It seems like forever ago when Jamie Dixon wasn't coaching Pitt Basketball. Dixon was named the the Head coach of the Pitt Panthers in 2003 after spending four years as an assistant. Since taking over the program, Dixon compiled a 328-123 record and 11 NCAA tournament appearances in 13 years. Despite this success Dixon made the decision earlier this week to take over the head coaching job at his Alma Mater, TCU. TCU basketball is in a bad place, and just finished a 12-21 season.
So Dixon is a good coach who's had a fair amount off success and has been here for more than a decade and now he's leaving to go to a worse program, so why aren't more people sad to see him go?
The short answer is that Dixon has never had a lot of success in the NCAA tournament and is generally see as having underachieving teams. Dixon only ever made it to three Sweet Sixteens and one Elite Eight. Dixon also has never recruited more than two ESPN top 100 players in one year.
Dixon's win totals per year have also been on a downward trend ever since his first year.
In my opinion Jamie Dixon is a good, not great, basketball coach and there are other, better options out there (Talking about you Sean Miller). I think Pitt might be in for a rough couple of years going forward, but ultimately I think Athletic Director Scott Barnes will find the right man for the job.
I appreciate what Jamie Dixon did at Pitt, but I agree with you that it was time for both parties to part ways. I believe our program was on the way down, but now with Jamie gone, I believe that our basketball program can be restored with "new blood".
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