Stephen Thompson's Pitt chat: 04.21.26
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Stephen Thompson
12:59
Welcome to this afternoon's Pitt sports live chat. Happy to take any and all questions about the basketball transfer portal, spring football takeaways, the NFL Draft or anything else on your mind. Fire away.
PAtoNC
1:01
What do you think are the biggest remaining needs for the Pitt basketball roster?
Stephen Thompson
1:05
The Panthers made really good frontcourt additions this offseason but they could still use a backup center behind Amari Mighty. After that, there's not a lot of "needs," in my opinion. You'll never turn down one or two more shooters to help this year's squad and the Panthers might want another developmental high school prospect. But after doing some nice work early this spring, they can really fill these remaining four roster spots with any number of different player profiles.
Andy Carnegie
1:07
Man, I'd love to see Pitt fire Capel and bring in Billy Donovan.  See if Donovan is willing to come in now in some kind of consultant/advisory role and take over after the season.
Stephen Thompson
1:11
Barring some kind of massive scandal, Jeff Capel will be the head coach of the Pitt Panthers this fall. And I wouldn't hold your breath on Donovan coming to Pittsburgh in any capacity. Not only would it be extremely unusual for a head coach with his resume to take an assistant or consultant role, but he would also become one of the hottest commodities on the coaching market should he return to the college game. Without knowing exactly what jobs will be available next year, Pitt would likely have to beat out some of the biggest brands in the sport to get Donovan in blue and gold.
Me Ed
1:11
I assume at this juncture they fill out the roster with players who will only see action in early non conference games or closing minutes of blowouts? I’m figuring it’s kinda tough to fill out the roster with any guys  that can give quality minutes in ACC action now  since those types want playing time and they see that there are guys  already ahead of them.
Stephen Thompson
1:14
That's also where I'm at with the current state of the basketball roster, Mr. Ed. I think the vast majority of the rotation will be made up of the guys whose names we already know.

A backup center could still be in the cards, and maybe Barry Dunning Jr. or Cam Corhen get an extra year of eligibility from President Trump's recent executive order (though that piece of legislation seems unlikely to hold up in court). But I'd expect the remaining four spots to be filled with either depth pieces or freshmen that will spend much of this season developing their games.
PAtoNC
1:19
In what round does Kyle Louis get drafted? Any predictions on what team selects him? Are there any other Pitt players you think will be drafted?
Stephen Thompson
1:22
I am expecting Kyle Louis to hear his name called sometime in the latter half of round two, which is an outstanding landing spot given where his draft stock was before the 2025 season began and ended. I've seen him mocked to the Rams and Texans by ESPN, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Bears or Patriots end up being the ones to pull the trigger on him.

After Louis, the chances of a Pitt player getting picked decrease dramatically. Desmond Reid is probably the next most likely Panther to get drafted but obviously the injury history and size will be concerns. Jeff Persi and Javon McIntyre might sneak into the seventh round, but that's about it as far as it goes with players I could reasonably see being drafted.
Leemarvinwannab
1:24
Pitt's AD'S for the last 20 +years have been a disaster. Agree?
Stephen Thompson
1:30
It's tough for me to accurately speak to each athletic director's tenure from this century because I wasn't around the department for many of those years but "disaster" seems like a strong term. There were certainly some controversial decisions or ones made too slowly but it has not been all bad. The football program has recovered from a long, mid-1990s lull, men's basketball emerged as a national power in the 2000s and there has been unprecedented success in non-revenue sports like volleyball and soccer.

I also think fans can often underrate some of the structural disadvantages Pitt faces, whether that's geography, alumni and fan base size or the overall financial situation. There are some things even the best athletic directors in the world can't change.
Erryg
1:33
Is Gilbert Brown still on Pitt’s staff?  There have been stories that Roman Siulepa left because Brown did as well.  Thanks
Stephen Thompson
1:35
We had been hearing rumors about Gilbert Brown too, Erryg, but seems that they're nothing more than just rumors, at least for now. Brown still has a profile on the team's website and there's been no indication more coaching staff changes are coming to the Panthers (outside of filling the one remaining assistant coaching staff vacancy).
Bill
1:35
Any idea how much NIL the Pitt  B-ball  players going through the Portal received?
Stephen Thompson
1:37
The people we talk to who are familiar with Pitt basketball's NIL and revenue sharing spending tend to be tight-lipped about specific numbers, Bill. But I can say that the Panthers are spending significantly more on their roster this season than they did last season and I believe it to be more than enough money with which to build an NCAA tournament-caliber roster.
John Capel
1:57
Hi Stephen-as my buddy said calling Pitts separation from Siulepa "mutual" is like Heidi Klum breaking up with me and calling it "mutual." Do you have any other insight on why Pitt couldn't keep him around? Money? Relationships with ousted coaches?
Stephen Thompson
2:02
Often times, what you hear about why a player left a program sounds like a petty "He said, he said" situation to me. But "mutual" can also be the god's honest truth sometimes. Players and coaches can have disagreements about what role the player will have or how much they should be paid and that disagreement doesn't have to be rooted in animosity. Both sides can go their separate ways without any hard feelings.

I don't have specific insights into Siulepa's situation specifically, but I'd suspect there was no one reason why he left, but rather the convergence of a few different things.
That's all I've got for this live chat. Thanks for joining and enjoy your NFL Draft weekend.
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