Not hearing much in the recruiting.
Pitt has finally finished with hiring staff. Brian Regan will take over as Program Assistant/Video Coordinator as Brandin Knight moved up to Director of Basketball Operations.
Regan, a Pittsburgh native, had been a top assistant at Colgate for the past 5 years. (Geez, does anything point to the difference in programs and pay scale than going from a top assistant at a D-1 Patriot League team to lowest paid rung on a top Big East program?)
Regan actually began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Pitt under Paul Evans from 1988-1990.
Andy Katz at ESPN.com notes some of the non-com scheduling and notes Pitt playing Duke thanks to an assist from Dayton.
Pitt wanted to play Duke and got the Blue Devils in their second home court at Madison Square Garden. But for this to occur, Dayton had to agree to move a game at home against Pitt even though it wasn’t on the same date (two days later). So, the credit goes to Brian Gregory of Dayton for doing; he didn’t have to accommodate Pitt.
It’s appreciated. Though, I’m guessing Dayton wouldn’t mind another home-and-home at some point in the future as part of the consideration.
Coach Dixon was in California this past week. Presumably to see his family, but while he was there he joined a slew of top coaches in attending the Harold Pump Foundation Celebrity Dinner. The charity event which also included a golf outing and coaching clinic is sponsored by the Pump Brothers who are backed by Adidas in their summer basketball activities. Of course the Pumps are also (sometimes notoriously) involved in ticket brokering, coach searches, and coaching clinics.
“They’ve brought everything together under one roof like a good corporation would do,” said Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon. “What they’ve done is used their contacts in one area to help them in other areas.”
Consequently, the Pumps now run one of the premier summer teams (the Pump ‘n Run Elite), one of the best search firms (Champ Search), one of the largest gatherings for coaches and athletic directors (the Collegiate Business Conference) and a charity aiding cancer research that hosted a dinner last Thursday night in the same room where the Golden Globes are annually held.
(Harold Pump, Dana and David’s father, died of cancer in 2000.)
Among those attending the $400 per plate event emceed by Rich Eisen were college basketball figures like UCLA’s Ben Howland, Georgia Tech’s Paul Hewitt, Kentucky’s Billy Gillispie, Southern Illinois’ Chris Lowery and Nevada’s Mark Fox. That was to be expected.
But others floating around were Joe Montana, Mike Tyson, Penny Marshall, Tommy Hearns, Bill Russell, Bill Walton, Magic Johnson, Chris Mullin, Paul Pierce, Baron Davis and countless additional stars who, on the surface, benefited professionally in no obvious way with their presence.
During the events, Billy Gillispie was one of the clinic speakers. One of his issues of discussion was using more of your bench to keep all the players still involved and think a little like football coaches.
Toward the end of his session, Gillispie talked about how in his early years as a head coach at UTEP he really only played seven players because he believed he only had seven good players. But what he realized going forward was that regardless of how much the talent level increased on his roster — first at UTEP and then at Texas A&M — his instincts were still to play no more than seven or eight guys.
“So the problem wasn’t the players,” he said. “The problem was me.”
Gillispie noted that if you’re only playing seven guys, nearly half your roster isn’t playing. Over time that group becomes disenchanted and ceases to feel like a part of the team.
His solution: Create special teams for basketball, things like a team that specializes in blocking out during crucial free throw situations or a team that specializes in defending inbounds plays under its own goal with less than eight seconds on the shot clock — the idea being a group of players that might otherwise have no chance to get on the court will suddenly take pride in a particular aspect of the game the same way a fourth-string tailback takes pride in covering kickoffs or a third-string quarterback takes pride in holding for field goals.
“You just make up reasons for people to be a part of the team,” Gillispie said. “I think it helps team chemistry.”
Considering the number of player who will be vying for playing time on Pitt’s roster this year, this kind of idea might be one Coach Dixon might feel like considering.
