When Ben Howland left Pitt to take the UCLA job, Pitt was somehow caught flat-footed by the move. Part of that was because the Athletic Director had left in December and the school had never gotten around to naming a new AD. There was still an interim tag on the former assistant AD (who shortly after the hiring of a new head basketball coach got sick of waiting to see if he’d get the job without the interim tag and left), which meant the coach search wasn’t really under his control. It really was under the control of the school’s Chancellor.
John Calipari’s name came up early since he was a native to the Pittsburgh area, he was an assistant at Pitt in the 80s, and there was some strong support from well-heeled boosters. Calipari did nothing to dispel the notion. Then, Pitt totally zeroed in on just one guy virtually to the exclusion of all other candidates – Skip Prosser at Wake Forest. John Calipari was never even contacted by the Pitt administration about the opening. This forced him to come out and profess his loyalty to Memphis, even though he never even sniffed the job. Of course, Prosser decided to stay, and Pitt was forced to scramble.
By default they had to give the job to Jamie Dixon – not that, it hasn’t worked out well, but the search was so pathetic and bad it was more by luck than design. Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News had a great comparison on how badly Pitt screwed up on the search when compared to Dayton (and Goslin feel optimism in having Chancellor Nordenberg replace the football coach?).
Well, now that I recapped what happened then, it’s time to see the revisionism.
When University of Pittsburgh chancellor Mark Nordenberg set out to find a replacement for Ben Howland in the spring of 2003, he first tried to hire Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser. When Prosser, a Pittsburgh native, turned him down, he turned to assistant coach Jamie Dixon.
Nordenberg never did place a call to another of Pittsburgh’s famous coaching sons. Memphis coach John Calipari, who grew up in Moon and spent three seasons as an assistant at Pitt in the 1980s before leading Massachusetts to a Final Four in 1996, didn’t even receive a courtesy interview.
Three of the university’s top five athletic donors called Nordenberg to make a pitch for Calipari, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. Apparently, there were concerns about Calipari’s reputation for not graduating enough players and his recruitment of some players with checkered pasts.
The NCAA wiped Massachusetts’ Final Four appearance from its record book because Marcus Camby played in the NCAA tournament that season after accepting improper gifts from an agent, but Calipari was never sanctioned by the NCAA and has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
“The people at Pitt that I care about, they all called me,” Calipari said. “Everything plays out a certain way for a reason. I’m thrown out there for every job that comes open. It puts me in a bad position.
“The administration at Pitt did the right thing. It’s obviously working. This isn’t my first rodeo. I’m doing fine down here in every sense. It’s worked out for everybody.”
There was no denying of interest or at least wanting to be pursued for the job. From a positive regarding boosters at Pitt, nice to see that they don’t have as much control as they seem to at other schools The Boosters apparently went to both Nordenberg and Calipari, but Nordenberg wouldn’t bite. That much is a definite plus for Nordenberg. Calipari for his part has said all the right things about Pitt, and considering how many friends and family he still has in the region he has to.
Lest anyone forget (including me). The game tonight is to help raise money going to research and fight cancer.
In Memphis, they see a hot Pitt team that has a hot young coach.
A national puff piece on Memphis Forward and reputed “troubled player” Sean Banks. Banks nearly tried to go pro last year, despite not being nearly as good as he thought he was. He returned at the last minute. He’s a talent, but there are “issues.”
Now for the various scouting reports and player news. Memphis Guard, Jeremy Hunt is out for the game with a broken scaphoid in his left wrist. Hunt averaged 24 minutes a game so far. Memphis was already down a guard,
Freshman Darius Washington and senior Anthony Rice will start in the backcourt. Freshman Tank Beavers is the only other guard.
Pitt looks like it will go with the 3 guard line-up to start (Krauser, Graves and Demetrius). The Memphis scouting report looks at a key match-up and appears to give the edge to Pitt.
Dorsey has had trouble staying out of foul trouble against virtually everybody this season. So good luck tonight, when he has to deal with Taft, one of the best big men in the nation. At 6-10, Taft is a rugged rebounder and athletic shot blocker. In other words, he’s a better version of Dorsey, who will have to figure out a way to, (1) Stay out of foul trouble, and (2) Not let Taft go for 20 and 10. If Dorsey can’t at least somewhat control his counterpart, then the Tigers will have a hard time winning on the boards and winning the game.
Final little things, the NYC papers have a story about Pitt’s latest recruiting win over St. John’s. There is also a little piece on Chris Taft.
