** After the Panther loss to the Badgers, there was only one thing I knew completely for certain. That is the "Fire Dixon!" contingent would be out in full force on the PantherLair.
** I’m not in that contingent.
** It’s an understatement to say that Dixon didn’t coach his best game on Friday night. And with that, second guessing the coach follows. We all get that. But let’s try to look at the bigger picture.
** Before getting into a deeper dive into Dixon and the program, let’s make one thing completely clear. He’s not going to be fired, and not just because he’s got a huge buyout making it economically unfeasible. It’s my understanding is that Barnes and Gallagher are very pleased with Dixon, and there is no way in the world the any AD and Chancellor are going to fire a coach with the success Dixon has had, including making three of the last four NCAA Tournaments, while maintaining a highly respectable program. That would be ridiculous.
** Those who somehow think that Gallagher is “all in” on sports success, any more than Nordenberg, are likely to be very disappointed.
** Otherwise, there are so many places to go next, so I’ll start by sharing the conversation about Dixon I had with my very good friend of nearly 40 years as we watched our kids at a swimming meet today.
** He’s done with Dixon. For him, like many others I suppose, last night was the straw that broke the camel’s back. In some respects, that part I can understand.
** But there’s much more to his opinion I can’t understand. That is, he believes that the first eight years of Dixon’s career at Pitt were only carryover from Howland, and luck because he snagged the local kid in DeJuan Blair. Accordingly, he believes that the last five years of Dixon are the only results truly indicative of Dixon’s abilities as a coach. In short, he doesn’t believe now (as he probably never believed) that Jamie Dixon has the attributes one needs to be a high level coach. He said the last five years are proving him right.
** I say now what I said to him then. That’s crap.
** Nonetheless, I do suspect there are many who want Dixon gone now, who at least in some ways, agree with part of my friends’ notion that Dixon wasn’t really ever that good to begin with.
** This is why I suspect some pick apart Dixon’s idiosyncrasies, at times like catty school girls, as if we have the only coach in the country who is stubborn or is wildly demonstrative on the sidelines.
** If one is to assess Dixon and the current state of the Pitt Basketball program, I believe there are two very important “givens.” If these two givens can’t be accepted, I don’t know where any middle ground can exist.
** These are: 1) Jamie Dixon is a highly capable Division One Basketball coach and 2) the program, while not nearly where it was in 2011, is not in shambles.
** I think it’s also important to reiterate how incredibly good this program was during Jamie Dixon’s first eight years, and how hard it is for any coach, not to mention at a program without previous success such as Pittsburgh, to perform at such as high level for so long.
** I don’t think many Panther fans realize how hard this is, and because of it, don’t want to credit the man responsible, or think it can easily be replicated.
** It’s not easy to have a career in the Big East that ended in that League with the highest winning percentage of any coach in that league. Ever. But that’s what he did. That’s not a fluke. That’s a man who knows how to coach.
** Still, whether it be easy or not, this is indeed the bar Dixon has set for himself and the Panther Hoops program. It’s understandable that he should receive criticism that he’s now falling well short of that high bar.
** So let’s get to that falling short side of things. We live in a world where many folks say “what have you done for me lately?” That’s reality.
** A year ago, many asked me if I thought Dixon should be on the hot seat, and at the time I replied no. But I also suggested that if things didn’t look any better a year later, I might be singing a little bit of a different tune.
** Perhaps I must confess that my response even signaled that I started my own clock ticking on Dixon.
** I do think this year’s results slowed the ticking of that clock for me, even if it be ever so slightly. But it is one more year of only adequate success against the high standard Dixon set for himself. And I think it’s fair to suggest the clock is still ticking, and the fact that another year have gone by matters.
** If you are concerned that things won’t be much improved next season, and could possibly get worse, I’m not going to try to convince you that the thought is off base. That’s because that could be the way it goes. I wish I could say I was highly confident it won’t be the case.
** But I have seen the man who I know can coach rebuild his program several times in his tenure, and that’s why I believe he’s the best chance to do it again.
** I know there are those who do think Dixon can coach, but just don’t think he’ll be able to get this team back to where it was. Maybe you think something has changed. Maybe the ACC, or different kids, or recruiting strategies, or anything else. I completely understand the logic here, and again, I wish I could say that I was highly confident this thought won’t end up being right.
** Let’s face it. Dixon has his work cut out for him. I don’t know how much his returning upperclassmen players can improve, nor how much the newcomers will add. And we could go into next year without Artis or Young or both.
** I also don’t know how much changing assistants is required. I know this is a popular thought here on the Lair, but I honestly don’t have any spurious information to make any responsible judgement as to whether an assistant or two needs to go.
** It’s logical to think Dixon needs to shake things up for a program that has flatlined at a spot lower than where it thrived. If it’s his assistants that need to be shaken up and Dixon resists that idea due to loyalty, stubbornness, if not lack of insight, then that’s on him if this is what holds the program back to where it once was.
** But the shakeup I see that needs to take place more than any other is
