Paul VI Catholic High School (VA) forward Corey Manigault confirmed to The Pitt News on Tuesday he will stay committed to Pitt, despite former Panthers head coach Jamie Dixon’s move to Texas Christian University.
After Dixon’s decision to leave Pitt for his alma mater, three big commits were in the air for Pitt next season: Manigault; Crisshawn Clark, who’s currently attending Cañada College; and Justice Kithcart, a point guard from Durham, North Carolina.
Manigault said on Tuesday that he’s decided to stay at Pitt, defending the new head coach Kevin Stallings, despite ongoing controversy over his hire.
“I’ve just been watching film on Stallings’ teams and how he coaches, seeing how he uses his bigs,” Manigault said, “… just the overall city of Pittsburgh and the fans are all great.”
Now we need @CoreyDoeee to convince @JayKit_ to stay as well! #H2P
— Moose (@moose_rebar) March 29, 2016
Kithcart is still deciding on whether he’ll decommit from Pitt. According to an interview with his father in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday, he’s not sure who to “trust” after Dixon’s move.
Clark announced over Twitter on Tuesday that he was re-opening his recruitment prospects.
There’s a new head Coach in town that I need to build a relationship with before I stay committed to something that I have no clue about.
— Crisshawn Clark (@Ohio_Shawn3) March 29, 2016
On a TribLIVE radio show Tuesday morning, Stallings said he will focus on nailing down next year’s team over the next 20 days.
“We will certainly be trying to recruit, re-recruit in some cases, some guys that have signed here that are thinking about, you know, going elsewhere,” Stallings said.