The Manhattan job has been a springboard for coaches. Andy Katz concurs with earlier reports as to the early favorite (Insider Subs.).

Manhattan will call on Fraschilla but don’t expect him to go. Louisville assistant Steve Masiello will get a look to replace his former boss Bobby Gonzalez; Masiello was an assistant at Manhattan before going to Louisville. Plenty of Northeast assistants like Providence’s Steve DeMeo will be all over this gig, though.

Masiello seems to be the most likely possibility.

Via Big East Basketball Blog, I saw this piece on K-State expectations to land Herb Pope now that Huggins is in charge.

“Everyone is in on him and asking about him,” Aliquippa coach Marvin Emerson said Tuesday. “He can play anywhere.”

But Bob Huggins isn’t just anywhere. Huggins is now at Kansas State, and according to Emerson, that may make all the difference.

In fact, when asked if he would be surprised to see his standout forward wind up somewhere other than K-State, Emerson said simply, “Yeah, it would surprise me.”

Why? Because Emerson says Pope is “pretty close” to Pittsburgh AAU coach J.O. Stright, and Stright just happens to be pretty close to — you guessed it — Huggins. Pope’s ties to Stright are believed to be behind his recent decision to rescind an earlier commitment to Pitt.

While that may be great news to Wildcat fans, it is a bit disconcerting to Emerson, who is worried that Stright may convince Pope to leave Aliquippa and play for a private school next season.

“We’re hearing that he’s leaving and going to another school, and we’re not too comfortable with that because we’ve put in this hard work with this kid,” Emerson said, adding that he is unsure what will happen. “All of a sudden, someone else comes in and sweeps him off his feet and they reap the benefits.”

It’s something to wonder about. Stright’s relationship with high school coaches. It’s one thing to steer the kids to one college. But to essentially snatch them from their high schools as well could lead to a different backlash. While Stright may have the lockdown on AAU teams in the region, if he’s so willing to direct them away from high schools, who’s to say the high school coaches don’t start directing/advising the kids of AAU teams elsewhere in Ohio or around Philly?

Think Jeanette’s high school b-ball coach liked reading that Stright wants to send Terrelle Pryor to a prep school and Pryor seems amenable? If there is going to be any pushback against Stright and his AAU control, it can’t/won’t come from Pitt. It will have to come from the area high school coaches and interested parties.

Chad Ford at ESPN.com (Insider Subs.) looks at several players who will at least declare for the draft. This includes Aaron Gray:

From all indications, Gray is set to enter the draft. There is a dearth of big men in the draft, and despite a mediocre performance in the tournament, he has a shot at the first round because of his size.

It’s a question of whether he wants to be a lottery pick or a late 1st-rounder. If he tests the waters, pulls out, maybe goes to a big-man camp and has a solid season for Pitt — with the requisite deep play in the NCAA Tournament to boost visibility — he becomes a lottery pick. DraftExpress doesn’t even have him on the board right now, and seem to think the scouts are down on him.

DraftExpress has been reporting all year that Gray is likely to enter, but a disappointing end to his season being outplayed by Patrick O’Bryant in the NCAA tournament may have left a sour taste in the mouths of NBA scouts.

Of course, everyone up to the moment of the draft still had Chris Taft in the 1st round. Unlike the NFL, the NBA draft seems to be a little more unpredictable.

While linking to DraftExpress, it’s worth noting that they are covering the Portsmouth Invitational and had an evaluation of how Krauser did. It may seem very familiar to most Pitt fans. You can follow activity at the Portsmouth Invitational at their site.

Ronald Ramon was playing in the NCAA with a torn labrum?

Pitt sophomore guard Ronald Ramon is scheduled to have surgery today at UPMC South Side Hospital for a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

Ramon, whose shoulder was injured in the Big East tournament last month, is expected to be out 3-6 months. He should be ready for the start of the 2006-07 season.

It is unrelated to the right shoulder injury he suffered last year, and of course the torn ligaments in his right thumb for which he had surgery last fall.

Just noting from the Pitt basketball section that in the sidebar, they have links to sign-up for the Jamie Dixon Basketball Camp.

Jamie Dixon’s Summer Basketball Camp is open to boy’s ages 7-17. Space is limited in order to provide intensive individualized attention for each camper. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

It notes that Pitt basketball players will be among the counselors. I don’t see anything about the free t-shirt, though. You can’t have a 4-day camp, at $285 a pop and not have a free t-shirt.

There is also a link that provides photo galleries from games this season. Most of the home games and the two NCAA Tournament games.

Former walk-on, fan fave and really smart kid Charles Small has a new job.

Former Pitt men’s basketball student-athlete Charles Small has been hired to fill the Pitt Athletic Department’s Student Life & Compliance Assistant position. One of Small’s primary roles as the Student Life & Compliance Assistant will be to coordinate community service projects for student-athletes, such as the Children’s Hospital Honorary Captain’s program and the PAWS Saturday morning sports program, uniting Pitt student-athletes with children from the Oakland and local community. Following graduation, Small will begin his position in May.

“As a four-year member of the men’s basketball team, Charles brings his experience as student-athlete and an accomplished scholar to our administrative staff,” Athletic Director Jeff Long said. “He has earned the respect of student-athletes and coaches alike. Charles is a terrific young man who has a bright future in athletics administration, and I am pleased we are able to help him get his start.”

In addition, Small will be pursuing his graduate degree in social work (he graduates in April with his BA).

The West Point press release.

West Point superintendent, Lt. Gen. William J. Lennox Jr., said the entire community is heartbroken by her death.

“From the time Maggie arrived here, her enthusiastic ‘no limits’ approach earned her the respect and love of everyone,” he said. “She consistently displayed great leadership and served as an outstanding role model for those both on – and off – her team. She was a leader of character with a commitment to excellence who set the example in all she did.”

“Her joy in coaching these young women made them believe in themselves and depend on each other,” said Army Athletic Director Kevin Anderson. “Her guidance not only helped them excel here, it will help them become better, more compassionate leaders.”

That sentiment was echoed by one of Army’s star basketball players, guard Cara Enright.

“I just loved the energy that coach brought to practice every day and the way she never gave up on us, always believed in us,” Enright said. “She would tell us to ‘use what you’ve learned here at the academy and apply it to basketball.’

“Coach Dixon made us love the game even more and we played our hearts out every single time we stepped on the court,” Enright added. “She showed us how to be winners on the field and off.”

And that winning legacy will always be remembered, Lennox said.

“Maggie has been a credit to herself and to the mission of the U.S. Military Academy. Her presence here enriched the lives of everyone,” he added. “I will never forget the image of the cadets carrying her on their shoulders as they celebrated the team’s Patriot League championship.”

Last month when both Coach Dixons were getting their teams ready for the NCAAs, there was no shortage of feel-good stories about the siblings and the unique situation. Adrian Wojnarowski was one of the story writers for ESPN.com. Now he reflects on this.

At West Point, they’re used to young people dying young. It’s part of life there. Somehow, this hits differently. Her basketball team had become such an escape for the cadets at the Academy. It had become such a surprisingly special part of the winter.

In the short time that she was at West Point, the Academy became so fond of Maggie Dixon, so taken with the basketball team that came out of nowhere to meet Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament. How many coaches in the history of West Point had been afforded a standing ovation of 4,000 cadets in the dining hall? How many people had turned that most stone-sober place to such elation?

She brought magic to West Point, brought a touch and genuineness that endeared her and her team in a way that no one else in women’s sports history at the Academy had done in that male-dominated environment.

In his 30 years in the business, her top assistant, Dave Magarity, a Division I men’s head coach for 25 years, had never been so moved by a scene as that of witnessing the incredulity of Maggie’s face when the cadets picked her up and paraded her on the court after the Patriot League championship game in March. West Point finished 20-11, the best basketball season at West Point since Bob Knight was coaching there more than 30 years ago.

“She’s a special kid,” Magarity told me. He would catch himself calling her a “kid,” but hey, that — and coach — was what she was. “I know she isn’t a kid, but she is to me. But Maggie, she’s going to be a star.”
…
I was just going back through my notes, remembering our conversation for a column on the morning of the Big East championship game. She had interrupted our chat for a moment to wish her brother well before he left for the Garden, before the whole Dixon family eventually made it down courtside behind the Pitt bench.

Yes, this had been the best weekend of the family’s life, from the banks of the Hudson River at West Point all the way to Madison Square Garden. They thought it was going to be the beginning of years and years of these weekends, mother and father, brother and sister, chasing March championships into forever. Three weeks later, the Dixons were gathered again.

No warning, no justice. All of it, just so cruel.

And it will never make any sense.

Post-Gazette quickie blogosphere tour actually mentions this site.

…Finally, for stuff on Pitt, visit Pitt Sports Blather.

The first MSM mention.

Joe Starkey writes a very good piece on Marshall Goldberg, and his number being retired.

Soon after he became Pitt’s athletic director in 1996, Steve Pederson sat down with the school’s former director of football operations, Alex Kramer, to discuss the program’s history.

Pederson was surprised to learn that three Pitt football legends — Mike Ditka, Joe Schmidt and Marshall Goldberg — never had their jerseys retired.

“It did appear, at that time, that football started at the University of Pittsburgh in 1976,” Pederson said Thursday, three days after the 88-year-old Goldberg died at a Chicago nursing home. “I said to Alex, ‘The only time it’s too late to (address the situation) is when the people are gone.’ ”

So, Pederson addressed the situation.

Ditka, Schmidt and Goldberg all had their jerseys retired Sept. 18, 1997, at halftime of Pitt’s 21-17 victory over Miami. Goldberg had waited the longest. He hadn’t worn his old No. 42 in nearly 60 years.

They didn’t show the jersey retiring on ESPN. Of course I was getting totally blitzed in some bar in Youngstown that night while watching the game, so I could be wrong.

Pederson, now the athletic director at Nebraska, arranged more such occasions. On Nov. 13, 1999, for example, 20 minutes after Pitt stunned Notre Dame in the final game at Pitt Stadium, Goldberg was escorted to the middle of the field.

A wild celebration had just begun to subside when all eyes turned to Goldberg clutching an open wooden box. He took a moment to “capture the spirit of Pitt Stadium” then slowly shut the lid. The place erupted. He left, with the box, in a Brinks truck.

Along with many of the others, I joined fans on the field to rip up the turf celebrate. Everyone stopped the impromptu early destruction to focus on mid-field. No one ran up to him, or did anything stupid (okay, the cops not too far from him probably had something to do with that as well).

As many of the headlines, mention his passing went with his NFL and Pitt connections, I enjoyed seeing this headline in a brief obit.

Jewish football star dies

You expect the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, to lead with any other factoid. The obit only specifically mentions one hall of fame of which he is a part: The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. As you can imagine, it’s not an extensive list. When I visit the family for Passover next week, I’m going to have to try and find the book on great Jewish athletes to see if he’s in there.

The New York Times has a pretty good piece on Goldberg today.

Goldberg was born on Oct. 24, 1917, in Elkins, W.Va. His father owned the local movie theater. Goldberg was captain of his high school football, basketball and track teams, winning all-state honors in football. He was recruited by numerous colleges, including Notre Dame.

“In those days, a Goldberg at Notre Dame would have been a big thing,” he once said in an interview, alluding to his being Jewish and the university’s being Roman Catholic. He chose Pittsburgh.

At 5-11, 190 pounds, Goldberg was an explosive runner. As a sophomore, he was part of the 1936 team that beat Washington in the Rose Bowl, 21-0. In one game that season, against mighty Notre Dame, he ran for 131 yards. He also made first-team All-American at halfback in 1937.

In 1938, when the team was shorthanded at fullback, Goldberg volunteered to play the position. He went on to win All-American honors again, surprising even his coach, the legendary Jock Sutherland, and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.

Pitt is lucky to have him be a part of the school’s history.

Seton Hall may have found their coach, but that just may mean some other schools make their moves. Obviously Manhattan has an opening and Rohrssen makes sense to many.

Rohrssen, 45, a Brooklyn native regarded as one of the nation’s top New York City recruiters, is a logical choice.

“Barry would be a tremendous fit at Manhattan,” said ESPN analyst Dick Vitale, a Seton Hall alum. “It was Bobby’s time to take the step up, too. It was absolutely a tremendous hire for Seton Hall.”

Manhattan may have someone else in mind, though, and Rohrssen could still be heading elsewhere.

Manhattan is expected to pursue Louisville assistant Steve Masiello, a former Jaspers assistant, and DePaul assistant Gary DeCesare. Former Manhattan coach and current ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla and Pitt’s Rohrssen would appear to be logical candidates, but Fraschilla is a leading candidate for the SMU vacancy and Rohrssen just interviewed a second time at Fairfield yesterday.

Stay tuned.

This has not been a good week if you are connected to Pitt. This just does not seem right.

Maggie Dixon, the coach of the US Military Academy’s women’s basketball team and sister of Pitt Men’s Basketball Coach Jamie Dixon, has died.

She was 28.

The Westchester County, New York, medical examiner’s office confirms she died yesterday at the Westchester Medical Center.

Dixon was admitted in critical condition after suffering what’s described as an”arrhythmic episode to her heart.”

Just last month, Dixon led the West Point Black Knights to the NCAA women’s tournament. Maggie and Jamie are believed to have been the first brother and sister to have coached in the NCAA tournament in the same year.

Dixon says Maggie seemed fine when they had breakfast together Wednesday, but at a friend’s house at West Point that afternoon, she said she wasn’t felling well and collapsed.

An autopsy is scheduled for today.

All condolonces to the Dixon family. I can only imagine what they are going through, and selfishly, I hope that is all I can ever do.

And there is no easy way to transition to it, Craig “Ironhead” Heyward is back in intensive care.

Former NFL running back Craig “Ironhead” Heyward remains in intensive care after Monday’s 11-hour brain operation at Emory University Hospital.

Heyward, 39, a former Falcons Pro Bowler, has been battling a recurring brain tumor called a chordoma.

A neurosurgeon and an ear, nose and throat specialist combined to remove as much of the chordoma as possible while successfully alleviating the pressure on his brain.

Some of the mass previously had intertwined with some of Heyward’s vital brain structure and could not be removed.

Heyward also could need therapy for nerves necessary for swallowing if they are later found to be damaged during surgery.
…
Heyward is expected to remain hospitalized for some time before considering options for treatment of the remaining mass, including strong radiation treatments or chemotherapy.

This was his third bout with the tumor.

Last year, a stroke left Heyward partially paralyzed on his left side and in need of a wheelchair. Since then, he has been unable to open his right eye after the chordoma wrapped around his optic nerve.

It’s Bobby Gonzalez from Manhattan.

Seton Hall has hired Manhattan’s Bobby Gonzalez as its new men’s basketball coach, an athletic department official said Thursday.

The official requested anonymity because Gonzalez won’t be officially introduced as the Pirates’ coach until a Friday afternoon news conference at the school.

Gonzalez coached Manhattan for the last seven years, leading the Jaspers to NCAA tournament appearances in 2003 and 2004. Manhattan lost to Old Dominion 70-66 in the second round of the NIT this year and finished with a 20-11 record.

Before taking over the Jaspers, Gonzalez was an assistant at Xavier, Providence and Virginia.

George Mason gave Seton Hall permission to speak with Jim Larranaga, but he didn’t want to bother with them (ouch!).

No word on who Manhattan hires, but don’t they have to at least take a look at Barry Rohrssen?