Ron Cook: Dixon underappreciated at Pitt, but he might regret TCU decision
March 21, 2016 6:17 PM
Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette
Former Pitt basketball coach Jamie Dixon, who announced he was leaving Monday to coach at TCU, poses near the Cathedral of Learning in 2010.
TCU?
Really?
Good luck to Jamie Dixon.
I mean that sincerely.
Dixon is one of the true gentlemen in sports. Beyond that, he left a mark on Pitt basketball during a 13-year run that will be difficult, if not impossible, to match. Chances are those who wanted him out will regret that wish.
Dixon had phenomenal success at Pitt — at least in the regular season — beginning with the four seasons he spent as Ben Howland’s top assistant. Not enough Pitt fans recognize that or appreciate that Dixon won two Big East Conference regular-season titles and a league tournament title in his first 10 seasons and had a staggering overall record of 328-123. Dixon took Pitt to the NCAA tournament 11 times as head coach.
Do you know how hard that is?
No, the program didn’t make it to a Final Four. It hasn’t advance beyond the first weekend of the NCAAs since 2009, and the horrendous first-round loss Friday night to Wisconsin is an open, oozing sore. But people forget where Pitt was when Howland/Dixon took over in 2003. The program was an embarrassment, a joke. Dixon built on what Howland started and turned it into a national program. He has spoiled everybody here. And if he felt underappreciated, it’s hard to blame him. He deserves great appreciation for his work.
But that doesn’t mean Dixon won’t end up having regrets, as well. The TCU job is a lesser job. Dixon had established himself at Pitt despite his failures in the NCAA tournament. He will be starting over at TCU, which faces a massive rebuilding effort. TCU is in the Big 12 Conference, a tougher league than the ACC despite the ACC’s success in this year’s NCAAs.
Yes, Dixon is a TCU graduate and a member of its Athletic Hall of Fame, but he has no recruiting ties to the Southwest. He has spent his career recruiting Northeast players, especially New York-area players. And he thought it was tough getting those kids after Pitt left the Big East for the ACC? Tough doesn’t even begin to describe his recruiting challenge at TCU. He has to go up against Kansas and Oklahoma, for starters. Ask West Virginia’s Bob Huggins just how difficult that is for a school based in the Northeast.
Dixon also is walking away from the chance to be a Pitt legend. Pitt has been it for him, the only head job he has known. Joe Paterno used to talk all the time about the importance of staying at one place. The next coach at North Carolina or Duke will be just another coach, but Dixon was making a difference at Pitt. If, by some chance, he would have won a national championship here, he would have been remembered as a hero, one of the greatest in this city’s strong sports history.
But all of that is secondary to what had to be the hardest part of Dixon’s decision to leave. His son, Jack, is 13, his daughter, Shannon, 12. They were born here and have lived here all their life. It has to be incredibly difficult to ask them to leave their school and friends. Their teenage years will be challenging enough without that sort of move. It would be different if Dixon were fired. It would be different if he weren’t making a huge salary, more than $3 million a year. If TCU topped that figure, so what? How much money does a man really need?
But maybe Dixon felt he had to leave Pitt. There is, after all, a new sheriff in town. Dixon had nearly total autonomy under former chancellor Mark Nordenberg and athletic director Steve Pederson. That, apparently, wasn’t the case under new Pitt leaders — chancellor Patrick Gallagher and athletic director Scott Barnes.
Barnes, a former college basketball player at Fresno State with deep ties to the sport, has talked about Pitt strengthening its nonconference schedule and might have been forcing Dixon to make staff changes. Barnes praised Dixon publicly on many occasions, but we all know what a vote of confidence is worth these days, especially when it’s coming from a man who didn’t hire the person getting that vote. Only Barnes and Dixon know how sincere Barnes was. I don’t believe Barnes pushed Dixon out, but I have a hard time thinking he’s crying because Dixon left.
In any case, Barnes must find a new coach. I’m sure most Pitt fans would be thrilled to get one of the Miller boys — Sean or Archie — but it’s hard to imagine either coming back home. They grew up in Beaver Falls, the sons of local high school coaching legend John Miller. Sean was a Pitt star during his playing days. But Sean has a much better job at Arizona, and Archie, a hot coaching commodity at Dayton, might want to wait for a better job than Pitt’s. It’s not as if he’s struggling where he is.
The good news for Pitt is Barnes is well-plugged into the college basketball world.
The bad news is Barnes will have to be really good — not to mention lucky — to find and attract a better coach for Pitt than Dixon.
It is the end of an era here.
It was some terrific era.
Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com and Twitter@RonCookPG. Ron Cook can be heard on the “Cook and Poni” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
March 21, 2016 6:17 PM
Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette
Former Pitt basketball coach Jamie Dixon, who announced he was leaving Monday to coach at TCU, poses near the Cathedral of Learning in 2010.
TCU?
Really?
Good luck to Jamie Dixon.
I mean that sincerely.
Dixon is one of the true gentlemen in sports. Beyond that, he left a mark on Pitt basketball during a 13-year run that will be difficult, if not impossible, to match. Chances are those who wanted him out will regret that wish.
Dixon had phenomenal success at Pitt — at least in the regular season — beginning with the four seasons he spent as Ben Howland’s top assistant. Not enough Pitt fans recognize that or appreciate that Dixon won two Big East Conference regular-season titles and a league tournament title in his first 10 seasons and had a staggering overall record of 328-123. Dixon took Pitt to the NCAA tournament 11 times as head coach.
Do you know how hard that is?
No, the program didn’t make it to a Final Four. It hasn’t advance beyond the first weekend of the NCAAs since 2009, and the horrendous first-round loss Friday night to Wisconsin is an open, oozing sore. But people forget where Pitt was when Howland/Dixon took over in 2003. The program was an embarrassment, a joke. Dixon built on what Howland started and turned it into a national program. He has spoiled everybody here. And if he felt underappreciated, it’s hard to blame him. He deserves great appreciation for his work.
But that doesn’t mean Dixon won’t end up having regrets, as well. The TCU job is a lesser job. Dixon had established himself at Pitt despite his failures in the NCAA tournament. He will be starting over at TCU, which faces a massive rebuilding effort. TCU is in the Big 12 Conference, a tougher league than the ACC despite the ACC’s success in this year’s NCAAs.
Yes, Dixon is a TCU graduate and a member of its Athletic Hall of Fame, but he has no recruiting ties to the Southwest. He has spent his career recruiting Northeast players, especially New York-area players. And he thought it was tough getting those kids after Pitt left the Big East for the ACC? Tough doesn’t even begin to describe his recruiting challenge at TCU. He has to go up against Kansas and Oklahoma, for starters. Ask West Virginia’s Bob Huggins just how difficult that is for a school based in the Northeast.
Dixon also is walking away from the chance to be a Pitt legend. Pitt has been it for him, the only head job he has known. Joe Paterno used to talk all the time about the importance of staying at one place. The next coach at North Carolina or Duke will be just another coach, but Dixon was making a difference at Pitt. If, by some chance, he would have won a national championship here, he would have been remembered as a hero, one of the greatest in this city’s strong sports history.
But all of that is secondary to what had to be the hardest part of Dixon’s decision to leave. His son, Jack, is 13, his daughter, Shannon, 12. They were born here and have lived here all their life. It has to be incredibly difficult to ask them to leave their school and friends. Their teenage years will be challenging enough without that sort of move. It would be different if Dixon were fired. It would be different if he weren’t making a huge salary, more than $3 million a year. If TCU topped that figure, so what? How much money does a man really need?
But maybe Dixon felt he had to leave Pitt. There is, after all, a new sheriff in town. Dixon had nearly total autonomy under former chancellor Mark Nordenberg and athletic director Steve Pederson. That, apparently, wasn’t the case under new Pitt leaders — chancellor Patrick Gallagher and athletic director Scott Barnes.
Barnes, a former college basketball player at Fresno State with deep ties to the sport, has talked about Pitt strengthening its nonconference schedule and might have been forcing Dixon to make staff changes. Barnes praised Dixon publicly on many occasions, but we all know what a vote of confidence is worth these days, especially when it’s coming from a man who didn’t hire the person getting that vote. Only Barnes and Dixon know how sincere Barnes was. I don’t believe Barnes pushed Dixon out, but I have a hard time thinking he’s crying because Dixon left.
In any case, Barnes must find a new coach. I’m sure most Pitt fans would be thrilled to get one of the Miller boys — Sean or Archie — but it’s hard to imagine either coming back home. They grew up in Beaver Falls, the sons of local high school coaching legend John Miller. Sean was a Pitt star during his playing days. But Sean has a much better job at Arizona, and Archie, a hot coaching commodity at Dayton, might want to wait for a better job than Pitt’s. It’s not as if he’s struggling where he is.
The good news for Pitt is Barnes is well-plugged into the college basketball world.
The bad news is Barnes will have to be really good — not to mention lucky — to find and attract a better coach for Pitt than Dixon.
It is the end of an era here.
It was some terrific era.
Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com and Twitter@RonCookPG. Ron Cook can be heard on the “Cook and Poni” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
