Ouch!
- Thread starter Protes
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Like I said before, the headline is slightly inaccurate. Pitt didn't let Jamie leave. They pushed him out. But otherwise, the article does amplify the obvious facts about how badly this program has degenerated since Jamie left, thanks to some idiotic decisions by AD's and some very poor hires recently, especially the last one. What a bill of goods we were sold on that one!
Update on headline.
TCU loses heartbreaker.
Dixon is gone.
Lincoln is dead.
Eve bit the apple.
Get on with your lives.
Yes. We need to get on with our bottom feeder basketball program. Looking forward to 10 wins a season and slim prospects of getting into any post-season tourney for at least the next 2 Capel years.
What hurt Pitt more was making the worst hire of all time. I don't think it would have been possible to screw up that hire more unless the new coach had turned out to be a serial killer.
And even then... It's debatable.
And even then... It's debatable.
I was responding to your post. My reply was an inference that a serial killer that gets to 2nd weekend is acceptable…..in jest.
The jig was up the minute Barnes forced Jamie out. It seems like a different lifetime.....12 NCAA's in a row a few Sweet 16's....JD being the fastest coach to 200 wins in NCAA history, and yet that wasn't good enough.
Good to see Jamie having success and once again Pitt gets what it deserves....just like forcing out Jackie Sherrill and getting Foge....
The jig was up the moment Pitt lost to Butler in 2011. A lot of Pitt would never come to grips with that as long as Jamie Dixon was still on the sideline.
Sherrill's program was competing at a high level. It had been 5 years since Jamie had done so.
Because he won a game 6 years later?? Maybe if he had won one for the 6th straight year
It’s amazing how little success Howland and Dixon and Pitt independently have had in the tournament the last 5 or 6 years. That’s the first win for any of ‘’em.
And it’s insane to say they “switched places” with Pitt. Haven’t even had a winning conference record.
Dont get me wrong - him leaving was part of our demise. But it’s not like he has been lighting it up there.
It’s amazing how little success Howland and Dixon and Pitt independently have had in the tournament the last 5 or 6 years. That’s the first win for any of ‘’em.
And it’s insane to say they “switched places” with Pitt. Haven’t even had a winning conference record.
Dont get me wrong - him leaving was part of our demise. But it’s not like he has been lighting it up there.
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They went to 3 more tournaments in the next 5 years.
It is again, astonishing, that for a dude who said that Narduzzi's performance from 2017 till 2021 was amazing, that you can seriously say the last 5 years of Dixon were awful.
That last 5 years of Dixon's tenure stuff that Pitt haters keep throwing out there is a fallacy. It's just pushed by certain people who know nothing about Pitt basketball.
I think it’s funny some PITT fans think we are supposed to watch everything burn and never complain about the stupidity of pushing Dixon out in the first place… “move on”… move on? To what? It’s absurd. It was obvious when it happened this would be the results without a serious real plan… the second it became apparent that Barnes was going to some paid consultant you knew it was a jacked up back door deal… then… he bailed and left so he’d never face a single consequence… but PITT fans aren’t supposed to say anything about any of it…right
Again, they don’t want to be reminded of how dreadful their opinion that Dixon was east to replace was.
I understand that we have to move on from Dixon because we have no choice. What astonishes me are those who belittle his accomplishments especially in light of what has happened since and how bleak the future looks like.
Dixon averaged 25 win a year for 13 years. The best run in our basketball history. He had 2 #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, the 2nd one with Gary MCGhee as our starting center and Nasir Robinson as our starting PF. When we left the Big East he had the highest winning percentage of any coach in conference history. He won consistently and with class.
Purdue’s Matt Painter is a similar coach with a similar high winning percentage who wins with defense, valuing the ball and taking good shots. 2 years ago after going 16-15, the Purdue fan base was tired of him and wanted him out saying the same things our fan base said about Dixon. Instead of listening to the fans and boosters, Purdue stuck with him and he rebounded with a 4 seed last year and a 3 seed 29-7 record this year.
He also has never made a final 4 but has made an elite 8 just like Dixon. But who do you think has a better chance to make a final 4 in the next 5 years, Pitt or Purdue?
Excellent post! It states the facts and reality. I, too, am astonished at those who insist on belittling what Dixon had accomplished here, then spout off fallacies and lies to justify their opinions.
I'm a big fan of Matt Painter as he is doing at Purdue what Dixon did here. He wins with great defense, rebounding, unselfish play. And Purdue refused to listen to their boosters, which is to their credit. Pitt should learn from that and tell these big money boosters to STFU and let these big boy decisions up to the AD. That being said, I don't have a whole lot of confidence that our current AD is capable of making the right decision. I know our previous one didn't.
High enough to make the NCAA's.....and of course he's led his new team to 4 20 win seasons a couple of NCAA and won the NIT. Of course the anti-Jamie crowd will never admit it was a mistake to force him out. Meanwhile Pitt is in the middle of their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness
20 win seasons, NITs, and 8/9 seeds with first weekend exits will only cut it for so long. That's pretty much the way it is everywhere. 5 years of that trending downward from where the program had been will get you ran at a lot of places. Especially true when the style of play is boring and attendance is shrinking. That's the nature of the business.
So how's it worked out for each party respectively? Right now a 8 or 9 seed and first weekend exit looks like success. Pitt is light years from an NIT invite at this point.
Dixon has won 1 NCAAT game in 6 years with a top 10 budget. You’re right. Time to move on. He’s won 2 NCAAT games in 12 years.
Where we are now has nothing to do with letting Dixon go and everything to do with the administrative incompetence that has followed.
They are not mutually exclusive. Where we are now has everything to do with letting Jamie go and also speaks to the ineptitude of Barnes et.al.
Pitt administration took a top 25-30 program and made it a bottom 25-30 program.
What metric are you using to get top 25-30? Only one of Jamie's last 5 teams finished ranked (2012-13 team was ranked 20) I think a top 25-30 type of program would have more than 1 NCAA tourney win in 5 years. I would also think their overall conference record would be better than 45-45.
Jamie's last 5 years, Pitt was a non-factor competing for conference crowns, a non-factor in conference tournaments, and a non-factor in the NCAA tourney.
The program was considerably worse in Jamie's last 5 years than it was in the last 2 years under Ben Howland. That isn't even debatable.
Seriously though, What would you do if you were Barnes in 2016? The program WAS in decline. Attendance was waning, a lot of fans were bitching, some boosters wanted Jamie gone. I don't think there was anything on Jamie's roster or anything in his overall attitude or demeanor that gave anybody very much confidence that things were going to get any better. I thought it was fairly obvious to anyone looking at the program objectively that things were likely to get worse. Under those circumstances, if TCU, Jamie's alma mater, comes sniffing around, what would you recommend he do?
Jamie Dixon and Scott Barnes have been in the business for a long time. I'm sure they had a good idea how things were ultimately going to play out and that it wasn't going to be pretty. Kudos to both for doing what they needed to do to extend their career.
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