Tremendous games last night, and a chance not to refresh Dixon searches every 20 minutes.

Right now, nothing has been decided. Jamie Dixon may or may not be in Tempe/Phoenix. Dixon may or may not be leaning towards ASU. Dixon may or may not have an offer from Missouri as well. Dixon may or may not have received an upped offer from Pitt. And people may or may not be burning out on this.

Here’s what is being reported — not necessarily what is even known.

As speculation swirled yesterday and last night, Dixon and Pitt officials would not comment. Dixon was not on Pitt’s campus for the second day in a row yesterday and reports had him in Tempe visiting Arizona State and meeting with school officials. It was not clear last night whether Pitt put together a last-ditch effort to keep Dixon or whether Dixon was willing to listen.

Athletic director Jeff Long was on campus yesterday, but declined an interview request. Executive vice chancellor Jerry Cochran did not return a phone call.

According to one source who was convinced Dixon was leaving, Dixon went into the Arizona State talks willing to listen but had intentions of remaining Pitt’s coach. Dixon shot for the stars and asked for more than 1 million annually, and much to his surprise, Arizona State agreed and included yearly raises and perks for his assistant coaches.

When Arizona State agreed to his terms, Dixon decided that he was in a position where he could not turn down such a lucrative offer. Another source said that $1 million figure was high, but said Arizona State’s offer was more than the offer Pitt had on the table.

Now as for where Dixon is at the moment, no one is actually sure.

At midday, Dixon was first reported to be in Phoenix by an Internet site based in Pittsburgh. Later in the day, Missouri officials told the St. Louis media that they had been told Dixon was in Phoenix, ostensibly on a recruiting trip. Dixon also has been mentioned as a candidate for the Missouri job.

However, those reports could not be confirmed by anybody connected to ASU. Dixon, who is at the top of ASU’s short list, was not seen anywhere on the Tempe campus.

At Pittsburgh, nobody on Dixon’s staff or within the sports information department knew of his whereabouts.

All the reports of Dixon being in Arizona have been coming from Pittsburgh. I’m going to pause for a minute to ponder that. Okay.

Yet things are still quite unclear.

However, an ASU official said late Friday that that any deal under discussion was still a proposal and not a formal offer.

“ASU has not negotiated a contract with anyone and is continuing to talk to candidates,” said a high-placed official with the Sun Devils, who have spoken to NBA assistant Lionel Hollins and might turn to former Utah coach Rick Majerus if talks with Dixon fall apart.

Nevertheless, reports continue that Dixon is getting proposed offers from Missouri, ASU and a third one from Pittsburgh, which he said offered to renegotiate with more money and/or an extension.

No one is actually sure what the hell Missouri is doing, or if they actually made any sort of offer or made contact. By the way, if you believe this whole saga is not making Pitt look good, it is nothing compared to the absolute mess and frustration out of Missouri. Former players and coaches calling out the administration and the AD. No clear top candidate 6 weeks after Quin Snyder resigned.

This final bit from the Arizona paper’s story is interesting.

There is a guessing game that Dixon, who grew up in Los Angeles, will stay with the Panthers, who lose only two seniors off a team that went 25-8 in a season that ended in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

UCLA coach Ben Howland, his old boss at Pittsburgh and Northern Arizona, has told current and former coaches that interest from ASU and Missouri will provide Dixon with enough leverage to get a big raise at Pittsburgh.

If you want my honest opinion about this mess, I don’t blame Dixon much for this. This is what happens when a coach has the juice and leverage. Dixon has continued to win and recruit well at Pitt. His players have avoided any off-the-court incidents and players are graduating. Other schools wanted to talk to him, and with a renegotiation of his contract likely, it would make sense to gauge his value. Not to mention an extra bargaining chip.

I don’t see Dixon doing anything that wrong. Was it wrong for Skip Prosser to talk to Pitt and consider their offer? Would it have been wrong of Skip Prosser to have had a hard time making a decision and ultimately using Pitt’s offer to leverage a better deal from Wake?

This is more about the Pitt Athletic Department and Chancellor Nordenberg than what Dixon did. One of the things it would appear ASU was also offering was better money for assistants. This has been a long-time problem with Pitt. Grudgingly paying the head coach fair money, but not willing to shell out the money on assistants unless they have gained favor with the administration — Football DC Paul Rhoads and Associate Head B-ball Coach Barry Rohrssen are the examples that spring to mind.

The assistants’ compensation issue was a major stumbling block when the school was trying to hire Wannstedt. It would appear to have at least been another side issue that favored ASU.

Now jumping back to the P-G article that speculates on other coaching possibilities.
If Dixon does leave, three candidates were being bandied about yesterday as replacements. Moon native John Calipari, who is coaching Memphis in the NCAA tournament, would like to return to Pitt. Calipari was an assistant coach under Paul Evans in the 1980s.

If you hate annual soap operas about will or won’t a coach leave, then Calipari can’t be considered. I don’t care if he’s a Pittsburgh area native. Calipari is one of those coaches always trying to get his name mentioned in coaching searches. If for no other reason, than to get another raise. How should anyone feel about Calipari getting his name out there for the possible job, even as he is trying to get his team to the Final Four? He would also cost lots more money. He makes somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 million. I doubt he would be taking a hometown discount.

I’m not even going to get into the murkier area of his recruiting

Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez would be pushed for the job as well. Gonzalez’s name was mentioned three years ago, but he did not receive an interview.

Pitt also could attempt to promote from within and hire associate head coach Barry Rohrssen, but Rohrssen is being mentioned as a candidate at Seton Hall, which fired Louis Orr yesterday.

Gonzalez is well liked and thought of, for a while, but hasn’t gotten the job. He’s also rumored to be under consideration for Seton Hall. I don’t know whether Rohrssen is ready for the job or not. His recruiting accumen is without question. But there’s a lot more as head coach.