with the first two seasons for legendary head coach Gene Keady, who would go on to coach the Boilermakers for 25 years.
Stallings showed enough intelligence and basketball smarts on the court to lead Head Coach Gene Keady to offer Stallings the opportunity to become an assistant coach at Purdue University. Stallings went on to serve as assistant coach from 1982 through 1988.
During that stretch, Purdue experienced great success overall, compiling a record of 140 wins against only 44 losses. Pursue also managed to win 3 Big 10 titles during that period, and reached 6 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including a "Sweet Sixteen" appearance in 1988, a run that was actually considered a disappointment considering the Number One seed that the Boilermakers entered the Tournament with.
After 6 years at Purdue, Stallings moved on to the University of Kansas, where he served as assistant coach under Head Coach Roy Williams. While at Kansas, Stallings played a part in helping Kansas to amass a superb record of 132-38 and four NCAA Tournament appearances. Among those NCAA Tournament appearances were two Final Fours, in 1991 and 1993.
Following his tremendous success as an assistant coach, Stallings finally received his first head coaching opportunity in 1993, when he was named Head Coach at Illinois State University.
During his tenure at Illinois State, he led the Redbirds to a high level of success. In 6 years, he managed to go to 2 NCAA Tournaments and 2 NIT Tournaments, and his overall head coaching record while at Illinois State was 123-63.
Following his stint at Illinois State, Kevin Stallings was hired to be the Head Coach at Vanderbilt University in 1999. In the nine seasons since, he has helped reinvigorate the Commodore basketball program, ringing it to heights not attained in decades.
After a strong start in 1999, in which he Commodores went 19-11, Stallings experienced a rough few years, in which the team went 15-15, 17-15, and 11-18 in consecutive seasons.
However, the Dores rebounded in 2003-2004, and finished that season with a 23-10 record, and made it all the way to the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Tournament. After another solid season in 2004-2005, that featured a 20-14 record, and a 17-13 record in 2005-2006, Vanderbilt in 2006-2007 had one of its finest seasons ever, going 22-12 and again reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tourney.
Under Kevin Stallings, Vandy basketball seems to consistently surprise -- on the upside. So, don't ever count the Commodores out! You'll be sorry. The future looks bright, as Vanderbilt is currently in the midst of yet another successful campaign.
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