Paul Zeise notes from last night. . .

[Franb]

Some good stuff in here:
http://sportsblogs.post-gazette.com...Wednesday-News-and-Notes/stories/201602170002

 

[JD1976]

Some good stuff in here:
http://sportsblogs.post-gazette.com...Wednesday-News-and-Notes/stories/201602170002

Quote a lot of words written by Zeise. I love his style.

Here is his take on Dixon.

**** This is the first time I can ever remember so much discontent from fans and people around the program. I have even got lots of emails and seen lots of calls on various forms of social media for Jamie Dixon to be fired or move on. I would suggest many of you put down the pipe that you are smoking because it apparently has some really good – yet probably still mostly illegal in this state – stuff in it.

Look, I get it, you are frustrated and you should be. The program is not where it was a few years ago and you are not used to seeing the team struggle like this. There seems to be a few guys who don’t always give the kind of effort you expect from Jamie Dixon coached teams.

So I am not going to sit here and sugar coat it – the program has slipped, in some areas badly, and the numbers back that up as does the fact that we’ve seen some smaller crowds this year than we have in the past. It is just where things are right now and there is no way to deny it.

But that being said, Pitt is nowhere near the point of a coaching change so let’s get that out of the way now. There is no reason to discuss it because it isn’t going to happen – and let me add this, nor should it.

I’m not one of these “LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED TO BC SINCE THEY GOT RID OF AL SKINNER” guys, I think that is dumb logic. Actually, that is extremely dumb. You can’t be afraid to make a change because sometimes teams had made a change and ended up worse.

For every story like that, I can give you stories where a change was made to a successful team or program and it turned out even better than expected (see, most recent example, that football team from Denver) so it is a case by case thing and we need to get away from these “one size fits all” narratives when it comes to coaching changes.

Now all of that being said – in this case Pitt isn’t or shouldn’t be at a place where this is even an option so let’s deal with what’s realistic.

If there is a legitimate criticism of the past few years it is that there have been too many misses in recruiting and that needs to change.

And it sounds like as a result that means there may be a little bit of staff shuffling that goes on in the offseason which is a general, non-knee jerk, rational move that many programs go through when things start to go south a little bit.

I’m not sure what that means in terms of each individual assistant but I am assuming it means there me be a change or two that is coming down the pike – and that isn’t a bad thing as assistants often benefit as much from a change of scenery as programs benefit from an influx of new blood and ideas.

Jamie is an excellent basketball coach, Pitt is very fortunate to have a guy who works so hard and put so much into winning and has had so much success.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things he needs to evaluate in his program and try to do better and clearly he needs to get recruiting back on track – especially for big men – and I’m sure if you talked to him, he’d agree with you.

The problem I have with the new world of social media, message boards and “I want to be the loudest and most outrageous” brand of sports talk is that every one of these discussions is “all or nothing” or “the worst or the greatest” – there is never any room for the in between and common sense.

Hopefully, for Pitt’s sake, with a few changes and maybe the influx of a different cast of characters, things get back on track for the program and people can calm back down.

 

[cabe23]

It sounds like Zeise was saying he has heard there will be some staff changes.

 

[KiwiJeff]

Quote a lot of words written by Zeise. I love his style.

Here is his take on Dixon.

**** This is the first time I can ever remember so much discontent from fans and people around the program. I have even got lots of emails and seen lots of calls on various forms of social media for Jamie Dixon to be fired or move on. I would suggest many of you put down the pipe that you are smoking because it apparently has some really good – yet probably still mostly illegal in this state – stuff in it.

Look, I get it, you are frustrated and you should be. The program is not where it was a few years ago and you are not used to seeing the team struggle like this. There seems to be a few guys who don’t always give the kind of effort you expect from Jamie Dixon coached teams.

So I am not going to sit here and sugar coat it – the program has slipped, in some areas badly, and the numbers back that up as does the fact that we’ve seen some smaller crowds this year than we have in the past. It is just where things are right now and there is no way to deny it.

But that being said, Pitt is nowhere near the point of a coaching change so let’s get that out of the way now. There is no reason to discuss it because it isn’t going to happen – and let me add this, nor should it.

I’m not one of these “LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED TO BC SINCE THEY GOT RID OF AL SKINNER” guys, I think that is dumb logic. Actually, that is extremely dumb. You can’t be afraid to make a change because sometimes teams had made a change and ended up worse.

For every story like that, I can give you stories where a change was made to a successful team or program and it turned out even better than expected (see, most recent example, that football team from Denver) so it is a case by case thing and we need to get away from these “one size fits all” narratives when it comes to coaching changes.

Now all of that being said – in this case Pitt isn’t or shouldn’t be at a place where this is even an option so let’s deal with what’s realistic.

If there is a legitimate criticism of the past few years it is that there have been too many misses in recruiting and that needs to change.

And it sounds like as a result that means there may be a little bit of staff shuffling that goes on in the offseason which is a general, non-knee jerk, rational move that many programs go through when things start to go south a little bit.

I’m not sure what that means in terms of each individual assistant but I am assuming it means there me be a change or two that is coming down the pike – and that isn’t a bad thing as assistants often benefit as much from a change of scenery as programs benefit from an influx of new blood and ideas.

Jamie is an excellent basketball coach, Pitt is very fortunate to have a guy who works so hard and put so much into winning and has had so much success.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things he needs to evaluate in his program and try to do better and clearly he needs to get recruiting back on track – especially for big men – and I’m sure if you talked to him, he’d agree with you.

The problem I have with the new world of social media, message boards and “I want to be the loudest and most outrageous” brand of sports talk is that every one of these discussions is “all or nothing” or “the worst or the greatest” – there is never any room for the in between and common sense.

Hopefully, for Pitt’s sake, with a few changes and maybe the influx of a different cast of characters, things get back on track for the program and people can calm back down.

Very nice take. Rational and informative. A breath of fresh air. His pet peeve is mine, too much hyperbole to make a point. Pitt fans are worst in the world at that and NEVER make a point with merit.

 

[Saboteur]

Very nice take. Rational and informative. A breath of fresh air. His pet peeve is mine, too much hyperbole to make a point. Pitt fans are worst in the world at that and NEVER make a point with merit.

If you are going to be bad at something at least be the world's worst.

 

[Bethlehemjohn]

Quote a lot of words written by Zeise. I love his style.

Here is his take on Dixon.

**** This is the first time I can ever remember so much discontent from fans and people around the program. I have even got lots of emails and seen lots of calls on various forms of social media for Jamie Dixon to be fired or move on. I would suggest many of you put down the pipe that you are smoking because it apparently has some really good – yet probably still mostly illegal in this state – stuff in it.

Look, I get it, you are frustrated and you should be. The program is not where it was a few years ago and you are not used to seeing the team struggle like this. There seems to be a few guys who don’t always give the kind of effort you expect from Jamie Dixon coached teams.

So I am not going to sit here and sugar coat it – the program has slipped, in some areas badly, and the numbers back that up as does the fact that we’ve seen some smaller crowds this year than we have in the past. It is just where things are right now and there is no way to deny it.

But that being said, Pitt is nowhere near the point of a coaching change so let’s get that out of the way now. There is no reason to discuss it because it isn’t going to happen – and let me add this, nor should it.

I’m not one of these “LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED TO BC SINCE THEY GOT RID OF AL SKINNER” guys, I think that is dumb logic. Actually, that is extremely dumb. You can’t be afraid to make a change because sometimes teams had made a change and ended up worse.

For every story like that, I can give you stories where a change was made to a successful team or program and it turned out even better than expected (see, most recent example, that football team from Denver) so it is a case by case thing and we need to get away from these “one size fits all” narratives when it comes to coaching changes.

Now all of that being said – in this case Pitt isn’t or shouldn’t be at a place where this is even an option so let’s deal with what’s realistic.

If there is a legitimate criticism of the past few years it is that there have been too many misses in recruiting and that needs to change.

And it sounds like as a result that means there may be a little bit of staff shuffling that goes on in the offseason which is a general, non-knee jerk, rational move that many programs go through when things start to go south a little bit.

I’m not sure what that means in terms of each individual assistant but I am assuming it means there me be a change or two that is coming down the pike – and that isn’t a bad thing as assistants often benefit as much from a change of scenery as programs benefit from an influx of new blood and ideas.

Jamie is an excellent basketball coach, Pitt is very fortunate to have a guy who works so hard and put so much into winning and has had so much success.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things he needs to evaluate in his program and try to do better and clearly he needs to get recruiting back on track – especially for big men – and I’m sure if you talked to him, he’d agree with you.

The problem I have with the new world of social media, message boards and “I want to be the loudest and most outrageous” brand of sports talk is that every one of these discussions is “all or nothing” or “the worst or the greatest” – there is never any room for the in between and common sense.

Hopefully, for Pitt’s sake, with a few changes and maybe the influx of a different cast of characters, things get back on track for the program and people can calm back down.

Sounds a lot like what I said the other day about no middle ground. Most think we're either great or we suck.