Vanderbilt head coach Melanie Balcomb disagrees with an official in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Tennessee on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)Vanderbilt athletic director David Williams is preaching patience when it comes to evaluating the job status of his basketball coaches, Kevin Stallings and Melanie Balcomb, but he said the length of their remaining contracts will not be a factor “either way.”
On Wednesday, Williams said, “You kind of wait until the end (of the season to evaluate coaches). People need to understand that you need to be fair in this. We have standards and we want to meet those standards, but at the same time, we always want to be fair in how we do it.”
Williams said he spent much of Wednesday morning taking calls and answering emails from frustrated fans after Vanderbilt’s men lost 75-74 at Mississippi State Tuesday night, a loss that ultimately could keep the Commodores out of the NCAA Tournament. Criticism over Balcomb’s performance also has hovered over the women’s team, which has lost five straight games.