Dixon to TCU: News and notes a day later

Well, what a day Monday was in the history of Pitt basketball. Jamie Dixon headed to Texas to take over the basketball program at TCU.

That meant a long day for those of us who cover the team, but I think it is a good day for everyone involved – meaning Pitt and Dixon.

Here is a lot of news and notes and random thoughts based on a 24-cycle of reporting a coaching search story…..

• It was amazing how quickly things changed from the time this first leaked out Sunday that TCU had offered Dixon the job.

As of Sunday night, most of the people I talked to said Dixon would not leave Pitt. But Monday morning, I had some of the same people saying “well, he is considering it but I don’t think he will leave” and then by noon it was “he is going through the process but ultimately he will change his mind and stay.” By early afternoon it was “actually, he is really leaning that way and it will take a real change of heart for him to stay.”

But here is the reality – Dixon was leaving almost the minute he was offered the job, he just didn’t tell people until he was 100 percent sure that the details were worked out. He spent a lot of time with Pitt athletic director Scott Barnes this weekend to discuss things like his buyout and the future of the program and the two came to the same conclusion: Dixon’s heart was in Texas and he should follow his heart.

This was described to me as a “mutual and amicable divorce” and that’s a good way to describe it. Dixon knew it was the right time to leave, Barnes knew it was the right time for the program to move on and get a fresh start. That really is about as simple as I can write it: both sides knew it was time for this divorce to happen.

• PG slideshow: Dixon’s Pitt tenure through the years

• A couple of blanks to fill in...

TCU indeed got permission from Pitt to talk to Dixon, and this actually happened before the weekend.

Barnes was well aware of the situation and even said Monday that he and Dixon had several talks over the course of the past few weeks about his future and his goals. The key is Dixon understood the changing landscape of Pitt athletics: a new conference, a new chancellor, a new athletic director, no more vice chancellor Jerry Cochran – and that was an important dynamic.

Dixon was in charge of his program for a long time without much interference from above. He handled scheduling, he handled staffing, he handled just about everything. And he was still in charge of his program, but it was clear that some of that was changing. He was going to have to change some of his staff because Barnes believed he needed at least one, if not more, aggressive recruiters to improve the flow of talent. He was going to be asked, perhaps not so gently, to bump up the Panthers’ non-conference schedule. Not a significant change in the schedule, but enough to give fans a better game or two in November and December.

It is no secret that season ticket sales were down last season, and it is no secret that actual attendance was too. These are symptoms of a program that is slipping and a fan base that was starting to lose interest, and this was always going to be the offseason that Barnes stepped in to try to help.

Dixon and Barnes could have easily worked together and would have, but obviously, it may not have been as smooth as it has been in the honeymoon period of Barnes first year.

This is Year 2, and if there is anything we’ve learned about Barnes it is this: He lives by the motto (to quote Nino Brown) of “money talks, BS runs the marathon….” That’s a fancy way of saying “he ain’t screwing around,” and he is a man who gets stuff done. And so that set the stage for Dixon to at least think about maybe it was time to leave – and then perhaps the one job he would absolutely leave for (his alma mater) came open and that sealed the deal.

It was a great opportunity at a place he wants to work at for bosses who he had a long standing relationship with. So in short, this was the perfect storm: a new era of Pitt athletics and the perfect job to move on to.

• People might read that and see “Barnes was meddling” and that’s not a fair characterization.

The program was slipping, and Barnes is an administrator who wants to get things done. Keep in mind, the school has committed to some updates and upgrades of Petersen Events Center and some things cosmetically in terms of facilities. The commitment is there to be good, and had Dixon stayed he would have benefited. But Barnes also saw some areas he might have needed to step in – not wholesale changes, but, as he said to me last week, “a few little tweaks.”

I like Barnes, I like Patrick Gallagher – I like that these two guys get it and have done what it takes to try to move Pitt forward. Both believe Pitt is a sleeping giant that has only scratched the surface of what it can be – and with leaders like that, it seems the future is bright. Barnes is a basketball guy, so he will find the right coach, who is a great fit, who already gets that there is a need to upgrade the recruiting on some levels in order to truly compete in the ACC.

This is a league where pretty much every team has pros, NBA guys, and the Panthers have fallen to the middle of the pack. Barnes said at the news conference Monday: “I want someone who will absolutely recruit his tail off.” And that had to make Pitt fans feel good.

In short, he won’t need to tell the next guy to go get an aggressive recruiter or two on his staff – because the next guy won’t get past the interview if he isn’t a great recruiter with a staff full of bulldogs on the recruiting trail.

I think the thing I like the most about Barnes and Gallagher is they dream big. They don’t limit themselves to the small-minded thinking that has sometimes held Pitt back.

A great example of what Barnes is looking for in his next coach, in terms of recruiting, is Pat Narduzzi. Look at the way that guy recruits. He doesn’t flinch or back down to Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State – instead he goes right after them and tries to get the same players they get. Does he win every battle? Nope. He loses most of them, so far. But it is pretty clear he is winning some of them, and as a result Pitt is getting some high-level players. His first recruiting class seems to be filled with players who will help the Panthers win over the next four years.

If there is one criticism that is somewhat valid about Dixon, it is that he didn’t always go after guys he thought were out of his reach. And in the process, he eliminated himself from being able to ever get those guys – and in that sport, you only need one or two of those guys over the course of a couple of years to say yes to change your program. You never know if you don’t at least ask – and ask again – before you move on. The guy Barnes hires will be a guy like Narduzzi, who goes right after the best programs for recruits – and in their own backyards – and eventually lands a few of them.

• I wrote here in this blog that Dixon had recruited and scheduled like a guy...

...who was hoping to hit lightning in a bottle and get back to the NCAA tournament then parlay that into another job.

I was ridiculed for that, but it is exactly how it played out: he put together a class of transfers and graduate transfers to fill just enough holes to make a run to the NCAA tournament. The Panthers got there, barely, and that meant he was a coach coming off an NCAA tournament bid – as opposed to a guy who had missed the tournament the past two years.

And again, then the perfect job came open for him to take. But make no mistake, it was pretty clear in September that TCU’s Trent Johnson was going to be a long shot to survive another year. I’m not saying this was 100 percent set in motion for a year, but there is no question it has been in the back of everyone’s mind.

Either way, here is one thing I can’t understand: people are actually criticizing Pitt for lowering the buyout to make this happen. The truth is the school lowered the buyout because they were making sure he had an avenue to leave. Not because they didn’t want him to stay, but because they didn’t want to pay a coach whose heart was elsewhere.

What sense would it have made for Pitt to hold a hard line on a buyout that TCU was not likely to pay? Then Pitt has a coach and athletic director with friction, a coach who wants to be elsewhere and a coach who has six more years on his deal.

This wasn’t Pitt kicking Dixon out the door, but it was more like Pitt holding the door open and giving him a hug and a “good luck” on his way out.

If Pitt wanted him to stay, and I mean really wanted him to stay, they wouldn’t have given him permission to talk to TCU.

But as Barnes said, Dixon’s buyout (I’m told it was $1.25 million to $1.5 million for each of his seven years remaining) was one of the largest he had ever seen and was way above what the market is. So, let’s say it was $10 million. Even if Pitt lowered it to $5 million (and I have no idea what the final number was), that is still $5 million they have available to throw at the next coach (or $1 million more per year for a five-year deal). It made sense to lower the buyout and negotiate with TCU in order to make this happen.

• I am not going to get into candidates or anything like that for at least a day or two...

...but Barnes made it clear he has a certain profile of a coach he is looking for. He wants a successful coach with head coaching experience that is a good/aggressive recruiter.

He said he would never say never about an assistant coach, but he is inclined to hire a guy who is a head coach or has head coaching experience.

And here’s the thing: his philosophy in recruiting a coach will be similar to what he wants from his coaches recruiting players. He will aim as high as possible. He will pick up the phone and call Sean Miller – just to hear Sean Miller say “not interested.” Obviously, that’s an extreme longshot, but you have to make the call.

And he will probably call a few other bigger names as well. He is going to go after it. Think about the soccer coach he just hired. That’s thinking big and going to get a guy that most people would have said ‘Pitt has no shot at him’.

I’m not saying he is going to land some big name coach – but there are a lot of guys who have had a lot of success who will be interested. And that’s why it will be tough for an assistant with no head coaching experience to get the job. There will be a lot of guys with experience who Barnes will have to choose from. Barnes also said he wants a guy who will play an exciting brand of basketball, and the new guy doesn’t have to have ties to Pitt or Pittsburgh. He called it a “national job,” which is back to the idea of thinking big.

• Dixon has landed on his feet.

People keep looking at TCU’s record and saying “well that’s an awful job, why would he go there????” But the reality is it is a much better job than it ever has been, and the fact that they have invested in Dixon shows that they are serious about being good.

Two years ago, they played in a high school gym – because their arena and facilities were undergoing about $85 million in renovations. They have what many say is now the nicest arena in the Big 12. There is a great recruiting base in that area of Dallas/Fort Worth and down to Houston. He shouldn’t have to go far to find players. And there is the conference. As late as 2011, TCU was a Mountain West team – and before that Conference USA and the WAC. The Horned Frogs are now in a power league and they are interested in being good and clearly invested in it.

You saw with their football program: when they want to be good, they get good. I’m not saying Dixon will lead them to Final Fours, but this is a program he should be able to build up to compete in the Big 12 and get to the NCAA tournament. They’ve given him everything he needs to be successful: facilities, a competitive recruiting budget and a competitive budget for hiring good assistants. That is why Dixon is so excited about taking the job. He sees enormous potential.

• I spoke with Dixon...

...and he said that he wanted to make it clear that he wasn’t running from Pitt. It wasn’t easy for him to leave Pitt, but this was a chance to go to a place of great opportunity.

He said that he loved his time in Pittsburgh and he wasn’t going to leave unless the right job came along. But he also said that the time was right. He said it was time for him to make a change for a lot of reasons: personal, family and his career.

It is tough to stay in one place as long as he did (17 years), and his kids are not quite in high school yet, so it seemed like a good time to move on.

He said the big difference between this job and the other ones he has turned down over the years is that he knows the people at TCU.

He is friends with Chris Del Conte (the AD) and the school president.

“I know these people,” Dixon said. “I’ve known Chris Del Conte for 30 years. I didn’t know those other people at those other places, and that makes a difference. I have a good relationship with them, and that makes it easy to see myself working for them.”

He stressed that he wasn’t overly concerned about criticism after NCAA tournament losses because it showed fans at least care about the program. He said he was devastated after the Wisconsin loss and understands why fans would be too.

I’m happy for him because it was the happiest, or most relieved and just relaxed, he’s been in at least two years. Again, he worked well with Barnes and with Gallagher, but they didn’t hire him, and there is a lot of change ongoing at Pitt. Now he has a clean slate to start over.

• And I don’t doubt he will do well there at TCU.

Do you know why? Because he is an excellent coach. And you know what: he is an even better man. Dixon was always good to me and, really, all of us who covered the team.

Yeah, he could drive you nuts with some of his talking points and his constant need to recite stats or records as he saw them. But he always had time to say hello and talk.

He always asked about my family and never acted like he was too busy to spend a few minutes to catch up. His charitable work, his work with Coaches versus Cancer, the Maggie Dixon Foundation – he is a guy who will be missed in the community as much as on the court.

And like I said: he didn’t win every game fans wanted him to win, he didn’t recruit at a high enough level, especially lately, he never made the Final Four. But he did a helluva job and he made Pitt basketball great for a time and at least kept the program relevant lately.

Nobody worked harder than him and was more prepared – and his teams provided plenty of great moments at Petersen Events Center.

Pitt is going to miss Dixon, but like I wrote two days ago: that doesn’t mean Pitt won’t survive and perhaps even do much better provided the right guy is hired.