Big Win for Pitt

Hey, anyway you slice it, a win over UNC in North Carolina is a BIG win.

Way to go, Pitt Panthers for putting that 80-75 win on the board against the North Carolina Tar Heels this afternoon in the quarter-finals of the ACC tournament.  After what can charitably be described as a sluggish second half of their ACC schedule, the Panthers performance in this tourney, regardless of what transpires from here on in, should serve to keep the "let's-get-rid-of-Jamie-Dixon" crowd quiet for awhile.  

Which brings me to a pet peeve of mine.  I heard the ESPN announcers, and saw it on the Pitt Basketball Chat Facebook page this afternoon, refer to the "Howland-Dixon" era of Pitt basketball.  I believe that Jamie Dixon has earned the right to no longer have his named coupled with Ben "I'm Staying at Pitt" Howland when discussing Pitt basketball.  True, Westwood Ben brought Dixon here as an assistant, and that can probably be seen as his biggest contribution to Pitt basketball, prior to him taking his dream job at UCLA.  In my mind, Jamie has surpassed Howland in accomplishments at Pitt and can stand alone whenever such things as "eras" are discussed.

I'm Back!! and a Word or Two on Sleazy Coaches

Yes, I'm back. To those of you curious as to where I was, well, Marilyn and I took a one night getaway to The Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake in Ohio. It is kind of spooky to drive through a summer resort town in the middle of January. Everything, and I mean everything, is shut down. The Lodge, however, remains open year round and is a very nice place. We were able to swim in their indoor pool house while looking out at the snowy grounds and a frozen Lake Erie. You could also hear the the ice cracking and shifting if you stood outside. Very cool!


Changing subjects, allow me to pose this questions? Is there anyone, as a group, with less integrity that college football and basketball coaches (and the Universities that hire them)? Pete Carroll leaves USC one step ahead of the NCAA posse, and USC then hires Lane Kiffen away from Tennesse after Kiffen spends ONE YEAR at Tennessee. Kiffen also, allegedly, contacts the kids he recruited for Tennessee and tries to get them to switch to USC. And, of course, any kid who is now at USC or at Tennesse, because the committed to a COACH, can't leave and go elsewhere unless they sit out for a year. What a sewer!

We, of course, have seen this in Pittsburgh, going back to the 1970's when Johnny Majors left Pitt for Tennessee, and Jackie Sherrill left for Texas A&M. More recently, Ben Howland, sowed up his deal with UCLA, all the while swearing his allegiance to Pitt. Fortunately, Pitt hoops has become a program that is a destination, not a stepping stone, so I'm guessing, hoping, that Jamie Dixon will stay for awhile. However, I foresee my own alma mater, Robert Morris, losing Mike Rice if he puts another 20+ win season on the books.

I can't wait for the day when some University President stands up to a coach and says, "No, we are holding you to the contract that you signed." I'm also waiting for that shiny new Lexus to show up in my driveway some day.

Why do Universities allow this to happen? I know, I know - it's all about the money. The Integrity Genie got out of the bottle a long time ago, and he ain't coming back.