Would you rather have Dixon come back next year or have Brandin Knight?
- Thread starter PittPoker
- Start date
Dixon's ship has sailed. That's a hard no. But I'm warming to the idea of Brandin.
Me too. I think Brandin would assemble a good staff, maybe some former Pitt players from his era and I think he would turn this program around. I really do.
I’d rather bring in an outsider with a pedigree but since that’s not one of the options in your scenario, I’ll go with BK.
Dixon was really starting to sour with me. It wasn't just the Wisconsin game. It was the losing streak at the end of the year that ended in an NIT bid and then giving up against George Washington in that contest. It was recruiting guys like Kithcart, bringing in guys like Nix, and having to play guys like Nwanko... just not fielding very good ACC teams. The program just wasn't headed in a very good direction in his final years here.
As others have said part 2s don’t generally work. I was a huge Dixon fan even with some of the warts which we don’t need to get into. It’s been beaten to death. But no thanks.
I have no clue if Brandin is “ready” or not. But if it’s one or the other I’d have to roll the dice and go with him.
I have no clue if Brandin is “ready” or not. But if it’s one or the other I’d have to roll the dice and go with him.
he lost his mojo, and it started with the whole Rowan/Mustafa recruitment. Most things have an expiration date, Dixon reached it here.
At least Brandin would provide a little interest in Pitt Hoops again, as opposed to a coach from a conference most fans have never heard of. That's not a good reason to hire a coach, of course. But I am seriously worried about finding an outsider with a pedigree, and a worthwhile profile. (But heck, maybe we can bring in Steve Peterson to lead the search committee and find the next Ben Howland).
Here’s where I object to some extent. If they’re qualified, fine. But hiring Pitt guys just for the sake of it - nah. Hell no.
I really should start a college search firm. I’d find a guy who could win here by January
He’d take it upon receipt of an offer. He’d be nuts not to even with the mess that it is.
The problem with Brandin is:
1. He's never even a candidate for a mid-major job? Why?
2. You'd be asking a first time HC to take over a team after a self-imposed death penalty. That is difficult for anyone let alone someone learning on the job.
Pitt can't make a hire which says "we just have to be patient and build this slow and we'll be back in the NCAAT in 6-7 years."
Obviously Dixon will never be back. But leaving a total ground-up rebuild of a wreck of a program to a guy with zero HC experience who has spent the last 5 seasons as an assistant at a low end B10 program? That's crazy talk. They bet wrong on B. Knight and this program is in the cellar for another 10 years minimum.
There are no sure things, but Pitt needs to dig deep into the mid-major world to find a head coach who has built and sustained a successful program at a lower level. The next Ben Howland. It's the only path. Forget about ties to the region, the league, recruting ground, etc., that's all fluff. We need a good F'in coach that knows what he's doing, the rest will take care of itself.
Who is that coach? Don't ask me, I have a day job I can barely keep up with. But I had never heard of Howland when Pitt hired him out of NAU, and I'm sure there are more of him out there somewhere.
Me too. I'd call Pearl, Williams, Wade, etc and say "what amount of money would you take the Pitt jobs for." I'd then go to Heather and say, "ok, this is what a guarantee is going to cost." At that point, Heather decides to scale back Volleyballooza and hire a guarantee.
I figure there has to be even quite a few young up-and-comers who view this program as potential career suicide right now. I guess the salary may still serve as enough incentive, but I wouldn't be shocked if we are turned down by quite a few younger guys who we kick the tires on.
All good points. I said I'm "warming" to the idea of Brandin. But rational thoughts like yours (from SMF, who would have thought?) keep the idea from getting too hot.
Brandin would check a bunch of interesting boxes. And one would also wonder if he's be the best choice who would actually want the job. The program will have gone 6 years without winning more than 6 ACC games, and never finishing better than 12 out of 15 in the ACC. There might be very little left of a roster.
Part 2 so no.
Why in the world at his age would he even want it?
I think sometimes people forget this is a 2 way thing. We can toss any name out there but there are tons of guys who wouldn’t wanna be bothered with this mess.
That wouid be like the all-time grand slam home run hire for this program even just to get it back to middling respectability.
All very good points.
Especially the one about the day job you can barely keep up with. I know how you feel!
The one idea I like is telling Brandin "the job is yours for $1.5 million + incentives if you can get verbal agreements for at least 1 top-level recruiter and 1 top-level bench coach. Tell them we are paying them a million each."
I think he would be a great stop gap coach for us. He would definitely get Pitt back on track. Not sure why you wouldn't want him here again.
I get the attraction but I’ll pass. I just can’t see him being into another massive rebuild.
But even if we all unanimously want him it’s 2 way. I can want Emily Ratajkowski to slide into my DMs.
So you’re not really needed. Anyone can do that. I’d find the diamond in the rough who can win here.
MAGA? He'd be a slam dunk here. Pitt fans LOVE Trump. We wouldn't pay $10 million but you could be right.
What do you think Will Wade requires?
Who do you think we can get for $6 million/year?
I would definitely choose Brandon knight. Why not Archie Miller at this point?
Let's hold off on the politics and all just agree on our intentions to fix the pitt basketball program.
Why not Archie Miller. He’s available, cheaper than Sean probably, his Dayton run was phenomenal, and the Indiana records - maybe that was just a bad fit. He would have made the tournament in the Covid year….
I just don’t see how Brandin gets this job without any HC experience for such a massive rebuild. I also think Heather is going to get a ton of pressure for someone local - someone, even tangentially, with Pitt ties.
Yea, I was being sarcastic but the Locker Room board shows Pearl would be welcome here. I could care less about a coach's political beliefs.
I was all aboard the BK train. If he doesn’t produce fans will be trying to tear his number down from the rafters by year 2. I’d hate to see that happen to his legacy.
John? Both millers are terrible coaches who can’t recruit anymore
