Tom Herrion was all class as he takes over at Marshall.
“Obviously, I’m forever grateful for coach Dixon,” Herrion said. “I know I am leaving a much, much better coach for having had the opportunity to work for him and be around such a great, successful program.”
One of Herrion’s players next season will be incoming freshman guard Deandre Kane, who was former Pitt star DeJuan Blair’s teammate at Schenley.
Dixon, who’s on the road recruiting and couldn’t be reached for comment, said in a statement: “We have been extremely fortunate to have Tom on our coaching staff for the past three years. … We are happy and excited for Tom and his family. He will do a great job at Marshall.”
You know, I had forgotten about Kane. Kind of disturbing that he still hasn’t reached freshman eligibility in college, though.
With several coaches serving under Coach Dixon now successfully in charge of their own programs the job is more attractive than ever. There won’t be any shortage of interested parties.
Chris Dokish breaks down the names that might be in the running for the top assistant position.
Looking at the list — and it is a pretty comprehensive list — these are my thoughts.
Not great recruiters: Mike Dunlap, Scott Rigot and Pat Duquette.
Duquette was no where near the talent evaluator and recruiter for Skinner that Bill Coen (Northeastern head coach) and Ed Cooley (Fairfield head coach). Besides, the skill of the BC staff under Skinner was finding underrecruited diamonds in the rough. Pitt is looking beyond that at this point.
Dunlap has an excellent basketball mind, but is not a recruiting guy. Lavin wants him at St. John’s for Xs-and-Os. Factual point. Dunlap turned down being the interim coach after Lute Olson’s abrupt resignation. He stayed on staff as an assistant and helped Russ Pennell run things.
I know Kentucky fans can be a little insane, but they do know their stuff. Scott Rigot was not exactly a favored assistant under Tubby Smith there. There was no clamor for Gillispie to keep him and it does say something that Smith didn’t bring him to Minnesota.
None seem like a great choice, and I would be nervous.
Recent head coaches/fine recruiters: Norm Roberts, Dino Gaudio, Dave Leitao.
I would have no problem with any of these choices. Roberts was a very good recruiter for Bill Self at Kansas. Leitao and Gaudio both have reputations primarily for their recruiting chops. Dokish indicates that all three obviously want to be head coaches again, so as likely short-timers Coach Dixon may not want that.
Considering Rice lasted a year and it was almost a shock that Bill Herrion made it 3 years after missing on Holy Cross last year, I don’t know if Coach Dixon would really be that bothered. Especially considering any successful program regularly sees assistants poached.
Any of these three as hires would be a home run. Not sure if Roberts and Gaudio, though, would want to jump right back in as assistants this season.
Chicagoland/Midwest recruiters: Sean Kearney, Tracy Webster, Billy Garrett, Sr., Tracy Dildy.
These are some intriguing choices. Especially for expanding Pitt’s recruiting. If Coach Dixon feels confident about how Brandin Knight can work New York and New Jersey, any of these would be very interesting options. All of these are good recruiters but center in a different geographic base.
Coach Dixon has primarily stuck to hiring assistants who know and recruit the East Coast. These guys have built their recruiting success in Chicago are and midwest. I’m sure they would also do fine recruiting in NY/NJ, but their roots are not there.
Absolute homeruns, but unlikely: Book Richardson and Jeff Battle.
If Pitt and Coach Dixon can get either of these guys, it is an unqualified great hire.
Book Richardson has been an outstanding recruiter for Sean Miller at Xavier and Arizona. He is still recruiting NY/NJ well even from the other side of the country. Not sure he would leave.
Jeff Battle is also an outstanding recruiter at Wake Forest. Indications are, though, that Wake wants him to stay after they hire Jeff Bzdelik from Colorado. Battle lost his wife to cancer and is raising his son on his own. If Wake and Bzdelik want him to stay, I’d guess he would.
I don’t know enough to have an opinion: Pat Skerry, Pete Strickland, Fred Quartlebaum, Rob Moxley.
I will defer to Dokish on these guys. He seems fairly positive on them.
Really, might as well call this the Dokish post since the other items are authored by him.
He measures Pitt’s post-season success under Coach Dixon and does not see disappointment. He sees more that the team so overachieves in the regular season that what happens in March seems like a letdown.
Finally, from a piece he did last week for NBE Basketball Report on Big East players to watch in 2010. Under established players who should improve:
Brad Wanamaker, Pittsburgh, Sr.- Perhaps no head coach in the league has had as many players improve as Pitt’s Jamie Dixon, and all the proof you need is to look at the Panthers’ dominance in the league’s Most Improved Award. Wanamaker, a 6?4? wing probably won’t win that award since he’s already pretty good, but that doesn’t mean he still may not see a lot of improvement in his last season as a Panther. As a junior, Wanamaker averaged 12.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 4.7 apg, and 1.2 spg, and even though the Panthers’ will have more depth next season, Wanamaker has proven that he’s the most productive all-around player on the team, and his numbers should continue to rise.
Commencing fierce opinions on both sides in 3, 2, 1…
He also touches on a couple of other players who should make significant progress:
Travon Woodall, Pittsburgh, So.- The 5?11? PG was handed the starting job at the beginning of the season, but lost it because of sloppy play. However at the end of the season, the cat quick Woodall showed much better consistency, averaging 5.0 ppg and 3.2 apg, and could regain that starting spot again next season if his outside shooting improves .
Dante Taylor, Pittsburgh, So.- The 6?9? big man disappointed many Panthers fans this year after being the school’s first McDonald’s All-American in a few decades. But Taylor still managed 4.1 ppg and 3.7 rpg in just 14 minutes a game, showing that there is definitely talent present.
Seems about right.
Thus, the NBE piece shown above pretty much contradicts Dokish’s assertions that few players will show much improvement next year.
My view is that in mid December, we had no idea how much this past team would achieve (not even close), thus it is way too early to make any definitive judgements for next year. I do think however that an inside scoring presence (Taylor / Richardson), which didn’t exist this past year, would be the one thing that can really make this team better next year because it would open things up a lot for the perimeter playes (Gibbs, Brown, Wanny.)
By the way, I see on Providence message boards that they are afraid that Skerry wants to bolt for Pitt. Good news if true since Dokish called him one of the rising stars in the business.
Pitt hasn’t played a game yet. You have the bias.
But, the point was that just because they didn’t make it w/ Blair and Young, doesn’t mean they can’t with less talented stars, as several teams have as Omar pointed out.
Omar I couldn’t agree with you more on Woodall, down the stretch of the season the offense was far better with him running the show. If he finds a way to cut out mistakes (which I think he will, remember he was only a RS frosh) this team can be very good.
– IF Gilbert Brown can be consistent and more aggressive.
– IF Tray Woodall can step up and run the show, which late in the season, as others have said, he demonstrated he can
– IF Taylor shows considerable improvement, which seems quite likely, and McGhee continues his overall improvement, also seems likely
– IF Wanny can just cut down on the dumb TOs and continue to be a leader
– IF some of the incoming freshman/red shirts can provide some points/valuable minutes
– IF Ashton gets stronger, can get better at generating his own opportunities
IF most of these things happen, I think next year’s team could be just as dangerous and have as much potential to go deep in the Dance as the Blair/Young team. Damn I can’t wait.
Carmen: Good rundown of “ifs” but I think only a couple need to happen for this team to be VERY good. My main two remain Taylor and Woodall showing their true potential. That will open things up for every other player on the court. All the other improvements would be gravy, IMHO.
