St. John’s finally had closure from the scandal that wrecked its b-ball program.

St. John’s was placed on two years’ probation and will lose one scholarship next season for making improper payments to a former men’s basketball player.

The NCAA’s committee on infractions on Thursday accepted all of the school’s self-imposed penalties, which included a postseason tournament ban in 2004-05, a reduction of one scholarship in 2005-06 and 2006-07, vacating all wins in which former player Abe Keita participated and returning 90 percent of the money it received from the Big East for participating in the 2002 NCAA Tournament.

St. John’s athletic director Chris Monasch was satisfied with the decision.

“We’re very pleased,” Monasch said. “We feel we have a stronger program in place and there is now a point of emphasis with compliance by the athletic department and the university.”

Keita alleged he was given $300 each month by a member of the basketball staff, and an investigation by the school found evidence to support the claim, violating the NCAA’s “extra-benefit” rules.

The school said the violations involved only one player and that the inquiry involved no current players, coaches or other athletic staff. The school said it believes the funds were provided with a humanitarian intent, but the payments still were judged to be inappropriate and unacceptable.

Committee chairman Gene Marsh credited the cooperation of former director of basketball operations Alex Evans and the quick response by St. John’s officials as reasons more severe sanctions were not issued. Evans admitted wrongdoing during the investigation and testified before the committee in February.
…
The infractions occurred when Mike Jarvis was coaching St. John’s. Jarvis was fired in December 2003. Committee officials ruled the payments were made by a former director of basketball operations from September 2000 to February 2004.

Keita also was given $2,400 to help pay tuition in 1999-2000 when he was enrolled at St. John’s but did not academically qualify for a scholarship. The committee ruled St. John’s provided extra benefits to Keita by making special arrangements for him to rent an apartment at a reduced rate.

The committee criticized the university and Jarvis for failing to monitor the financial situation.

So who paid the money? Well that was Evans, the director of basketball operations. Also, known as the position of junior assistant coach. Or as Greg Doyel puts it (May 12):

So of course it was St. John’s director of operations Alex Evans who gave former Red Storm player Abe Keita $300 a month — for 3 1/2 years — for humanitarian expenses like video games and tip money at strip bars. Including a one-time donation of $2,400 for tuition fees, Keita received almost $10,000 from the St. John’s coaching staff.

Oops, sorry. Not from the St. John’s coaching staff. From the St. John’s director of basketball operations.

Of course Keita got the money from — and only from — Evans. Evans was rolling in dough, considering he was a lowly administrative assistant in the most expensive city in America. Evans was probably tipping doormen with $20s and lighting cigarettes with $100s. Made of money, those administrative assistants.

Evans reportedly told the NCAA that Jarvis provided some of the money for Keita, but neither Evans nor the NCAA could prove it.

Of course not. Even if Evans were telling the truth, cash is untraceable — and Jarvis wouldn’t face the NCAA interrogation in person.

So Evans gets a three-year “show cause” penalty from the NCAA, ending his career for the short term and probably for the long haul as well. St. John’s gets two years of probation and a few lost scholarships.

And Mike Jarvis? You can find him on ESPN, talking about college basketball.

Jarvis only responded to the NCAA investigation with written responses and denials. He gets to be a pundit and has no NCAA penalties on him. Mike Jarvis’ son, who was an assistant at St. John’s at the time is now an assistant at Duke. Evans who actually cooperated with the NCAA is essentially done in college basketball.

The lesson from this. Institutions — which are members of the NCAA — have every reason to cooperate with investigations. Individuals do not. In fact, it is arguably in their best interest to be as unhelpful as possible without actively obstructing an investigation.

This is the practical and effective conclusion you can see from basketball scandals.

Consider Baylor several years ago when one player killed the other. As the investigation started, the head coach, worried about the truth coming out about how they were secretly paying tuition for one of the players who was a trying to get his academics fixed. The head coach decided that he and the assistants should try to cover it up in part by spreading rumors/leaking reports that the dead player may have been involved in drug dealing. One assistant, Abar Rouse, realized how sick and insane this was, not to mention illegal, and that as an assistant he probably would have been hung out to dry. He taped some of the discussions. When it all started unraveling, the assistant contacted an attorney who passed it on to a newspaper reporter.

The general public and media thought he did the right thing, and lobbied for Rouse.

Rouse, a Baylor alum, was one of the people Bliss tried to enlist in his pathetic plan. When he hesitated to go along with the script, Rouse says, Bliss showed him a copy of his assistant’s contract, and the clause that gives the head coach complete authority to fire assistants was highlighted. Considering that Rouse had been hired all of 2 1/2 months earlier, a major step up after five years of paying his coaching dues at such out-of-the-way stops as Ranger College, Midwestern State and Cape Fear Community College, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had been intimidated enough or ambitious enough to keep his mouth shut. Instead, he recorded such damning statements from Bliss that the coach had no choice but to admit his plot.
…
If there is any justice, Rouse’s phone will soon start ringing off the hook, with coaching heavyweights such as Mike Krzyzewski or Lute Olson or Roy Williams on the other end, and they will say something like, “Young man, here is my home phone number, and if you need a job, or a recommendation for a job, do not hesitate to use it.”

Even as writers knew that Rouse was doomed.

Indeed the college coaches condemned him for betraying his boss. Hell, Jim Boeheim and the Sainted Coach K went on ESPN’s “Outside the Line” and publicly stated that the assistant crossed the line. The crime being committed and the lies being exposed were irrelevant. It was betraying the boss and head coach that mattered. Loyalty was more important than stopping a disgusting and desperate attempt to drag a dead kid’s name through the mud in hopes of hiding the head coach’s own malfeasance. Those must be the principles Coach K talks about in his AmEx Recruiting Commercial. Take the bullet meant for and deserved by me, or you’ll never work in this business again.

Dave Bliss is now coaching in the CBA. As for Rouse, it took almost a year to land a job as a graduate assistant coach at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. His annual salary at Baylor was $42,000. He now earns $8000. He is also suing the attorney for releasing the tapes without his permission.

Both Evans and Rouse got screwed by comparison to their bosses for standing up and taking some measure of responsibility. Congratulations to the NCAA for showing the way the system works.

Seven or eight years ago Pitt would have been on this list.

And this question occurred to me, too: What are the 10 toughest coaching jobs in college basketball?

Not tough like Texas-Pan American, where you get paid like a school teacher and literally can’t win. Tough like N.C. State — great salary, great league, but still brutal.

It’s all from major conferences. Providence and Seton Hall make the list. As does some other PA school.

5. Penn State: Location, location, location. Penn State is in the middle of a basketball graveyard. On one side of the state is Philadelphia, recruited by national powers. On the other side, Pittsburgh and West Virginia dominate. Abandoned in its own state, where is Penn State to turn for recruits? To Indiana? Or Michigan? Those states have their own powerhouses. When people tell you that Texas and Oklahoma are tough basketball jobs because they’re “football” schools, hold up a hand and say two words: Penn State.

Doyel still has K-State on the list noting that the NCAA prohibition on private jets for bringing in recruits is a real blow.

I don’t think any job in a major conference is truly impossible. Some are more difficult than others, but things can change with major effort, getting and keeping the right coach. Ask West Virginia. Ask Texas A&M. Things can change a lot faster than it sometimes appears.

Just an few small Basketball stories. Can we officially call the NC State Wolfpack basketball team, Pitt South? They now have two former Panther players as assistant coaches.

Pete Strickland, a former head coach at Coastal Carolina, has joined Sidney Lowe’s new basketball staff at N.C. State.

Strickland, 48, played prep ball at Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha under Morgan Wootten, and once coached Lowe and Dereck Whittenburg during summer league ball in the Washington, D.C. area.

Strickland began work at State on Friday after a series of telephone conversations with Lowe earlier in the week.

Also on the Lowe staff will be former Herb Sendek aide Larry Harris, former Wolfpack guard Quentin Jackson and Monte Towe, the point guard on State’s 1974 NCAA title team and previously the head coach at the University of New Orleans.

At Coastal Carolina in Conway, S.C., Strickland was 70-127 in seven seasons as head coach. He previously worked at Dayton, Old Dominion and Virginia Military. As a standout guard at Pitt during his college career, he played on the same teams with the high-scoring Harris.

[Emphasis added.]

I would have really liked Pitt to try and get Larry Harris to come back to Pitt. Unfortunately, Harris seems very happy in the Raleigh area. Part of the reason he returned as an assistant to NC State after initially heading to Tempe with Herb Sendek.

Getting to be a very curious thing to see who gets hired to be the next Pitt assistant or associate head coach. Assuming Orlando Antigua gets promoted to an assistant from director of basketball operations and Pat Sandle remains, there is only one opening there and an opening for a new director of basketball operations — which would go to a younger, newer guy trying to climb the coaching ranks. Should Pitt hire a former Panther — like Darrelle Porter as an assistant? Should they look elsewhere? I think it’s smart for Dixon to take his time right now. Chris Dokish has some information on this front.

The NCAA’s academic progress goals has created an interesting thing with regards to transfers.

With the NCAA’s academic reforms pressuring programs to keep players progressing toward degrees, some coaches are declining to release players who want to transfer until they complete spring semester classwork. Marquette’s Tom Crean is among them. He waited to release SG Dameon Mason (now at LSU) last spring and this year required PF Ryan Amoroso to finish up. Unless players who transfer do so in good academic standing, there’s a chance their first schools eventually could lose scholarships.

That seems like something someone should also pass along to the football side of things. Transfers are more prevelant and common in football. Pitt has lost several over the last couple of years. Hopefully the athletic department is on top of this.

DeJuan Blair out of Schenley High still has Pitt high on his list. Have to figure an offer will come soon for him and D.J. Kennedy.

Luis Colon is expected to announce his choice today (tomorrow is the last day of the signing period). Pitt is definitely out of the mix at this point.

According to his AAU team’s Web site, Luis Colon, the 6-foot-10 forward from Miami Krop High, has added an offer. The nearby Miami Hurricanes have jumped in late. Colon, who visited Manhattan over the weekend, is choosing between Duquesne, Massachusetts, K-State and Miami.

Part of what is really driving his decision is early playing time. In that respect, it is not a surprise that Pitt wouldn’t make the cut. I doubt Coach Dixon was willing to make him any promises or assurances at this point. Colon appears to be a good player, but he is not that good a player right now.

Additional, note from the story that is just amusing. K-State has its first player arrest under the Bob Huggins regime.

Senior point guard Mario Taybron was arrested Saturday by Riley County Police at 11:54 p.m. on a municipal warrant for a failure to comply.

He was released on a $179 bond. No other details were available.

Not sure if it’s fair to count Taybron, since whatever he did happened before Huggins. But what the hell.

It’s some reading between the lines, but I’m feeling more confident that Gray will be back (as I had predicted, but found myself waffling). Chad Ford lists Juniors who the whispers say are staying in the draft (Insider Subs.).

We know who has declared for the draft, so NBA executives have changed their focus to a new question: Who’s actually staying in the draft?

We’re still a month away from getting definitive answers, but here is the buzz on some prominent underclassmen that declared, but to preserve their eligibility, didn’t hire agents.

He lists Josh Boone, UConn; Bobby Brown, Cal-Fullerton; Shannon Brown, Mich. St.; Quincy Douby, Rutgers (who has gone and hired an agent); Jordan Farmar, UCLA; Nick Fazekas, Nevada; Daniel Gibson, Texas; Leon Powe, Cal; Cedric Simmons, NC St.; and P.J. Tucker, Texas. Gray is no where to be found on the list.

Then there is this story about how some coaches are taking a more active role in making sure their juniors who are testing the draft waters don’t screw up with their eligibility should they choose to return.

Fox, like a number of other coaches this spring, is taking an interpretation of an NCAA rule on NBA draft workouts and is getting involved in scheduling them.

“I’m doing just about all of it,” Fox said. “I’m the one communicating with the GMs and scouts. It’s a significant amount of time every day. I owe it to Nick and I’m fortunate that he trusts me.”

The rule, NCAA Division I Bylaw 12.2.1.2, was interpreted as recently as last Thursday to clear up any misconception. The rule states that it is permissible for an institution to reserve a facility for its student athlete to work out for a team, as long as the coach is not present for the actual workout. A student’s family and other individuals can attend as long as they are not “agents or acting on behalf of agents.”

For years, underclassmen have been burned by misunderstanding the workout rules and end up sitting games the following season if they return. It happens when players don’t realize they must pay in advance for workouts at NBA facilities. The only exception is the predraft camp, which has moved from Chicago to Orlando this June, and which the NBA pays for.

To combat this possible expense-related headache, coaches such as Fox are being proactive.

Coach Dixon is going with this approach.

Fox said the NCAA has been good to work with as it explains what he can and can’t do.

“For instance, if he went to a workout, can I go? I know I can’t now. Can I go to Orlando? Yes, I can go there. But I know I can’t even watch a workout here,” Fox said. “Nick has been great and so has his family. They’ve been mature and cautious.”

Fox isn’t alone on this path.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon has been calling around for junior center Aaron Gray, looking into the possibility of a workout in Pittsburgh for him. Gray isn’t interested in flying all over the country for workouts and isn’t keen on going to Orlando, either.

[Emphasis added.]

Hmmm.

If Gray is even a little disinterested in doing the workouts right now, it reads like he just wants another year at Pitt.

Darnell Dinkins is a member of the Browns. He doesn’t pay mere lip-service to giving back to a community.

Dinkins said this won’t be the last visit he will pay to Cleveland students. The 29-year-old football player plans to adopt a city school – or maybe more than one – and give the kids incentives to study and set goals. Those incentives could include trips to sporting events or behind-the-scenes tours of Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Dinkins and his Maleness to Manhood Foundation adopted a school in Baltimore last season when he played for the Ravens.

“I didn’t endure all these hardships to keep it to myself,” he said.

Which school or schools Dinkins will adopt has yet to be determined.

He plans to use the same program he did in Baltimore where homerooms compete against each other to collect “yards” for attendance, citizenship and homework. Top-scoring homerooms will get rewards.

Dinkins shared his own hardships with the 85 students at Genesis, a school for disruptive teens.

He was raised by his mother in a roach-infested home in one of Pittsburgh’s toughest neighborhoods, he said.

“I saw friends shot and killed,” he said, but seeing his mother’s determination influenced him the most.

An injury his senior year at the University of Pittsburgh kept him out of the NFL draft, he said. He became a juvenile probation officer and saw how children and their families were just giving up.

He was determined not to let go of his dream. He finally got picked up by the New York Giants and went on to the Ravens. In March, he signed a deal with Cleveland worth more than $2.1 million.

But his college graduation photo dominates posters the football player signed for Genesis students. Education, he said, “is something no one can take away from you.”

Dinkins hosts an annual camp in Pittsburgh each year for his foundation. Part of his program also includes giving student athletes coursework in preparing for the SATs.

Dinkins has been doing this even while he has earned the league minimum. Not exactly chump change, but not the stuff with which most people try to do foundations.

I have the answer to a nagging question. When Pat Bostick committed I noted the rather curious vagueness from the ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. recruiting blog about where Bostick would announce.

I’ve been trying to figure out if they were really that unaware (which would also mean not being aware of the multiple reports that Coach Wannstedt would be visiting Bostick the day before) or purposefully pretending not to know to keep the interest and attention of other fans.

They answered the question for me with a follow-up post titled: No Surprise With Bostick’s Pitt Verbal.

Pat Bostick yesterday confirmed what already seemed like a sure thing when he verbally committed to Pittsburgh.

Nice to know how honest they will be with their information.

It’s been very interesting to chart the increased notoriety of AAU Coach J.O. Stright in the last year as the ceiling on Herb Pope has risen. I know I didn’t start finding out much about Stright until last summer when the reports swirled that Herb Pope was headed to a Florida Prep School at the behest of his AAU Coach. That led me to a little Googling and searching online that didn’t turn up much, though it did reveal a very close relationship with Bob Huggins. Elsewhere, the Stright name started appearing in message board strings and his motivations and history became discussion topics.

But this Spring. Oh, this Spring. You had rising HS star Terrelle Pryor make a verbal to Pitt as a sophomore then have Stright announce that he was backing off that a bit. The chatter increased. Stright’s profile was rising with his young AAU studs.

This led to the Pittsburgh Sports Report Piece on Stright written by Chris Dokish. Additionally, Dokish answered some questions on this blog about the piece and Stright. All of which was further picked up, discussed and dissected on the Pitt message boards (and one for K-State as well).

This has led to the mainstream newspapers in Pittsburgh to belatedly realize there might be something of a story and interest here.

The Trib ran their story at the beginning of May. It pointed to a lot more gray in Stright than clearing anything up: plenty of high school coaches defending him, the Pittsburgh JOTS doesn’t take shoe money, and Stright is a Pitt Athletics booster — not just a season ticket holder and donator to the academic side.

Now the Post-Gazette has its turn. Let’s given them credit. This piece actually fills in some nice gaps in the story. You’d almost think the writer, Ray Fittipaldo (also the Pitt basketball beat reporter), actually was reading the message board and this blog to find some additional questions to answer.

An NCAA spokesperson said anyone can be a booster and AAU coach. The spokesperson said it is up to individual institutions to instruct boosters what is permissible and what is not when it comes to recruiting.

Pitt said any booster is not allowed to give a recruiting presentation to prospective student-athletes. A recruiting presentation is defined as anything that can be perceived as an effort to encourage a person to attend a respective institution.

According to the NCAA, Stright is allowed to give recruiting pitches to schools at which he is not a booster.

Pitt has never reported any violations to the NCAA concerning Stright, perhaps because Stright has sent just one player to Pitt in his 20 years as an AAU coach.

And perhaps because if it was every revealed that Pitt reported an AAU coach, they’d be at risk from all other AAU coaches closing ranks and do their level best to not send any of their kids to Pitt.

It would be a brave and potentially suicidal school/coach to risk the program and job to start ratting out shady AAU coaches. They could shut off the spigot to an overwhelming majority of the talent.

The story in question finally answers the long-nagging question: how do Stright and Huggins know each other.

By 1986, Stright decided to found the JOTS, when his son, Justin, was coming through the AAU program. He did it with the help of former Pitt stars Charles Smith and Demetrius Gore, who coached the team for a few years when they were playing at Pitt and gave the team credence in the local and national AAU scene. The AAU was quickly becoming the place for college coaches to evaluate players because they wanted to judge players against top-caliber competition. AAU — Amateur Athletic Union — is an organization that sanctions tournaments for every sport at an amateur level. Boys’ basketball is its lifeblood. Teams range in age level from second grade through senior boys’ division (senior year in high school).

Stright’s relationship with Pitt soured shortly after Paul Evans became the Panthers’ coach in 1986. Players complained to Stright about Evans’ abrasiveness and the way he treated them. Stright said he had a falling out with Evans and purposely steered players away from Pitt because of it.

That coincided with the rekindling of an old friendship with Huggins, a childhood chum who started to come to Pittsburgh to see the JOTS play. Stright and Huggins got to know each other in the 1960s when their high school teams scrimmaged each other. Stright played for Hickory High School in Mercer County, Huggins for Indian Valley South High in Gnadenhutten, Ohio.

Since rekindling the friendship they have since become best friends.

And while Huggins spent his season outside the reach of the NCAA, he could really take advantage of his situation. It is well known how Huggins has been recruiting players like O.J. Mayo and such but this is a nifty nugget.

Pope has been linked to Kansas State from the moment Huggins was hired this year. Huggins has developed a relationship with Pope over the years through Stright, including some coaching sessions this winter.

Huggins was out of college coaching last season for the first time in decades, and once every month he would come to Pittsburgh for a long weekend at Stright’s home on Mount Washington. During those visits, Stright arranged for Huggins to give coaching clinics to JOTS players, including Pope and Pryor, on Saturday mornings at local high school gyms.

Because Huggins was out of coaching, it was legal under NCAA rules.

“We weren’t trying to hide anything,” Stright said of the clinics.

Then there’s the fact that one of the present AAU assistant coaches is Darrelle Porter, the former Pitt great and Duquesne head coach.

Porter is an assistant coach with the JOTS. He also is a fixture at Pitt, where he said he recently spent some of his free time working out Pitt players to help ease the burden on head coach Jamie Dixon, who had been operating without two assistant coaches after Barry Rohrssen and Joe Lombardi accepted college head coaching positions.

Porter has known Stright for 20 years and used to coach the JOTS with Sean Miller, now the coach at Xavier. He said the people associated with Pitt who complain about Stright don’t know what they’re talking about.

I’m not sure if he’s interested, but Porter could very well be one of Pitt’s assistant coaches full-time in a short while.

In a companion piece on Stright, there are profiles of the top stars on the Pittsburgh JOTS. There is also a story about the AAU, specifically the basketball AAU and Pittsburgh.

Not all of the prospects play for the JOTS. There are a number of other successful AAU teams in the area besides the JOTS that boast other Division I prospects.

The Pennsylvania Storm consists of two teams of 15- and 16-year old players who have a number of prospects of their own. Klimchock coaches the 15-and-under team. Mike Shanahan, the brother of former Duquesne University player Brian Shanahan, coaches the Storm’s 16-and-under team.

Mike Shanahan Jr. of Norwin, Brian Walsh of Moon, Antoine Childs of Blackhawk, Jonathan Baldwin of Aliquippa and Christian Wilson of Montour are a few of the Storm players who could land Division I scholarships in a few years.

The 15-year old squad has a number of players who could land scholarships as well. Most of Klimchock’s players started as freshmen on their high school teams this past season.

Stright said recently that he is considering retirement from the local AAU scene. When that happens, Porter said he would like to continue the tradition Stright started and showcase the area’s top players on one team.

That could lead to a competition with the Storm for the best area players. As it is now, Porter said he only gives college coaches information about players who are playing for the JOTS. He said he would be willing to work with the Storm because he believes it is in the best interest of local basketball to have one team that showcases the top talent.

“There are going to be players here,” Porter said. “If J.O. retires, I’m going to stay involved and make sure our best players have a way to showcase their talent. We have to let these kids be seen.”

Very interesting.

I found this interesting article written by Ron Dickerson a few years ago. Ron was the former football coach at Temple and the uncle of incoming Pitt freshman Dorin Dickerson. He discusses the influences in his development as a coach and the impact of coaching. Not just that, he briefly touches on the other things that a head coach needs to be able to do.

After three years, I finally realized that marketing the team wasn’t my job. The building of the weight room wasn’t my job, and the academic counseling wasn’t my job. I was there to coach football and to build a winning program, but now my time was running out and we weren’t winning. It didn’t look like I was going to get an extension on my contract and I needed more time. The discouraging part was that the thing I did so well — coaching — wasn’t all that was needed to get the job done. The true test of leadership was the adaptability and flexibility I had to have, and the challenge was leaving my comfort zone — an area in which I had been operating effectively for years.

We knew we were doing things right because we had more players playing in the NFL than under any other former Temple head coach. We had such players as Stacy Mack, Houston Texans; Alshermond Singleton, Dallas Cowboys; Larry Chester, Miami Dolphins; Tre’ Johnson, Cleveland Browns; Lance Johnstone, Minnesota Vikings; Henry Burris, Chicago Bears; and Mathias Nkwenti, Pittsburgh Steelers.

But, if there’s one thing I have learned in more than 30 years of involvement in football and sports coaching it’s this: True success is based on more than wins. As I consider my definition of success, I remember that ultimately my success, and the success of the coaches with whom I worked was not solely judged on the number of wins we had, but on the quality of relationships we developed over the years with our athletes. I believe we never compromised our commitment to excellence. At all times, our focus was on doing things properly. Every play. Every practice. Every meeting. Every situation. Every TIME.

It’s worth reading the whole thing.

As expected Eugene Harvey signed a LOI to Seton Hall yesterday. New Coach Bobby Gonzalez is slightly happy.

“Eugene is a monumental recruit for us,” Gonzalez said. “We desperately needed a point guard, and we got a big-time player and person. In my career I’ve signed a lot of New York City point guards wherever I’ve been, and Eugene is potentially the best point guard I’ve ever recruited, signed or had the ability to coach.”

Harvey is expected to immediately start at Seton Hall.

Pitt will likely have 5 scholarships to offer now for 2007-08. Banking this one plus Seniors Gray, Kendall, Hudson and Graves.

I will posit something on the optimistic side. Pitt has no glaring needs for this year, and Coach Dixon’s main focus is finding the best new assistants to hire. These assistants will be in their first year with Pitt and arguably will be highly, highly motivated to make a big first impression on the recruiting trail.

A good case could be made that this year could be the big recruiting year for Pitt. Especially if Gray returns for his Senior year and Pitt has the season that is expected. No pressure or anything.

The ESPN SportsCenter “Sunday Conversation” will be with Coach Jamie Dixon and deal primarily with the passing of his sister Maggie Dixon. The interview will be with Andy Katz, who has already admitted he considers Dixon a friend. In advance of the interview he has a preview article.

Then there has been the endless inflow of mail and e-mail from friends, colleagues, strangers, even military personnel from around the globe and the repeated attempts to make sense of something that never will make any at all.

Somehow, throughout it all, he is staying stable. In a lengthy interview with ESPN on Thursday, Jamie was able to reflect upon his sister’s life, her legacy and the horrible day when she collapsed.

“I think she’ll be remembered as a person [who] loved life, loved people and being around all types of people,” he said. “She enjoyed every minute of her life. She’ll always be remembered as the coach at West Point, [as] someone [who] seemed to be on top of the world. She impacted a lot of people in such a short amount of time, and why something like this happens will always be asked. Why a person who did everything so right, would have something like this happen so suddenly.

“I’ll remember the special times, and she’ll always be an inspiration to me. [She] always has been and [will] continue to do so for us and our family. She’s in our thoughts always. I’ll never go a day without thinking about her. I never did before.”

There’s a link in the story to the conversation to watch online. It cuts out on me at the 1:38 marker out of 4:24 Looks like I’ll actually sit through a SportsCenter for the first time in ages. There’s an early airing on Sunday morning around 10:30 after the Sports Reporters.

Katz is still a reporter, and he makes some other use of his time with Coach Dixon with some other tidbits in his blog.

Circle Pitt at Wisconsin on Dec. 16 as another big-time nonconference game. Pitt should be picked to win the Big East while Wisconsin likely will be selected as either No. 1 or 2 in the Big Ten.
…
Pitt is looking for a few more games (its series with Penn State is over). The Panthers are going to Auburn as well as the aforementioned game at Wisconsin, and it appears the Panthers will host an exempted tournament on its campus, with Northeastern as one of the teams.

The Panthers wanted to be in one of the high-profile events but had a hard time getting a nod. Look for this to be an ongoing issue in the 16-team Big East as Syracuse, Connecticut and Louisville become the first choice of events like Maui, the NIT and the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic now that teams can play in an event like these every season (just not the same one more than once in a four-year period).

That was the concern and the reason the old rule was in place.

The post also notes that the solid money is on the Big East to go to an 18 game conference schedule after the 2006-07 season. Also, there is a proposal to have the bottom 8 teams in the Big East play on Tuesday of the BE Tournament. Those winners would face the #5-8 seeds on Wednesday. That would get all the teams to NYC for the BET.

I haven’t taken a look at how many scholarships Pitt has to offer this season. I suspect it will be a bit lower than last year. It gets a little confusing with gray-shirts and early enrollments. Bostick if he does do early enrollment as planned, I think counts as a scholarship from the previous season. Of course Pitt probably had a couple open slots with the transfers of Terrell Allen and Rob Agnone that took place after this past signing period.

With Pat Bostick committing to Pitt that means no more QBs will be recruited for this class — other than perhaps a hybrid athlete/QB for conversion to another position. It means a position Pitt won’t have to allocate any more spots for scholarships. I expect that Pitt will be especially focused on finding linemen for both sides. Not exactly a revelation or anything new, but worth mentioning.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt rolled the dice by making Pat Bostick the lone quarterback target in a 2007 class loaded with talent at the position.

The gamble paid off Friday when Bostick, a junior at Manheim Township in Lancaster, announced at a news conference his verbal commitment to Pitt. The news came with a bonus, as Bostick revealed plans to graduate in December and enroll in January to participate in spring drills with the Panthers.

“They’ve been recruiting me since last summer,” Bostick said. “They told me I was their No. 1 guy. I was very humbled by that. It was a no-brainer.”

Well, it didn’t seem like that big a gamble to go after the best QB in the state and who showed obvious interest in Pitt with the number of trips he kept making to Pittsburgh.

[Brief tangent, because it’s been bugging me for a couple days. As the aforementioned article notes that Bostick verballing to Pitt was all but a given; and word had been leaking for over a week before the announcement. The ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. recruiting blog for whatever reason, earlier in the week pretended not to know a thing.

Talked with QB Pat Bostick (Lancaster-Manheim Twp., Pa.), and he said he will be holding a press conference Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET to announce the school to which he will verbally commit.

Bostick will choose between Pittsburgh, Louisville, Georgia and N.C. State.

I’ve been trying to figure out if they were really that unaware (which would also mean not being aware of the multiple reports that Coach Wannstedt would be visiting Bostick the day before) or purposefully pretending not to know to keep the interest and attention of other fans. ]

The story also talks about a couple top receiver prospects who now have more interest.

Scout.com recruiting analyst Bob Lichtenfels believes Bostick’s decision could influence the decision of two of the state’s top receivers, Toney Clemons of Valley and Nick Sukay of Greesnburg Central Catholic.

“You’re talking about a franchise quarterback,” Lichtenfels said. “Bostick, to me, is clear-cut the No. 1 player in the state. You’re going to see an effect with Pat like you saw with Dorin (Dickerson) last year. Those kids gravitate toward each other. Receivers like to play with big-time quarterbacks, and Bostick is a big-time quarterback recruit.”

Clemons and Sukay were each on the receiving end of Bostick’s passes at the Scout.com combine and the Elite College Combine in Randolph, N.J., last week.

“I thought it was good to hear, great for Pitt. It will definitely open up my eyes,” Sukay said. “I’m still pretty wide open, but it definitely raises my interest in them.”

Added Clemons: “To tell the truth, it can sway any receiver’s decision, because Pitt likes to air it out, and Bostick can air it out. He’s fundamentally sound, willing to learn, has dead-on accuracy and can make everybody around him better. He makes an impact on you immediately. I think highly of him. He’s a great player.”

I’m not expecting these kids to make their decisions that quickly, though, there is still a long time until February.

Back to Bostick, it seems he fell in love not just with Pitt but the city itself.

Over the past few years, Bostick has been to Pitt for passing camps, games and practices.

“Pitt’s been my favorite since day one,” Bostick said. “I love the city of Pittsburgh. It has great people, blue-collar type of people who are hard-working with great character. Plus, the football is great. Western Pennsylvania is a hotbed for football and Pitt’s a great program. Overall, it’s just a great situation and a good opportunity for me.”

Although Bostick is impressed with the NFL backgrounds of Wannstedt and Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, he said that wasn’t a big factor in his decision.

“That played a role, but not as big as people think,” Bostick said. “They’re just good guys, like everyone else from Pittsburgh.”

Definitely someone who really likes the area as well.

Here’s the story from Bostick’s local paper.

So why did he pick Pitt?

“They didn’t recruit me like the other schools recruited me,” said Bostick, whose younger brother Adam will play tight end for the Blue Streaks this fall.

“They were honest up front. They told me what they were thinking, and I told them what I was thinking. We collaborated, and everything came across honest and straight forward. The facts were always on the table. I liked that a lot.”

Bostick also liked the fact that Pitt runs a similar offense to what he’s been running at Township the last two years.

“They run the West Coast offense … multiple stuff, and they spread the ball around,” Bostick said. “It’s a great offense with a great offensive coordinator who has been in the NFL.”

Cavanaugh, a Pitt grad who quarterbacked the Panthers to the national championship in 1976, has three Super Bowl rings: two as a player — for the 49ers in 1984 and the Giants in 1990 — and one as a coach, in 2000, when he was the Ravens’ offensive coordinator.

“This is definitely a program that’s going to be in the top 10 in the next couple of years,” Bostick said. “The players are there. The coaches are there. The schemes are there. I’m very fortunate.”

Bostick also said that he planned to enroll early at Pitt — January — so he can take part in spring practice. Some minor errors in the story as it said that Bostick was the first commit to the class of 2007 (he’s the third). Picture of Bostick at the press conference.

Chris Dokish has an interview with Pat Bostick at Pittsburgh Sports Report.

It’s worth noting how much he seemed to stress Matt Cavanaugh as much as he did Coach Wannstedt. When Cavanaugh was hired and even after this first season, one area of question (and there are many) was about his recruiting ability. It seems that the early returns are positive on this issue.

Wife moving slow gives me this opportunity. The commitment is verbalized.

“I have committed to the University of Pittsburgh,” Bostick said. “I committed last Tuesday. I sat down with coach (Mike) Melnyk and my parents and we talked about all the schools and no one equaled what Pitt had to offer. I was going to do it in April, but coach wanted me to wait a little longer.”

“Pitt’s decision to only offer me and stick with me shows the type of people they are and the type of program they have,” he said. “I am a PA guy, I liked the place and I loved the people there. There is no better place than Pittsburgh.

Last season, the Panthers reeled in the No. 11 ranked class in the nation. That class played a big role in Bostick’s decision.

“It definitely played a part in it,” Bostick explained. “I have a great relationship with Dorin Dickerson and some of the others. There are some great players in that class, they got almost every good kid they wanted, especially in western PA. We’re all on the same page. Everyone is relaxed, focused and intense.”

And he has a plan.

“I was recruited by coach Paul Dunn and I had a lot of interaction with Matt Cavanaugh and coach Wannstedt,” he said. “I feel I fit into their offensive scheme. They want to run a version of the West Coast offense but I’ll be under center like I’m used to and they hope to spread the ball around.”

Bostick expects to play early at Pitt.

“I won’t redshirt, they already told me,” he said. “I’ll play next year, hopefully as the backup to Bill Stull or even the starter. Bill has the experience on me but with Tyler gone after next season, it should be an open competition. Kevan Smith and Dexter Davidson are coming in this year, but I feel confident I can compete right away.”

Now Bostick will turn his efforts towards recruiting some wide receivers to Pitt.

“I’m working on Nick Sukay and Toney Clemons,” he said. “I threw to both of them at the Elite College Combine last week and we clicked. Nick and I especially clicked. We’ve been friends, but we’ve never played together and it was just natural.”

Let the reflected glow and basking commence.

Have to leave in a few minutes for a funeral (no one I knew, but I suspect liveblogging from a funeral might be considered bad form). I’m expecting that by the time I get back, Pat Bostick will have announced that he is coming to Pitt while Eugene Harvey announces he is heading to Seton Hall.