Busting Brackets
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SEC Basketball: Ranking all 14 head coaches for 2019-20 season

By Joey Loose

NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 13: Head coach John Calipari (R) of the Kentucky Wildcats is congratulated by head coach Bruce Pearl of the Tennessee Volunteers after Kentucky won 74-45 during the semirfinals of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at the Bridgestone Arena on March 13, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 13: Head coach John Calipari (R) of the Kentucky Wildcats is congratulated by head coach Bruce Pearl of the Tennessee Volunteers after Kentucky won 74-45 during the semirfinals of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at the Bridgestone Arena on March 13, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 13: Jerry Stackhouse #42 of the Brooklyn Nets passes the ball as Luke Walton #4 of the Cleveland Cavaliers defends on November 13, 2012 at the Barclays Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-101. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 13: Jerry Stackhouse #42 of the Brooklyn Nets passes the ball as Luke Walton #4 of the Cleveland Cavaliers defends on November 13, 2012 at the Barclays Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-101. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

14. Jerry Stackhouse (Vanderbilt)

There’s no denying that last year was a struggle for the Commodores, enough of a struggle for them to boot Bryce Drew after just three seasons. Unfortunately, that tends to happen after a winless conference season. Stackhouse takes over at Vanderbilt with plenty of work ahead, but how will the rookie head coach fare in a conference stacked with great coaches?

Stackhouse played his college ball under Dean Smith at North Carolina before a long NBA career, which included a pair of All-Star games. The talented guard bounced around throughout 18 years in the NBA, retiring in 2013. He began his coaching career on the Raptors’ bench in 2015 before spending two seasons leading their G League squad. Last year, he was an assistant for the Memphis Grizzlies and joins Vanderbilt without any collegiate experience since departing the Tar Heels.

He inherits a Commodores team that lost their last 20 games under Drew and saw injured star Darius Garland become a lottery pick. There are holes to file on this roster and plenty of strides to be made. Stackhouse’s experience coaching Raptors 905 will help him with developing some of these players, but he could struggle to bring big-time talent to Nashville. Competing in the tough SEC, he’s going to be out-recruited by some of these big-name coaches, at least until he proves his mettle as a head coach.

When you look at the experience and accomplishments of the other SEC coaches, it’s not possible to have Stackhouse at any position other than last. We’ll get to see this year how he fares as a coach, though Vanderbilt shouldn’t be expected to compete this upcoming season. This could be a great hire for Vanderbilt, but right now, it’s a rookie coach with a tall task ahead.

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