Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings will not be suspended

Kevin Stallings

AP

AP

Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings berated freshman guard Wade Baldwin IV on Thursday night for an unsportsmanlike act in the closing seconds of the Commodores’ 73-65 win over Tennessee.

Stallings was caught on camera saying, “I’ll f***ing kill you.” Stallings was quick to apologize to Baldwin following the incident.

On Friday afternoon, the university decided it would not suspend its head basketball coach, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.

“After the game, an incident occurred in which I need to apologize for,” Stallings said on Thursday night following the incident. “One of our players acted inappropriately and violated what we believe is good sportsmanship following the game,” Stallings said following the game.

“In my haste to resolve the situation, I made a very inappropriate comment. While obviously it was not meant literally, it was still inappropriate. I apologized to the player immediately following the game, although displaying good sportsmanship is of the highest priority in our program.”

Baldwin was seen clapping in Amani Moore’s face as Moore was walking to the Tennessee bench. Irritated by the gesture, a Tennessee assistant coach alerted Stallings in the postgame handshake line to what had transpired moments earlier.

“Wade’s got some things to learn, some growing up to do if he’s going to play in this program,” Stallings said via David Cobb of Knoxville News Sentinel. One of their assistants said he went and clapped in one of their players faces after the game. We will not do that, not get by with that. We believe in sportsmanship, and that’s not part of who we are, who we’re going to be. He better understand that’s his one and it better never happen again.”

Baldwin posted on Twitter that he took no offense from the incident.

Vanderbilt hosts Alabama on Saturday evening.

Follow @terrence_payne