Great story about how Coach Dixon’s basketball camp can be more than simply about more income for the coach.
There is the toothy, beaming smile of Julius Page that was as much his identifying feature as his ability to sail over a would-be shot blocker and flush home a dunk.
There is the slightly pudgy profile of Jaron Brown, whose ferocity, versatility and Kentucky-bred kindness made him a fan favorite on a team that was the foundation for Pitt’s resurgence.
There is the long sinewy body of Chris McNeal, with his sharp elbows, deft body control and a never-quit motor.And the space-eating chassis, soft hands and incessant grin that endeared Ontario Lett to fans.
They all made their marks on a basketball floor in Oakland, and that is where they gathered again yesterday. Those former players were at the Petersen Events Center, working as counselors to the 200 campers at a weeklong basketball camp operated by Panthers coach Jamie Dixon.
“To me, it is important to make sure there is a welcome feeling and a sense of family that runs through not just our current guys, but past players,” Dixon said. “That is why guys like these have an invitation extended to them to work here. Sometimes, I think it is overlooked how vital it is to bridge the gap between past players and the current program, and this is a way to do that. It is also a way to make sure the campers get solid instruction.”
I’m not a fan of living in the past, but I think for college athletics one of the great things is emphasizing the tradition and the links. Whether it was laziness on the athletic department and the school, money things, or something else involving personality conflicts; Pitt from the late-80s to the 90s really did a poor job of connecting the past and present. That was definitely one of the more easily overlooked things that former AD Pedersen did at Pitt — reestablish the ties to past players and coaches.
And the players are aware of it now.
“I know I have a lot of friends here in Pittsburgh,” Lett said. “And everybody is always calling me saying, ‘Come back, come back.’ When I saw that they could use some guys to work camp, I had to come back here. Wherever it is I am in the world, I know I can always come back here to Pitt, and that is important to me.”
McNeal, who played for former Pitt coach Paul Evans and graduated from the university in 1993, has the same feeling. He is an assistant coach at George Wythe High School in Virginia and helps organize the Virginia Storm, an AAU basketball program.
Even though he played three Pitt regimes ago, the guy whose crowning night was a 27-point, 20-rebound performance in a win in March 1992 against Boston College at Fitzgerald Field House knows he has an open invitation to come back because he’s part of the family.
Keeping up those ties and warm feelings to Pitt cynically also helps for the future, when a guy like McNeal can think positively about Pitt and be receptive to Pitt recruiting efforts with his kids.
