This year, didn’t even rise to a level of “will he at least listen?” status. NC State, Mizzou, and now Maryland didn’t even make it past the wish list stage. There never was a moment this entire spring when it even seemed plausible that Coach Dixon was going anywhere. This despite being on all of those fanbases wishlists.

Part of what made filling the Maryland job so much harder was the timing of Gary Williams’ retirement. Convincing any coach like Sean Miller (who now swears he’s not going anywhere), Jamie Dixon, Jay Wright, et cetera to up and leave in May does not happen without being a top-5 job and big, big money in play.

Unlike its football program, the Maryland basketball program is a really good job. One of the top-20 nationally. A very passionate fanbase, but not insanely delusional (see, NC State). The program will pay well for a coach. Natural recruiting territory all around it with Baltimore, Philly, and DC all within reasonable drives, and the rest of Virginia and NY/NJ within reach.

The problem was that recruiting classes were locked in place. Summer schedules set. New assistants have been hired. Already out recruiting for the 2012 cycle. Plus the simple fact that while Maryland is a really good job, it will take at least a year of rebuilding while nearly every major conference coach that Maryland wanted had a team geared to at least make the NCAA next year.  And then there is this, the money is no longer that different in most other places. Outside of certain programs, most of the money is a lot closer than it used to be.

Still, it was kind of pleasant to sit back and watch the mayhem and angst over coaching changes without having to worry. This upcoming season will be Dixon’s 9th at Pitt. Nine years with the same coach. Only Doc Carlson (31 years), George Flint (10 years) Bob Timmons (15 years) had longer tenures, and Dixon only trails Carlson in wins at Pitt

This article points out that the ACC outside of Duke and North Carolina has become a conference with major coaching turnover.

Williams’ stunning exit leaves ACC basketball with just four head coaches who have been on the job more than two seasons: Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski with 31, Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton nine, and North Carolina’s Roy Williams and Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg eight each.

Yes, after a mere two years on the case, Virginia’s Tony Bennett ranks fifth among the conference’s 12 big whistles in seniority.

Coach Dixon’s eight years to date, puts him at only sixth in Big East coaching seniority. Boeheim, Calhoun, Brey, Wright and Pitino hall have longer tenures. Hard to believe that Brey has been at ND for 11 years. As much as everyone complains how hard a grind the Big East can be, There’s a lot of talented coaches in the conference, and a lot of tenure.