Here’s roughly what Dixon would have to balance, assuming Tim Floyd leaves USC for Arizona and USC comes after Coach Jamie Dixon.
Money: They would have to offer at least $2.5 million and a minimum of 5 years.
Family: If they did that, the other pros would be the proximity of his sister and parents in the area. Along with his wife being a USC grad (FWIW).
Local recruiting: Let’s face it, there is more talent to mine in LA and California than there is in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania.
Here are the negatives:
Less enthusiastic fanbase;
Leaving a trusted relationships with both the AD and Chancellor;
In a comfort zone and happy in Pittsburgh;
Unknown possibilities of NCAA penalties from the O.J. Mayo matters in 2008;
Competing regularly with good friend Ben Howland on the court and off for recruits. Given their similarities in what they like to do, they would be battling regularly for the same type of recruits in the same places;
Starting over and leaving well-built and more established recruiting inroads in the east;
Bigger rebuilding/reloading job even if Taj Gibson and Daniel Hackett come back. He is almost certain to lose USC’s recruiting class and DeRozan would be certain to go pro.
What else?
There is a bigger recruiting area than Pittsburgh. But lets face it, the NY NJ area is so close that that this is a non-issue and I would consider it a step down. The loads of talent that NJ and NY can send to Pittsburgh, along with the close fertile grounds of the DC area is hard to compete with in my opinion. Yes, these aren’t in walking distance, but close enough that kids are more than willing to make the 3-6hr trip to Pittsburgh to play basketball.
DC, NJ, NYC, Philly are all close enough to be attractive to recruits. Not to mention the bigger stage of the BE over the PAC 10 and the close proximity for friends and family to see games both at the Pete and road games close to home.
What are USC’s facilities like? Anyone seen em?
And if he does give permission it speaks to the strength of their relationship and what Dixon feels about his current position, and I think that bodes well for Pitt.
Then again, it’s been a long time since Pitt was even a bubble team for the post season. Why raise the bar this high and leave it for someone else? Dixon was a beneficiary of Howland’s success and inherited a high bar, but UCLA was a plum job and arguably a step up. USC . . . not really. He’d have to be a lot more homesick than he’s ever let on.
The schedule is also obnoxious, because you play back to backs in every locale. Either Fri-Sun or Thurs-Sat in: Washington (Wazzu/UW) Oregon (OSU/Ducks) Bay Area (Cal/Stan) LA (USC/UCLA) and Arizona (Zona/ASU). It leads to goofy swings in the standings based on “road trips” and “homestands” which, while I realize isn’t a factor in most peoples’ minds, is preposterously annoying to follow and should be mentioned.
It just doesn’t make much sense to me that Dixon would have absolutely no interest in Arizona, but would then go to USC. Arizona is a much more highly regarded program than USC, gets much more fan support, and recruits in the same markets. It is also close enough to LA for family to make regular trips (less than a full days drive). By several accounts, Arizona was very interested in Dixon, but he had no interest in going there. Unless he is desperate to be in LA (which he has never given any indication is the case), a move to USC just would not make sense.
Maybe Rick Majerus will take the USC job…
A roughtly 7893843432 bazillion percent increase in cost of living from Pittsburgh to LA.
1.6 million in Pittsburgh (or whatever we’re paying him) goes a lot further than 2.5 does out there I would think.
Didn’t that factor in our new offensive coordinator’s decision to go from Cal to Pitt?
Comparable salary in
Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
$2,387,392
If you move from Pittsburgh, PA to Los Angeles, CA….
Groceries will cost: 14%more
Housing will cost: 224%more
Utilities will cost: 15%less
Transportation will cost: 7%more
Healthcare will cost: 21%more
Yes, more, but 2.5 Million would go further in LA than 1.5 Million in Pittsburgh.
Also, while Cost of Living was something we talked about with Cignetti, the truth is family ties/community ties drew him to Pitt over Cal. That, and working for a coach that would give him the freedom to be in charge of the offense, unlike Jeff Tedford, who is very hands-on with Cal’s offense.
I don’t think Dixon will go to USC, but if they put 2.5 Million in front of him, he’s going to think about it. Guaranteed.
On another note, it sure does look like Arizona’s AD has been caught flat-footed on this. He’s had 6 months to figure out how to handle this, and now has apparently been beaten to the punch on Calipari, openly turned down by Floyd, and probably privately rebuffed by several others (presumably including Dixon).
Now that Floyd is apparently not leaving, Arizona will apparently have to up the ante but there are other targets than Dixon … Capel, Pearl and maybe even S Miller and Izzo.
The only thing I fear is that Miller gets a real good contract at a big school and then Dixon leaves sometime in the near future (am I paranoid or what??)
As for throwing money around, it had been rumored that the economy and other factors meant they didn’t have the sums they expected to have for a coach.
Could also be a Jamie Dixon-type situation. Team likes Ross Pennell. They get turned down after thinking they had their man (like us with the late Skip Prosser) and then look to the known commodity.
Sorry I don’t know how to copy these links but in essence it is a stoy how Dixon was at Pitt fb practice today with AD Pedersen. The title of the article is “Dixon at Pitt football practice, prefers to let ‘actions speak’”
Following is an exerpt:
Dixon declined to comment on whether he was offered the opening at the University of Arizona, indicating that his visibility — alongside Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson — should speak for his intentions.
“I never really talk about those things; I just don’t see the point,” Dixon said of reports that he rejected Arizona and that he could be a leading candidate for other openings. “I’ve gotten used to it over the years. You can’t do anything about it. I don’t really discuss it. Rather than talk about it, you just let your actions speak for you. That’s seems to work well enough for me.”
Perhaps, dare I hope, it is now a place coaches would give their left nut to be a coach.
🙂
DaveD
Stupid internet and it’s ability to kill sarcasm.
Dixon built a program, now he can turn Pitt into an institution in the Big East. He has to realize he and Jay Wright are the future of the conference, and we don’t know what the limits of his legacy could be – it certainly isn’t at its apex.
i wouldn’t be surprised if jeff capel takes the au job.
