Kenny Johnson was Dixon's first choice when Smoke was hired. Reportedly, Johnson was driving around and had decded to take the Pitt job when Louisville called him and made a better offer.
It is quite possible Pitino will be leaving Louisville one way or another and Johnson could be back on the market.
There is a bit of a disconnect in this subect though in our fanbase. Some want to replace our current staff with better recruiters. Others want experienced bench coaches for X's and O's and yet others want assistants who can "coach up" or teach players. There aren't a whole lot of guys who can do two of those things, let alone all three.
The ace recruiters are generally on the road 70% of the time or more and often rarely interact with the current players, except during "dead" periods. The veteran bench coach is a sounding board for the HC, but as a middle-aged, usually white guy, doesn't necessarily relate all that well to current players and almost never wants to be on the road recruiting.
Nobody has considered Dixon a strong recruiter since his days at Northrrn Arizona when he was Howland's main recruiter. It's clear thst recruiting must improve but as I've podted, it was the failure of several of our highest rated recruiting classes that lead to the current morass.
