We just found a replacement for Mike Rice leaving for Robert Morris and we could be losing our Director of Basketball Operations to a Big East team we know well enough.
The musical chairs at the University of Pittsburgh basketball program may not be done yet. According to a source close to the situation, Pitt’s Director of Basketball Operations, David Cox, is interviewing today for a position with Georgetown.
If Cox leaves, he would be the second member of the staff to leave in the past month, joining Mike Rice, who left to become the head coach at Robert Morris. Like Rice, Cox has only been with the program for a year.
Cox is a native of Washington, DC, and a former coach for the vaunted AAU team, DC Assault. It was those connections that led Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon to hire Cox last year and is also why he is coveted by Georgetown.
You might recall we just hired Cox last July and that he knows what he’s doing down in the DC area. Since Georgetown has been able to retain the local guys so well down there in the short time Cox has been on the job, we haven’t made any pickups but there is at least one player (who would be in the class of 2009) that likes Pitt because of Cox. If Cox goes to the Hoyas, there is no doubt the players will stay close to home.
The article is by Chris Dokish of Pittsburgh Sports Report (via PSI) and he also notes that if Cox is to leave, one possibility to replace him is Brandin Knight.
Obviously no one wants to have their coaches leaving (and remember this is not a done deal yet) but that’s the territory that comes with a very good program lead by great coaches. Howland and Dixon have built a program where good coaches are going to come and go for other (and usually better jobs) quickly.
If we lose a Director of basketball operations to become an assistant coach at another school, it shows the quality of hires that Dixon has made. He will make another great hire if necessary.