I don’t have an answer.
Let me get that out of the way immediately. I just have some things on my mind, and I’m essentially wondering aloud and wondering what others think.
I’ve been thinking about it since Coach Jamie Dixon reloaded the assistant coaches. I have no problems with the hires. The seem to be good hires, and in fact, I quite like that the new coaches means more avenues for recruiting — expanding beyond simply metro NYC to NJ, Philly and the metro DC region. Admittedly, more winning and national exposure will be far more effective in recruiting top talent from more places than hiring assistant coaches with ties to the area.
What is interesting in the hirings of both Mike Rice, Jr. and David Cox is that it was noted as a big positive their ties to a sneaker camp and an AAU league respectively. And there is no disputing that they paid immediate dividends with the first commit of the 2007 class.
“I had a lot of scholarship offers before I got involved with Pitt. They really weren’t in the picture until they hired (Panthers assistant) Coach (Mike) Rice,” stated Dodson. “Once Coach Rice got to Pitt he started recruiting me as soon as he got there.”
“I visited in late June (23rd) when they held a camp there. I loved everything about it. The facilities were incredible and I liked the city and campus. They showed me the classrooms, dorms and thing like that as well. I got to meet their two point guards Ron (Ramon) and Levance (Fields). They were nice guys.”
“On the way home from Pittsburgh I was heavily leaning towards committing to them. I really liked it there and I felt comfortable. It seemed like a good spot for me. I got home and decided to commit to them. David Cox (Pitt Director of Basketball Operations) joining the staff made it that much easier.”
There’s nothing wrong or even unethical with anything here. Not even close to it. There is a long and, um, storied tradition in college athletics of hiring assistants to gain a key recruit. Larry Brown hired Danny Manning’s father when he was at Kansas (that worked out rather well). Arkansas Head Coach Houston Nutt hired the high school coach of a wavering top QB prospect as his OC this past year. Bob Huggins goes to K-State and immediately poaches assistant Dalonte West from Charlotte.
As far as the NCAA is concerned, there’s nothing illegal about the kind of package deal Huggins is blatantly pursuing by hiring Dalonte Hill away from Charlotte. Hill, a nondescript assistant for the 49ers, is joining Huggins’ staff for one reason, and one reason only: Hill is tight with Michael Beasley, one of the top five players from the high school class of 2007.
How tight? Beasley is a 6-foot-9 small forward — think Carmelo Anthony, only bigger — who could play anywhere in America, and last year he committed to play for little ol’ Charlotte.
That tight.
Beasley won’t go to Charlotte now, of course. He’ll go to Kansas State. Nothing has been announced, and nothing is official, but that’s what the hiring of Dalonte Hill really means. It has nothing to do with Dalonte Hill. It has everything to do with Michael Beasley.
That’s the sort of stuff that gets ‘tsk-tskd’ and considered sketchy at best. That isn’t the case with the present hires, and the most that has been said is that it will just allow some more access.
I guess what I’m getting at is the ethical and questionable lines in recruiting and coach hirings. There is a very large and very gray area. There isn’t a simple bright line and I think there might be a belief/argument to be made that Pitt is moving somewhere into that large gray zone.
Coach Dixon, as far as I’m concerned has been above reproach as an assistant and head coach at Pitt in terms of recruiting ethics. I’ll make that very clear. Same with all of the coaches who have been here at Pitt during this time. There hasn’t been even a hint of impropriety. There hasn’t even been the whining from opposing coaches and programs that Pitt is or has done anything even close to questionable.
That doesn’t mean things can’t happen. Especially as Pitt continues to gain greater national prominence and is in on more and more of the top recruits. That means more dealings with the AAU area. More contact with the shoe gods and their camps.
It may be something requiring a closer eye. Or I could just be thinking about it too much.
