Now that Kevin Stallings is firmly set as the new Pittsburgh Panthers men’s basketball head coach, a question comes to mind. Should Pitt have let Jamie Dixon go?
Dixon first came to Pitt in 1999 as an assistant under head coach Ben Howland. During the Howland era the Panthers went from a below .500 team to winners of the Big East Tournament. However, after winning the Big East Tournament Howland skipped town, heading to UCLA. The vacancy was filled by Dixon, who was recommended by Howland to take over.
When Dixon took over he built upon the success of Howland, reaching the Sweet Sixteen in two of his first four seasons. The peak of the Dixon era would come in the 2008-2009 season, when a team led by stars DeJuan Blair, Levance Fields and Sam Young achieved the school’s first ever number one overall ranking, and its first one seed in the NCAA Tournament. That team would fall short of the Final Four by one Scotty Reynolds shot. Dixon would make it back to the tournament as a one seed one more team, but that time they were upset by Butler in the second round. From there the program slipped into mediocrity failing to make the tournament in two of their next five seasons.
With Dixon gone he leaves behind some notable accomplishments, Big East Regular Season Champion twice, Big East Tournament Champion, two number one seeds, three Sweet Sixteens, one Elite Eight, a number one overall ranking and a 328-123 record as head coach.
Just to give some prospective look at where the program was for the 21 years prior to Dixon taking over. Pitt made the NCAA Tournament just eight times in that time span, compared to going eight consecutively under Dixon. As well, Dixon won 20 games in 12 of his 13 seasons, while the program won 20 games in a season just 5 times from 1982 until 2003, when Dixon took over.
Dixon’s success at Pitt looks good, but what about the guy who is replacing him?
Kevin Stallings is the man tasked with the job, and comparing him to Dixon is not even close. Stallings has won 61.7 percent of the games he coached between Illinois State and Vanderbilt, however while at Vandy he managed to make the NCAA Tournament only seven times in 17 years. That was in the SEC too, so it can hardly compete with Dixon’s 11 appearances in 13 years playing in two brutally tough conferences, ACC and Big East.
Based on the two resumes it definitely feels like Pitt downgraded at the head coaching position.
However, that does not answer the main question of whether or not Pitt should have let Dixon go. Just because the coach the hired has yet to prove he can be successful does not mean the original move, to let Dixon walk, was wrong.
Dixon needed to go.
Many Pitt fans find it offensive to get rid of Dixon given his success and the lack of success before him. But the Panthers have been far from a successful program these last five years.
During that time frame Pitt only climbed higher than 16 in the AP poll once, which was at the beginning of the 2011 season and quickly saw them out of the AP poll and into the CBI postseason tournament. As well, they have not finished higher than fourth in the conference, no trips the conference championship game, put together a 1-2 NCAA Tournament record, and amassed a 7-26 record against ranked teams. Just take the time to think about that, Pitt’s main success now comes primarily from their weak out of conference schedule.
The ACC is a new conference for Pitt and with a change in conference, a change in philosophy was needed. Dixon never truly adapted to the ACC’s style of play, which is why they only won 62 percent of their ACC games.
Those who say Dixon should have been given a free pass, because he had success in the past are not looking at the whole picture. They say Pitt was nothing before him and will be nothing with him gone. Make no mistake about at the current trend Dixon was taking this program they were going to be nothing. So why not go out and try to change that? Fear of failure will only hold you back, which is why the Pitt program needed to take a leap forward.
If you are afraid to move forward you get left behind.