Do we know if Bryant Stith can coach?

This Longwood coaching search has been tighter than a lid on a pickle jar thus far into the process. We’ve heard more about candidates interested in Longwood more so than candidates Longwood is interested in. One of those candidates is former Virginia star Bryant Stith, who is currently an assistant coach at Old Dominion.

Stith’s basketball resume is undoubtedly impressive. He scored over 2,500 points at UVa, was a first round NBA draft pick, and played in the NBA for 10 seasons. After his professional career, Stith moved to his native Lawrenceville, Virginia to “get away from basketball”.

Stith couldn’t escape the game and rather began his coaching career at local Brunswick High School where he lead the Bulldogs to seven straight state championship games, winning three of them with his sons Brandan and BJ.

When it was time that both of Stith’s sons would join the college ranks at East Carolina and Virginia, the former NBA veteran expressed interest in stepping up to the college ranks. In an interview with WRIC 8 in 2013, Stith said “I will coach anywhere in the country except the University of Virginia and East Carolina over the next four or five years.”

Stith wasn’t lying and joined his former head coach Jeff Jones at Old Dominion in the Spring of 2013. But there is a bit of a catch in this story, as both BJ and Brandan transferred to play for the Monarchs upon Stith’s arrival in Norfolk.

Listen, I can’t fault a pair of sons wanting to play for their father, but it does infer a reason and brings up a fair question… do we know if Stith can coach? I don’t know the answer to that question and chances are neither do you.

Stith obviously has some coaching acumen, as you just don’t stumble into seven straight state title games. But does high school success translate to college success? Does his name hold any weight beyond Virginia fans in their forties or older? Would he have been a viable candidate in the 2013 coaching search at Longwood?

I could be wrong, Bryant Stith may get a shot at a head coaching job somewhere and knock it out of the park. Maybe we’ll never know. He just isn’t a risk worth taking right now for Longwood because we have to ask the question “do we know if he can coach?”.