Vanderbilt Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Commodores

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 16: The Vanderbilt Commodores band performs in the second half against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 16, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images) /

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NASHVILLE, TN – FEBRUARY 16: Matt Ryan #32, Aaron Nesmith #24, and Saben Lee #0 of the Vanderbilt Commodores huddle up during the second half of a 64-53 loss to the Auburn Tigers at Memorial Gym on February 16, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images) /

Jerry Stackhouse enters his first season as the head man for Vanderbilt Basketball. How will the Commodores stack up in 2019-20?

Vanderbilt Basketball was the latest team to continue the trend of hiring former college stars being hired as coaches, despite having no head coaching experience at the collegiate level. Patrick Ewing and Penny Hardaway were some of the first ones and Juwan Howard was another this summer. Former North Carolina standout Jerry Stackhouse was tabbed by Vanderbilt to be their head coach.

Prior to this season, Stackhouse had spent two seasons as an assistant in the NBA and two seasons as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors G-League affiliate. Stackhouse was brought in to replace Bryce Drew who struggled in three seasons in Nashville. Despite making the NCAA Tournament in his first season, the team struggled to a 6-30 league mark over the last two, including an 0-18 mark last year.

After seeing the team reach the NIT or NCAA Tournament in 12 of the 17 years under embattled coach Kevin Stallings, they made the quick decision to move on from Drew and hand the reins to Stackhouse. So, the newly minted head coach inherits a team that won nine games a season ago, with their biggest wins coming against a pair of Pac-12 teams, USC and Arizona State.

The SEC has been one of the more dominant conferences in the country for a long time, and the powers that be, hope that Stackhouse can be the one that leads the Commodores back to relevancy in the conference. His first season should set the tone for what a Jerry Stackhouse led program will look like.

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