Is The Program Now Better Or Worse Than When Dixon Became HC?
- Thread starter mike412
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The problem with this argument is that Dixon's success at Pitt was not short lived. His first 7 years at Pitt were outstanding and beyond what we could have expected unless Pitt had hired an elite coach which was never an option. By 2009, Dixon has taken Pitt to two sweet 16's and one elite 8. He had the record of top tier coach and almost everyone believed that Dixon had the potential, if not trend, of becoming an elite coach. Those accomplishment's alone justify Dixon's hiring and extensions.
My personal opinion is that Dixon's long term contract gave Dixon the security to take some chances, when it came to recruiting and style. That change in style has backfired and resulted in poor results the past 5 years. If he is willing and able to take a step back and resume his previous style, I think he will return to posting good to very good results.
Maybe. But there certainly seems to be fans who have a certain glee when posting anti-Dixon stuff after losses.
Honestly, that's a debate in which I'd rather not engage. . As someone who has taken quite a bit of flak over the years for purported negative posts, my observation is that there have always been a group of posters who have been ultrasensitive to criticism of the BB program and the head coach and had the proclivity to counter those criticisms with sharp personal attacks.. But having said that, there are also those who have rendered somewhat unjustified criticism at times who have contended that any counter to their criticism was reflective of a pro Dixon bias as opposed to a legitimate argument to the contrary on the merits. In any event, I just don't believe that true fans would rather see Pitt fail in order to substantiate their position. The end!
As someone who probably counters criticisms with personal attacks, I can say that, for me, it has nothing to do with being a Jamie lover or whatever tag you want to use. What frustrates me is when people resort to hyperbole to criticize the program. There are plenty of totally valid criticisms, and I'd much rather talk about those than read a litany of "so-and-so sucks and isn't an ACC player/coach/court scrubbing dude." Maybe I should take more of the responsibility on my end, but after reading dozens of posts like that it gets aggravating and I get flippant.
Anyway, maybe it's food for thought for me going forward. I'm getting way too reflective over my sports message board habits.
Perfectly understandable, rational response. On the length of the contract, I must say, however, that i believe there is absolutely no correlation between Dixon's contract security and his approach to recruiting. I don't believe he ever felt he was "taking a risk" by going after higher profile players. Truth is, he simply mis-evaluated the talent of the higher caliber recruits(on paper)he chased and successfully got for Pitt, and really simply missed out on most of them. Other than Taylor and Birch, how many other guys has Dixon convinced to come on board the last 5 years who haven't fit the typical Dixon profile of being under the radar, slightly under recruited guys? My fear is that the length of the contract has and will continue to make him intractable with respect to self-evaluating his staff and overall approach and being to willing to adapt and change. Something is broken and unless he goes through some sort of self-analysis and makes some changes, there's little chance he turns this around.
I fear I was not specific enough when I said change in his recruiting. It started prior to the last 5 years but I think Dixon started emphasizing offensive skills and versatility rather than post play/size in his recruiting of forwards/centers. We used to have brutes down low such as Troutman, Blair, Gray, and Taft. I am not sure if Jamie stopped looking for that, but he has not found it with any consistency in the past 5 years. Patterson, Young, and Artis are more of slashers/face up players than back to basket post players. Now with Artis and Patterson that makes sense since they should play the 3 spot, but with Young it's a problem. We don't have a strong low post player and when Pitt has played a physical team the past two years they typically lose.
This theory is not clear cut since Adams was a strong low post player, but the fact remains that since Zanna graduated Pitt has really lacked strength down low. I think Dixon realized the weakness and tried to address it with graduate transfers which has not succeeded.
I think all of this is fixed but it start's with Dixon seeing the problem and owning it. If he remains stubborn to the problems, then he deserves his fate.
How many NCAA games did we win under Paul Evans? I'll give you a clue, it is between 0 and 2. With all of that talent. Do you know how many 4-5 star type talents Evans had? Aiken. Smith. Lane. Brookin. Gore. Martin. Shorter. Miller. Porter. McNeal. Matthews. You give Jamie those teams and we have a Final 4.
At some point, people need to stop holding on to 2004-2011. Really, how long does the capital from that stretch last?
Just one? That pretty much makes his post worthy of wrapping fish with.
That is also a strawman argument. (I love that completely overused narrative on this specific board). It is happening now. Now is relevant. There isn't an "I told you so" component. It is what it is. And to ridiculous refute arguments against or defend Jamie just based on trying to counter the "I told you so" narrative is absolutely silly.
It is what it is. That's it.
That's fair. And that is another indictment of our former leadership being irresponsible with the coiffures of this Athletic Department.
Yes, the hairdos, especially Jamie's, have been totally unacceptable. I hear that's why Wanny left.
Ultimately, not a hell of a lot of difference in not getting to the next level whether it be for lack of coaching or recruiting. Will Dixon ever recruit the caliber of players you cite in your post?
FWIW, Pitt didn't even announce 5,000. They announced 3,800. And if they announced 3,800....
If we ever do fire/lose Dixon, we better hire a coach willing to cheat if we are to compete in the ACC at the level that people on this board desire.
