The sad thing is I’m actually a paying subscriber for this service. I tried watching the live “All-Access” video of AD Pederson and Coach Dixon announcing Dixon’s contract extension. Got choppy feed that froze a couple minutes in. Then the audio died. Tried re-launching several times only to be told that the program I requested had not yet started. There’s little point in trying to do these sort of events with streaming feeds if you can’t make them work.
I know, this isn’t the athletic department’s fault. It’s a problem with CSTV/CBS College Sports service. Yeah, well, Pitt has this branded as “Panthers All-Access” so it is their fault and their problem. Nothing like bad tech and lousy service to spoil a good story. Fan outreach only works, if it reaches the fans.
Sorry had to vent.
Here’s the story.
Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson announced today that men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon has been given a three-year contract extension, through the 2015-16 season.
“This contract extension is all about commitment: our commitment to Jamie and his commitment to the University of Pittsburgh,” Pederson said in a statement. “Jamie has risen to the top of his profession in a very short period of time. He is deserving of this commitment by the university for establishing Pitt basketball as one of the nation’s premier programs.
…
“Five years ago, we gave a young but extraordinarily capable and committed head coach the opportunity to lead our men’s basketball program — which he had helped move onto the national stage — to even higher level of quality and impact,” Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg said. “Under Jamie Dixon’s leadership, that program has secured a position as one of the country’s finest — widely respected for its success in competition, its high-quality student-athletes and its strong guiding values. Jamie Dixon not only is one of college basketball’s best coaches, he also is one of our university’s best representatives.
“Today’s announcement is a clear reflection of our shared desire to have him continue in those roles for many years to come.”
I’m happy about this. Coach Dixon has done a great job at Pitt, and things keep looking brighter. It has been an interesting thing to watch Dixon grow more comfortable in his role and being the public face of the team. Something that took him a couple years to really grasp. His mannerisms and the way he looks in public and in front of a camera have become more at ease and more comfortable.
He has hired and replaced assistants well. The talent has continued to trend upward. Despite the ever increasing competitiveness and brutality of the Big East, Pitt has been one of the top teams in the conference almost every year.
Continual and steady growth. The next step is to go deeper in the NCAA Tournament. That just seems like a matter of time as Coach Dixon continues to improve as a coach and the talent level of the team keeps improving.
Pitt has been smart enough to stay reasonably pro-active on his extensions and raises. Dixon in turn has been loyal and quickly extinguished much interest in him this past off-season. This is the nature of college sports and coaches salaries. A good way to lose a coach is to drag out negotiations and nickel-and-dime on contracts. It gives other schools a chance to drive a wedge and take an opening. Dixon may be the highest paid employee at the University of Pittsburgh, but he’s only middle, maybe upper-middle in terms of compensation in the Big East.
And just before publishing, they put out the official press release. Here’s Dixon’s statement.
“I am grateful to the University of Pittsburgh for the opportunity and support that I have received here. I love both the University and our outstanding city. I’m fortunate to be surrounded by a special group of players, a great coaching staff, the most supportive administration in the country and tremendous fans. Our success can be attributed directly to those components. We’ve been able to celebrate Big East Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances while playing in the sold out Petersen Events Center. My family considers Pittsburgh home.â€
If Pitt somehow doesn’t screw it up in the future, I bet someday the court at the Pete will be called Dixon Court.
…and what is this about Field’s foot? This sounds morbid. I was hoping for a Fields-Woodall Mentorship as in Knight-Krauser and Krauser-Fields. That would be the best way to go.
Uptight coaches have something to do with it. Relax men and have some fun and don’t loose, I mean lose.
I know it is hard to believe, I barely believe it myself, but Dixon has Pitt just on the cusp of becoming the next UConn or Arizona…Can he finish the deal..I think he can.
Why go West..he’s coaching in the best conference, best TV exposure and best building in the country. As long as Pitt pays him fairly I don’t think he’s leaving..not for just a paycheck anyway.
Dixon is over 5 years in as a head coach, with 4 or 5 more at Pitt as an assistant coach. That is 10 years of building a recruiting base on the east coast and building relationships with various high schools, AAU coaches, etc. To pick up and move to the west coast would put him back at square one, and lets face it, the east coast provides the abundance of the talent.
I am not saying that Dixon will never leave. But if you consider what has been put into this program over almost a decade, and consider that recruiting is so vital to success, it seems unlikely that he would want to take off for the west coast just as he is really bearing some great fruit in recruiting at Pitt. Short of Arizona, where would he want to go on the west coast? Other than the west coast, the only teams I could see him ever considering are Duke and UNC, neither of which will be available for quite some time.
So let’s take him at his word that he likes it at Pitt and intends to stay. If he does leave, we can start cursing him then. As long as Dave Wannstedt is our football coach, I see no reason to throw negative speculation on the sport we actually do well in.
