I'm not as well versed in the Howland guys, but for Dixon, you are skewing this. Milligan left for UMass, I'll give you that one. Demetris was kicked off the team in his senior year and never played anywhere, that's not a "transfer". Wallace was injured and ended his playing career. Diggs was really the first player under Dixon to be "pushed out".
My point was that players voluntarily transferring to other schools has been rare at Pitt. Under Dixon, Milligan was the only one for quite a while. Those are mostly way different circumstances from Birch, JJohnson, Gilbert, et al. leaving for their own reasons.
Well, limiting it to pure transfers is different. And, unless someone is in the room with the player and coach when it is being discussed, it is difficult to determine whether it was a player
wanting to transfer or being told he was transferring. Nobody really knows if a transfer was voluntary. The NCAA and the studies I've seen count departures, not motivation why.
It's simplest to count roster turnover rather than parse detail of why they left. Basically, except disciplinary expulsions or academic problems, all departures are about playing time.
Walter Waters left the program between signing his letter of intent under Howland and the start of school. Dixon was head coach when that occurred and at the time, it was considered Dixon pushed him out to sign a guard instead.
Ed Turner redshirted under Howland and played sparingly during Dixon's first season and then transferred. Voluntary or forced? After this time, who knows. But, he precedded Milligan by a year.
Milligan and Demetris left the next year. Yuri was kicked out for off-court transgressions but so was Durand Johnson. Demetris has no eligibility remaining when he was kicked free, so any transfer was impossible. Durand did. Is punching his girlfriend in a domestic argument worse than multiple drug violations? Sure, today. 20 or 30 years ago, the punches would have gotten a slap on the wrists and the drugs might have brought a 20 year jail sentence.
Wallace was hurt, but like Uchebo, he could physically play a little bit while somewhat hobbled. If he had been as skilled as Joe, he'd have been on the roster. His medical release was as much about talent level as injury.
Dodson was eligibility , pure and simple but he was here and had to leave, so he's statistically a departure, the same as if he flunked out.
Diggs was pushed out, both for attitude and lack of talent. Simmerdunna, who had been his biggest booster as well as a relative by marriage, actually cleared Dixon of wrong-doing and said Diggs was to blane for his own problems.
Separating Dwight Miller and JJ Richardson from the earlier departures is purely an arbitrary decision. Diggs signed in 2007, Miller in 2008 and Richardson in 2009. Clearly, there was a high degree of "push" from the staff in all 3 big men leaving, although Richardson probably left a year before he would have been pushed.
More recently, John Johnson and Gilbert were probably more like Richardson. Neither had achieved what they were expected and either might have been asked to leave a year after they chose to go. Because Adams left, Gilbert might have been encouraged to stay, but given his lack of performance
at Fairfield, and Johnson's at PSU, neither was ever likely tomcontribute much here.
Again, statistically we are pretty much at the norm. Most competitive schools are unfortunately aggressive with managing their roster and many players are just as aggressive in managing their careers. The days of everybody signing for 4 years and those who don't play happily sitting the bench are gone.
