There was a moment, however fleeting it might have been, when Justice Kithcart worried if he still would be wanted at a place he thought to be his next home.
Since signing his national letter of intent in November, the plan had been straightforward enough — he would go to Pitt, play for coach Jamie Dixon and from there, he would see where his talent and drive would take him.
But when Dixon left for TCU in late March, and in the six days in which Pitt searched for a successor, Kithcart couldn’t help but wonder about a future that once seemed so firm.
Those internal struggles were not drastically different from what fellow high school senior and Pitt signee Corey Manigault encountered. The two, however, reached the same conclusion after de-committing from the school after it hired Kevin Stallings as its next coach — they would stick to their original choice.
Kithcart and Manigault’s respective decisions represented one of Stallings’ first victories in his tenure, holding on to two strong recruits who could have easily been casualties of a coaching transition. For the players, as taxing as it was to make such an important decision in a week, the Panthers’ new coach played a major part in reselling them to the program.
“When I talked to him, he seemed like a straight shooter,” Kithcart said. “I felt like he had a good mindset for the team, a good mindset for me and I could tell he really wanted me. He liked the type of player I was and felt like I could fit in his system. That was great, getting that from him.”
Kithcart, a 6-foot-1 point guard from Durham, N.C., and Manigault, a 6-foot-8 forward from Suitland, Md., committed to the Panthers last year.
On March 28, the day Stallings was presented as coach, both opted to reopen their recruitment. It was a move, they explained, that had less to do with Pitt and more with an uncertain and evolving situation. Each wanted to take time, talk with their families and evaluate whether their chosen destination was still the right fit.
“It happened so fast,” Manigault said. “I didn’t really know what to do.”
Within 24 hours of his introductory news conference, Stallings called both players to express his interest in keeping them with the Panthers.
Kithcart was recruited by Stallings at Vanderbilt when the latter was the coach there. This four-star recruit was familiar with the coach’s style of play, one that gave guards more freedom and was faster-paced than the system Dixon utilized. With longtime point guard James Robinson graduating, he also sensed a window of opportunity.
“He was straight up with me,” Kithcart said. “He didn’t try to sell me a dream. He didn’t try to do too much. He told me how it was going to be. I feel like I can fit into his playing style. He’s a coach who lets his players play and that’s something I really like.”
Upon hearing from Stallings, Manigault watched films of his Vanderbilt teams. What he saw were forwards who were allowed to play to their strengths, including big men who could stretch the floor in the same way he believes he can.
At a fragile point in his life, Manigault didn’t feel suffocated by Stallings, either, something that proved to be important.
“He didn’t want to force me to do anything,” he said. “He just kind of left it up to me. I really liked that. He just had that good vibe from the start.”
Both players said they plan on arriving on campus in May or June. Once there, they will be joined by fellow signee Crisshawn Clark, a junior college transfer, and the yet-to-be-determined final member of Pitt’s 2016 recruiting class.
A future that seemed up in the air five weeks ago for the two prospects is now solidified.
“When I reopened my commitment, a bunch of schools were trying to come after me,” Manigault said. “It just felt right at Pittsburgh — the city, the people there. There was just something about Pittsburgh.”
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG.
First Published: May 3, 2016, 4:00 a.m.