Looks like it now appears Coach Jamie Dixon is staying (hat tip to Anonymous). Probably.

Speculation swirled on Friday that Dixon was headed to Arizona State, but according to sources close to the situation, a news conference is scheduled today at 2 p.m. to announce an extension.

Dixon, who is 76-22 in three seasons at Pittsburgh since taking over after Ben Howland left for UCLA, was being pursued by Arizona State and Missouri was also interested.

“I was excited to hear that Coach Dixon is staying,” said incoming freshman Gilbert Brown. “But I thought he was staying the whole time.”

Good grief, who would have thought Perry Clark could have called something correctly?

PERRY CLARK on the possibility of Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon taking another coaching job: “I see Jamie Dixon staying at Pittsburgh for a long time. There was speculation about the Arizona State opening because he was from that part of the country, but the University of Pittsburgh is making a very strong commitment to Jamie Dixon and I don’t think he’ll be leaving Pittsburgh any time soon.”

Next question, why would Sprint think it’s a good idea to have any association with Jim Harrick?

UPDATE: Anonymous also notes that Andy Katz at ESPN.com is now saying Dixon is staying.

Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon has agreed to an extension with the school, a University of Pittsburgh spokesperson told ESPN.com.

Dixon and AD Jeff Long have been negotiating since the Panthers lost to Bradley in the NCAA Tournament last week.

There were a number of reports that had linked Dixon to the Arizona State and Missouri openings and while they did contact Dixon, multiple sources said he was never serious about leaving Pittsburgh.

Terms of the new deal are not known, but it is believed that he will move from the bottom half of the Big East coaches salary scale to the upper half.

I look forward to some retrospective on this in a few weeks when everything is calmer.