Bryce Drew replacing Kevin Stallings as Vanderbilt Commodores coach

The Vanderbilt Commodores will have a new head coach next season.

After Kevin Stallings left to become the next head coach at Pitt following a tumultuous 2015-16 season, the Dores are hiring Valparaiso's Bryce Drew to become the school's next head coach.

Drew, who's most remembered for his shot to beat Ole Miss in the 1998 NCAA Tournament, has gone 125-49 in the past five years at Valpo, including two NCAA Tournament appearances. This season, Drew led the Crusaders to a 30-7 record and an appearance in the NIT title game before losing to George Washington.

Amazingly, Stallings has been with Vandy since the 1999-2000 season and yet has just two Sweet 16 trips and hasn't made it past the first weekend since the 2006-07 season. Drew will now take over a program that opened the year as a top-20 team in all major polls before barely squeaking into the NCAA Tournament.

Stallings' teams had a knack for getting some of his worst teams to outperform their expectations and sometimes even sneak into the Big Dance. But is was his frequent failures and early exits from the tournament with his best teams that had everyone howling for his job this offseason before he landed at Pitt.

Just looking at this year's team, the Dores had anywhere from 3-5 future pros on the roster in addition to a pair of first-round prospects in Damian Jones and Wade Baldwin IV. There's no excuse for that team to go 19-14 and lose to the likes of Arkansas, Ole Miss, Miss. State, Tennessee and then get hammered by Wichita State in the First Four Round.

Hopefully the end of Stallings' frequently underperforming Vandy teams means Bryce Drew comes in and adds more respectability to the SEC, a league in shambles and lacking national respect outside of Lexington, Kentucky.