[Warning. Long, rambling and probably boring post unrelated to Pitt football and basketball. You have been warned.]
One of those little things that I never got around to doing at Pitt, and still have never made the time to do has been going to a Pitt baseball game. I still haven’t attended a Pitt home game, but I did see them play for the first time yesterday. They had a road game at Cleveland State yesterday. Again, they have had these games for the last few years (that I have been aware) but either my schedule or the weather was not cooperative.

Last week I realized that the chance was coming once more. I got permission from the wife as long as I took Angie (my daughter) with me. Angie was excited because in her mind, going to a ballgame means going to a playground (the couple games I’ve taken her to at a minor league park she spent most of the time just playing in those kidzone type areas). So she had been excited all week.

Monday, I figured I should figure out where the ball field was on the CSU campus downtown. Imagine my surprise when I learned that starting this year, they no longer were playing their games downtown. Instead, they were playing at a new park built out in Lorain County — about 30 miles away from downtown Cleveland and 50+ miles from where we live.
I have to be honest. I didn’t want to bother. That seemed like too much of a hassle, for a game that I wouldn’t be able to see the entire way through with a hyperactive (is there any other kind?) 4-year-old. The wife made me go, because I had promised Angie all week long.

The game was listed on both Pitt and CSU’s site as being a 3pm game. They lied.

(more…)

Any time a WPIAL player gets any sort of recruiting buzz, Pitt is assumed to be on their list until they narrow down their search and we find out that Pitt didn’t make the cut. That’s the exact case we have with Andrew Sweat, the standout LB from Trinity.

Sweat has just announced this “final six” and unfortunately Pitt isn’t one of the final six. Sweat told Bill Kurelic from BuckeyeGrove.com that “I really like Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame. And also Penn State and maybe LSU or Florida.”

He’ll most likely land at Ohio State you can tell he is definitely getting attention from teams that are always in the hunt for national titles. What are some people saying about him in the comments section?

To say Sweat is overrated is not entirely incorrect.

I cover high school sports locally, and I have seen him play many times. Although I think he is a good player, I noticed he disappeared against other big-time talents. I’m not claiming he is going to be a bust in college, but I could name several other big-named WPIAL recruits from the past few seasons who haven’t lived up to their billing.

The truth is no one knows how a kid is going to perform when he lines up against other talented college athletes. Sweat not including Pitt on his “Final Six” list might be a bit disappointing, but the Panthers should only be interested in players who want to play here.

Well said. Very well said.

As the #1 pick of the NY Jets, of course there’s going to be lots of attention and lots of stories involving Darrelle Revis. There are the puff pieces.

So when he left Pittsburgh about 60 credits short of a degree in administrative justice, he had to promise Gilbert he would return to finish his education.

60 credits? Maybe I’m a little out of touch with the present system, but I thought it was around 120 credits to graduate? Now, even assuming he withdrew during the second semester to focus on the draft, I would think he would be further along than that.

Lots of puff pieces.

Revis, who left Pitt after his junior year, always has displayed uncommon maturity. He slept on a couch through his high school years because there were only three bedrooms in his mother’s home and he wanted his younger brother and sister to enjoy the comforts of their own room.

At his high school prom, Revis, alerted that a mentally disabled classmate didn’t have a date, escorted the girl into the prom hall so she didn’t have walk in alone in front of the entire class.

“That’s the kind of guy I am, willing to help and being a good guy,” Revis said.

Which, in my mind, prompts the question of why Sean Gilbert didn’t help out with a bigger house? It’s not like the housing market in Aliquippa was or is thriving.

On the field, Revis was receiving plenty of praise.

On the field this weekend, it was hard to tell if Revis stands out because he was the first-round pick or if he was the first-round pick because he stands out. Working at both cornerback positions — coach Eric Mangini said he’ll work some at safety but primarily will be a cornerback for the Jets — he appeared smooth and confident. Even in drills, in which many of his .campmates came across as overwhelmed and out of sorts, Revis appeared to be the tone-setter. That shouldn’t be much of a change for him. As early as his sophomore season at Pitt, .coaches there say, Revis initiated drills and led by example.

Mangini has noticed Revis as well, and not only on defense.

“Some of the edge speed that he showed in the kickoff return drill that we did and even the tackling drills, some of those plays that he’s made, you can see the change of direction and then the burst,” Mangini said. “The other thing that you notice is, he’s got a very physical way about him in terms of how he places his hands on people, which is always positive.”

Mangini also noted Revis’ approach to the mental aspects of the minicamp and praised the cornerback for asking questions.

Revis was asked about working on the special teams, and Special Teams Coach Mike Westhoff.

“He is a great coach. For his age, he has high energy,” said Revis, who will likely be hearing about that one later on.

According to the Jets site, Westhoff is 59. Of course the Jet’s website on their Revis bio suggests he won the 2006 Jim Thorpe Award for best DB. Revis was a semi-finalist. So, accuracy may be an issue.

You too can download Darrelle Revis wallpaper from the Jets. He’s still got his Pitt gear on, and the picture is from one of his returns during that nightmare 2005 game against Ohio University.

Yeah, it’s the dead period. I’m actually writing about NFL mini-camps and Pitt players.

Tyler Palko gets a nice AP piece that USA Today picks up.

Payton said Palko has handled the first few practices of rookie camp well, though his footwork and throwing need work.

“You see some intangibles with him. I think he’s a pretty good leader,” Payton said. “He’s a coach’s kid and a guy with a pretty quick release. He enjoys football. He likes being around it. So those are all things that are positives. He’s a long ways away and he’d be the first one to tell you that, but we’re anxious to work with him and we’ll see what we have.”

At least he appears to have made it through the first mini-camp without being cut. The constant concern for free agent signees. This article has a headline (…QB Palko makes an impression) and subheadline (Palko starts strong) that suggest Palko had a pretty good weekend, but doesn’t actually explain why. This article, however, simply says Palko didn’t do much one way or the other in camp. Apparently, the quiet hope is that Sean Payton can develop Palko the way he did Tony Romo.

H.B. Blades went to Washington Redskins mini-camp along with fellow late-round draft linebacker Dallas Sartz,  with whom he also roomed in Indianapolis for the NFL scouting combine. Defenisve Coordinator, Gregg Williams, likes Blades’ potential.

“H.B. tackles well,” Williams said. “He’s sideline to sideline. He gets his hands on the ball. There’s no reason he can’t do those things at this level as long as he can get the jump mentally. He’s a student of the game. When you have a little bit of a size disadvantage, where are you going to gain the advantage? H.B. will see how London [Fletcher] gained the advantage in a hurry. There are a lot of things that he’ll see that he can mimic and maybe improve at a faster pace.”

Finally. Clint Session gets no attention in Indy, but the Trib has a nice story on the guy drafted ahead of Palko and Blades.

Instead, he went 136th overall, the ninth outside linebacker chosen.

“You guys probably weren’t talking much about me,” he said. “It was always H.B. I’m pretty sure you said, ‘Seventh round or free agent,’ and here I am today.”

Colts president Bill Polian, the man who built the Buffalo Bills’ four Super Bowl teams, told reporters he had a “strong conviction” about Session. Polian also has a defensive coordinator, Ron Meeks, who worked on defensive staffs with Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt at the University of Miami and with the Dallas Cowboys.

The Colts don’t look at size first. They want players who can run and hit. Session does both, which is why he tied for the national lead in forced fumbles (five) last season.

There’s a joke about tackling I could make there, but it’s been beaten into the ground the last few years.

Coach Jamie Dixon isn’t backing away from his belief that Pitt will be very good in the 2007-08 season. Even if the style is different and the pace is faster.

“I’m excited about the five incoming guys who were all highly ranked,” said Dixon at Thursday’s 24th annual Mon Valley Panther Club Chapter Banquet at the Willow Room. “We will be a different team how we play. We’ll be smaller, quicker and more versatile.”

“I’m excited about the schedule,” he went on. “It’s like a game of poker trying to get teams and we won’t know until August. I do know we’re playing 18 conference games instead of 16 so it will be a real challenge. We had the toughest schedule in the country by the numbers last year and we’ll be at the same pace next year.”

Reads like there will be at least one very good home opponent in the non-con to go with the trip out to Washington and to Dayton.

Tom Dienhart at The Sporting News has ranked coaches in BCS conferences compared to other coaches in the conference and then compiled a list of all 66 BCS conference coaches. Dave Wannstedt checks in at #6 of 8 coaches in the Big East.

6. Dave Wannstedt, Pitt. Wanny finally looks like he’s home. Of course, he is, coaching at the school and in the town that forged that crooked grin. He knows defense, and he has infused talent into the program. But it’s time to start delivering the goods with West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers stealing the headlines. Pitt is a proud program that ALWAYS should be good.

I can agree with Rodriguez at the top of the list but having UL’s Steve Kragthorpe at number three in the Big East makes no sense to me. The guy has yet to be on the sidelines of a BCS team as head coach (previously the head coach at Tulsa in C-USA) and apparently the following got him higher on the list.

Plus, he’s a swell guy who has the right priorities.

One spot in front of Wanny at #5 in Cincinnati’s new head coach, Brian Kelley. A guy who went only 19-16 at Central Michigan in three years. I’m not saying these two coaches won’t be a success but Dienhart is purely guessing that these coaches are going to be something special. It’s also questionable how guys like Kragthorpe and USF’s Jim Leavitt (#2) are ahead of Greg Schiano who is at #4.

He then threw together (seeming literally) a list ranking ALL of the BCS coaches from 1 to 66. Wanny checks in at 45th.

Most of the comments left on the article are left by people completely disagreeing with the rankings, and one of my favorites was this one.

Man, what an easy way to make a living. List all the BCS coaches and put numbers beside their names.

Are y’all taking applications?

Seemingly, that’s what he did. There are so many over and under rated coaches on that list that it’s hard to count them all. Missing by a few spots is forgivable but some of them seem to be way of base.

(h/t Mondesi’s House)

I mentioned a few days ago that I would be looking to get some perspective on Tom Herrion from the place of his former job. JET of The Bushido Way and College of Charleston Sports Fan blogs (I’m always a fan of those who do multiple blogs).

This is what he wrote to me about Herrion in a brief summary.

Herrion is a good coach; he just wasn’t good for the college. I know he was the only CofC coach to be sanctioned by the NCAA for his antics on the side-lines but I attribute that to his knowledge that his house of cards were about to tumble. He didn’t discipline a couple of the guys when they were arrested and never really took the leadership role a coach should take. I am sure he has learned from those (bad) experiences though.

He pissed off a lot of the major donors of the school and season ticket holders were not re-upping their seats after his second year. I think when winning became his only salvation he did anything and everything to win. And it is human nature to crack under that kind of pressure.

I met him a couple of times and had a few heart to hearts with him-he has a genuine caring and respect for his players.

On his blog, he took the time to produce a much longer and detailed recollection of Tom Herrion’s time at CofC. Big thanks to JET for taking the time to do this.

Unfortunately, if there was one mistake Herrion made at the College, it was that he didn’t lobby (stroke) the Maroon Nation enough. And perhaps that is just that he was somewhat of a greenhorn at the game: you have to be 1-part coach, 1-part salesman (recruiter), 1-part cheerleader and 1-part politician (working the crowd: the alumni, the fans and the media). In fact, if you notice the main difference between a coach like Herrion and a coach like Bobby Cremins is that Cremins has gone out of his way to leave his footprints on the bricks surrounding George Street. And Cremins loves this interaction with the fans: If you pick up the receiver Cremins will make you a believer.

Really, make sure you read the whole thing if interested, especially the part about his “enthusiasm” on the bench. Because he didn’t do enough fan/alumni/booster stroking, when things got bumpy and he made some mistakes, it seems he had no room for getting a pass from the fans and powers. A not uncommon story.
I’d say Coach Dixon, after the second season with such a thud, started nearing that crossroads. Fan support was tepid for him and it seemed that the program was already beginning to backslide. Add in Dixon still being incredibly uncomfortable being the public face of the program, and rumblings were already starting. Thankfully, the team came back better the next year (and has shown to be getting better still) and Dixon began getting more comfortable with the public appearances aspect of the job.
The recruiter part of Herrion has never been in question, so that is good for Pitt. Herrion, in an article with a Charleston paper published today also talked about the new opportunity at Pitt.

Herrion, 39, returned to coaching this week when he was named an assistant coach at Pittsburgh, one of the most successful programs in the Big East Conference and in the nation in recent years.

“It’s an absolute home run, a grand slam, whatever you want to call it,” said Herrion, who was hired Monday by Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon. “It’s just a great opportunity for me and for my family.”

…

“I missed my players last year, being with my team day in and day out,” Herrion said. “Broadcasting games is not the same as coaching, but under the circumstances it was a great opportunity to stay involved in the game. It offered some different perspectives, and I think I did a good job of maximizing those opportunities. Spending time at other schools, witnessing how other programs are run, I think that made me a better coach.”

Herrion is still under 40. So, it’s not like he is some burned-out, retread ex-coach. He’s still quite young for a coach and has ambition to be a head coach again. This is all very good for Pitt.

Well, Rivals has it’s initial basketball Rivals 150 list for the 2008 recruiting class. Keep in mind, that these rankings will change (see also, Blair, DeJuan). The power forwards and centers dominate the list as this seems to be a strong class for that. Present verbals Nasir Robinson and Travon Woodall are at #86 and #121 respectively. Robinson is considered the 15th best small forward in the country. Woodall is the 21st best point guard according to their rankings.

Considering Pitt’s needs were not pressing at the power forward and center position for this recruiting class, it’s not surprising that, they won’t be highly ranked right now.

One of Pitt’s main targets for the 3d scholarship, Eloy Vargas, is a power forward and ranked 46th. PF Samardo Samuels (St. Benedicts where Dan Hurley coaches), who Pitt may still have a shot at (despite competition from UConn, Florida, Louisville and UNC) is the #6 prospect overall.

This article from Gary Parrish at CBS Sportsline was somewhat amusing about the fans and message boarders obsession about the next great recruiting class and players.

Fans are similar to the rest of us, really.

They enjoy talking about the future more than the present.

Just like we enjoy talking about the future more than the present.

The only difference is fans spend their time talking about recruiting and the next wave of prospects, and we spend our time talking about our next car, our next house, our next job, our next anything. Either way, it’s the same principle at work, lesson being it’s better to dream than live, better to imagine than enjoy.

…

“Recruiting gives fans an opportunity to brag and say ‘Look what our program is able to do,'” said Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel. “Fans are able to brag and get on message boards and pick on other fans. It’s very, very odd. It really is. But I’d rather have a top 10 team than a top 10 recruiting class.”

Yeah. I’ll give him that about looking to the future. He loses major points, though, for falling back on what has become the latest sportswriter convention: quoting from message boards as anecdotal evidence to make his point. That point, when it comes to using fan message boards is to “prove” fan expectations/beliefs/views or simply the fans are insane. It’s there, someone posted it, the point is made by their own words.

Such a lazy act. When a sportswriter does it, it’s like he’s announcing that he’s either mailing it in or just needs to fill out column space.

ESPN.com has a list of the top-10 most underrated basketball programs. Pitt makes the list at #7.

Maybe several of these programs are more “underappreciated” than underrated, but all 10 stay true to one central theme: Regardless of size, budget, league or absolute performance, all of them have delivered on the court in a fashion that surpasses the general perception of the programs.

…

Jay Bilas’ description of the Panthers is fairly apt — they are one of college hoops’ equivalents to the “best golfer never to win a major.” Under Ben Howland and now Jamie Dixon, though, this program has had a lot of recent success in a very tough and deep conference. This season marked Pitt’s sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, during which the Panthers made the Sweet 16 four different times (2002-04, 2007). The Panthers also claimed at least a piece of three Big East titles from 2002-04 and won the Big East Tournament title in 2004.

The individual ballots are here.

It’s fair to say that, despite the large number of wins, tournament appearances and runs in the Big East Tournament, Pitt is still not going to be a name at the top of most people’s list when it comes to top programs in the country. That’s fine for now.

You don’t change that general perception in one year or even just one decade. Especially when you consider the number of years (decades?) Pitt basketball has been a virtual non-entity. Even when Pitt eventually breaks through to the Elite Eight and Final Four, that still doesn’t make change the perception. It takes sustained success, achievement — and more people burned in their brackets for believing Pitt will go deep, not be the early upset victim.

We just found a replacement for Mike Rice leaving for Robert Morris and we could be losing our Director of Basketball Operations to a Big East team we know well enough.

The musical chairs at the University of Pittsburgh basketball program may not be done yet. According to a source close to the situation, Pitt’s Director of Basketball Operations, David Cox, is interviewing today for a position with Georgetown.

If Cox leaves, he would be the second member of the staff to leave in the past month, joining Mike Rice, who left to become the head coach at Robert Morris. Like Rice, Cox has only been with the program for a year.

Cox is a native of Washington, DC, and a former coach for the vaunted AAU team, DC Assault. It was those connections that led Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon to hire Cox last year and is also why he is coveted by Georgetown.

You might recall we just hired Cox last July and that he knows what he’s doing down in the DC area. Since Georgetown has been able to retain the local guys so well down there in the short time Cox has been on the job, we haven’t made any pickups but there is at least one player (who would be in the class of 2009) that likes Pitt because of Cox. If Cox goes to the Hoyas, there is no doubt the players will stay close to home.

The article is by Chris Dokish of Pittsburgh Sports Report (via PSI) and he also notes that if Cox is to leave, one possibility to replace him is Brandin Knight.

Obviously no one wants to have their coaches leaving (and remember this is not a done deal yet) but that’s the territory that comes with a very good program lead by great coaches. Howland and Dixon have built a program where good coaches are going to come and go for other (and usually better jobs) quickly.

I have to admit this. Optimistic as I am that Pitt will have a strong season despite the major changes in starters and expected in style, there is a part of me that worries about all that could go wrong. Major injuries, academic issues, chemistry, and all the things that can derail a season. Right in the conference, we saw UConn have a stunningly bad season. Syracuse couldn’t seem to get the team fully together for any extended stretch. Louisville took over half the season before coming together. All three teams coached by three hall-of-fame (or eventual hof) coaches with some major talent. Never forget that things can go horribly wrong.
Yet, even Coach Dixon is apparently excited for next year (Insider subs).

Dixon said he has never been as excited about a recruiting class as he is about the one coming to campus in the summer.

The main piece of this class might be the most improved player in the Class of 2007. DeJuan Blair, a power player out of Pittsburgh, is quite simply blowing up to use an overused recruiting term.

Dixon expects Blair to come in and be an impact player in the absence of Aaron Gray, who finished his eligibility.

“His body has changed and he’s grown to where he’s about 6-8, 250,” Dixon said Monday. “He can play both the four and the five for us. He’s just so skilled and versatile. When we lost our big guys we needed someone to have an impact.”

Blair joins a class of 6-foot-6 Darnell Dodson, 6-foot-4 Bradley Wanamaker, 6-foot-9 Gary McGhee and 6-foot-10 Cassin Diggs.

The Panthers lost Gray and Levon Kendall inside as well as guard Antonio Graves. But a strong nucleus returns led by wing Mike Cook, guards Levance Fields, Ronald Ramon, Keith Benjamin and big men Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs. If Blair is the stud that he is being projected as then the Panthers should have enough balance to be in the thick of the race again.

Blair still has some academic issues to hurdle but the Panthers expect him to be on campus soon to be enrolled in summer school.

I’m mildly surprised that Coach Dixon is willing to talk up the young players. In Dixon’s 4 years of coaching, only one freshman ever earned significant playing time — Chris Taft. That he thinks Blair will break through immediately is worth noting.

No, North Broward Prep doesn’t have a deep football history (though, Pitt QB Dexter Davidson came from the school). Still, we are talking about a prep school in Broward  County, Florida. The odds are good that they will have some good football players coming out of there. When they do, you can bet Pitt will at least have a foot in the door because of the new coach, Jeff Dellenbach.

He joined the Miami Dolphins coaching staff for two seasons under Dave Wannstedt and served as an assistant offensive line and special teams coach.

He spent the past two seasons assisting at Archbishop McCarthy, where his sons Dane and Dax played.

On Monday afternoon, he was introduced as the new football coach at North Broward Prep in a ceremony at the school.

Dellenbach was a veteran offensive lineman with the Dolphins primarily. He also has a business that primarily helps train high school athletes.

Last week the NCAA Rules Committee approved moving the 3-point line back 1 foot starting in the 2008 season. The women’s line will remain at 19’9″, so there will be the unaesthetic sight of two arcs running parallel. That should confuse refs and players periodically. Another early observation was that the moving the line back, would be a hit to the mid-majors that rely more on shooters than players going inside.

The overall consensus in the media and most fans, though, has been overwhelmingly positive. Myself included. It shouldn’t be a shot where teams average over 33%. It should be a much tougher shot, and taken less frequently. Mike DeCourcy gives a good breakdown of what is hoped to be accomplished with it.

Empirical: Of every 10 shots taken in the 2006-07 season, 3.4 were launched from 3-point range, up from about 1.5 of every 10 in 1986-87, the first year of the 3-pointer. Over the past 11 seasons, 3-point accuracy improved from 34.1 percent to 35.0 percent.

Anecdotal: “You’ve got bad shooters taking it — you’ve also got bad shooters making it,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey says.

Teams that set their perimeter players behind the 3-point line on offense will have to move them back. Teams that try to drop from the perimeter to double-team the ball in the post on defense will have more ground to cover. With less congestion in the key area, it likely will be easier for officials to identify the bumping, clutching and grabbing that defenders employ to disrupt offensive flow.

All this is expected to enhance the value of player movement, with and without the basketball. It’s a more beautiful game when the players are in motion.

When the local Pittsburgh college coaches were surveyed on the issue, it seems to reflect the view of major/mid-major biases. Coach Dixon was happy about it.

Pitt’s Jamie Dixon, whose Panthers rank among the nation’s elite programs, takes a different viewpoint than his counterparts at Duquesne and Robert Morris.

“I don’t think it will make too much of a difference,” Dixon said. “It was just a matter of time. We all knew this was coming. When I sent in my survey, I knew it [the line] was getting changed. I thought if they were going to move it, they should take it back to the international line.”

Mike Rice at Robert Morris isn’t a fan of moving it back; and Ron Everhart at Duquesne seems tepid at best. The one thing Dixon and Everhart did agree was that the lane should have been widened as well. Maybe they will take that up later.

There are always unintended consequences of a rule change. Syracuse and teams that play zone, look to be beneficiaries of the move.

One is how the move might encourage more teams to play a zone defense because if a zone is designed to force opponents to shoot 3-pointers, it’s reasonable to think more teams will become favorable of zones considering 3-pointers should now by definition be more difficult to make. Meanwhile, the schools that already predominantly play zone will likely enjoy a larger degree of success.

Advantage: Syracuse.

“Jim Boeheim, right now, is very happy,” UCLA coach Ben Howland told CBS SportsLine.com on Thursday afternoon. “In college basketball, you don’t have the same skill level as you do in the NBA, so you’re going to see a lot more zone.”

Things could really come together for the ‘Cuse in ’08 when you factor in that their ’07 recruiting class is huge in terms of ranking (top-5) and numbers (6 new players). They have a year to learn the zone and get comfortable with each other before the new rule. I’m just making note of that now.

DeCourcy also identified the type of players that will benefit from the move after next season: “The Bomber (Chris Lofton, Tennessee); Mid-range shooters (Jerel McNeal, Marquette); Aggressive wing players (Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis); Point guards who can run the fast break (Darren Collison, UCLA); and the Strong low-post players (Darrell Arthur, Kansas).

In the final group he includes DeJuan Blair as a player that will be dominating in the low-post, and will benefit from the change.

And who knew he was part of a trend (Insider subs)?

Hiring Herrion is yet another example of head coaches looking for a former head coach to add experience on the bench.

…

The willingness of the former head coaches to jump back into being assistants is two fold. In some instances they need a job, but more importantly the egos have come down on both sides where the head coach feels comfortable hiring a peer to help him/the program excel. We’re seeing more and more coaches like Herrion want to get back and work for the right person who he can work in concert with to keep the program at a high level. One of the best examples of this recently is former Clemson and Wyoming head coach Larry Shyatt. He’s been side-by-side with Billy Donovan for the past two national championships.

Herrion will help the Panthers in player development as much as anything since he had been doing that kind of work for Nike when asked last summer at their camps.

In between they listed 8 other coaches that hired former head coaches as assistant. Of course this isn’t a trend. This is typical. There is always a mix of hiring assistants from other programs, elevating others and hiring coaches who have been fired from other jobs. The only difference, is with the money that head coaches make — especially when they are fired and receive buyouts — they don’t have to jump right back in to coaching to make a living. They can afford to take a year or two. Look for the best opportunity.

That’s what Tom Herrion did. He had his contract bought out at College of Charleston that paid him a lump sum of $787,000. You can kind of take a little time to decide where you are interested with that kind of money in the bank.  Pitt became one of the most attractive opportunities and with potential for the future.

After spending a season as a college basketball analyst for ESPN Regional and Comcast, Herrion mulled over other offers to join other coaching staffs. Herrion took his wife, Leslie, and 16-month-old son, Robert James, into strong consideration when choosing his next move. “This is the one that felt the best for me and my family at this point,” Herrion said of Pitt. “Fortunately, I had a nice four-year run. I’ve tasted the head-coaching experience. If something arises, so be it. To Pitt and coach Dixon’s credit, he’s hired talented guys prior to me.

“Having been a head coach, it’s not the end-all, be-all. We’re a package deal. My family is really part of this.”

As I mentioned before, Herrion has had success recruiting all along the East Coast. That is a definite plus.

Herrion has extensive ties to several of Pitt’s top recruiting regions. Herrion played one season and coached for four at Division II Merrimack College (1989-94) in Massachusetts. He spent eight years as an assistant to Pete Gillen at Providence (’94-98) and Virginia (1999-2002), where Herrion recruited guards Roger Mason Jr. of the Washington Wizards and NBA hopeful J.R. Reynolds.

“Tom Herrion made his bones in this business as an assistant coach who was committed to getting players,” Scout.com national recruiting analyst Dave Telep said. “Before becoming a head coach, he was regarded as one of the finest lead recruiters in the country and helped Pete Gillen stock the cupboard during their tenure at (Virginia).”

Then there’s the style of play issue. The talk has been that Pitt may go more up-tempo with the players now on the roster. Herrion’s style matches that.

“There’s so many ways to be successful. We played a relatively aggressive, faster pace,” Herrion said. “That’s something Jamie mentioned that they’re going to try to play faster because their personnel is going to be a little different. I’m going to be part of the coaching staff. If I can offer some philosophical opinions, that’s fine, but Coach Dixon would be crazy to deviate too much, with the success that he’s had.”

Here’s the Pitt press release on the hiring.

I’m in the midst of an e-mail exchange with James Trabert of College of Charleston Sports Fan blog to get more of a sense about Herrion and his time with the Cougars. Look for that sometime today or tomorrow.

Last week, I mentioned that Tom Herrion and Danny Hurley were candidates for the lead assistant coach job in basketball. Well, with Hurley declining, Herrion gets the chance according to the e-mailed story from Pittsburgh Sports Report.

Herrion, 39, is back in the coaching ranks after losing his head coach coaching job at the College of Charleston after the 2005-06 season despite a four year record of 80-38. Herrion found it difficult to live up the expectations of replacing John Kresse, a coach so popular and successful that the new College of Charleston arena was named after him. Herrion was 25-8 in his first season, including an NIT appearance, but the wins declined each season. The Cougars were 17-11 in ’05-’06, when he was fired despite having four years left on his contract. He negotiated a buyout of $787,000.

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski has called Herrion “one of the most energetic coaches I’ve ever seen.” His intensity and fire may not have been a good fit for the laid back city of Charleston, however, as he was seen as abrasive and alienating to some fans, who were used to the more affable Kresse.

Prior to coaching at Charleston, Herrion was an assistant for Pete Gillen for eight years; four at Providence and four at Virginia. He was Gillen’s lead assistant during his final three years at Virginia. Prior to joining Gillen, Herrion was an assistant at his Alma Mater, Merrimack College in North Hanover, MA.

There was also some issue with player behavior off the court as well that pissed off the alum.

Yes, I would have preferred Hurley, but that didn’t work. I happen to think this is a very good “fall back” hire. I like it better than any of the other names that had been mentioned. Herrion is still young, and wants to get his rep back and another shot as a head coach. He has been a successful recruiter all along the East Coast.

From the description of Herrion as intense and energetic, he may be an excellent counterweight to Coach Dixon’s more laidback demeanor. There has been the lingering undercurrent of complaints that Dixon was always Ben Howland’s “good cop” with the players and that Dixon needs to have a “bad cop” to provide balance as head coach.