Vanderbilt knocked off instate rival Tennessee last night and point guard Wade Baldwin was fired up about the victory. His over-the-top clapping as the clock ran out apparently ran afoul of coach Kevin Stallings’ sense of sportsmanship.
But Stallings’ code of conduct apparently doesn’t involve refraining from threatening to the end the lives of his players. We know this part because ESPN cameras captured him yelling, “I’m going to fucking kill you,” at Baldwin.
Very bold choice of words considering the glut of witnesses on hand to hear them.
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With time to reflect, Stallings realized he probably shouldn’t do stuff like that and apologized.
“One of our players acted inappropriately and violated what we believe is good sportsmanship following the game,” Stallings said in the statement. “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. Displaying good sportsmanship is of the highest priority in our program win or lose. I am very remorseful of my actions (Thursday).”
…
“Wade’s got some things to learn, some growing up to do, if he’s going to play in this program,” Stallings said after the game. ” … We will not do that, not get by with that. We believe in sportsmanship, and that’s not a part of who we are, who we’re going to be. He better understand that’s his one, and it better never happen again.”
For what it’s worth, Baldwin isn’t holding a public grudge.
Score one for the old-school, Bobby Knight crowd, I guess. Real men threaten murder to build the character of young men. Any idiot knows that.
[H/T: The Tennessean]