A little bit of a surprise. Bill Self at Kansas has cleaned up on coaching awards this year. Coach Jamie Dixon was named the Naismith Coach of the Year.
The award is presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club and selected by a panel that includes a collection of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country. The other finalists were Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel, Louisiana State’s Trent Johnson and Kansas’ Bill Self.
Dixon led Pitt to its first-ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and its most victories (three) in tourney play. He also set an NCAA Division I record for most career victories after six seasons as a head coach, with 163.
“Pittsburgh had a tremendous season and much of that success goes to Jamie and the wonderful coaching job he did with this team,” Atlanta Tipoff Club president Gary Stokan said. “During his six seasons he has built a solid program that continues to produce wonderful results, both on and off the court.”
Technically it is Coach Dixon’s second coach of the year award in 2009. He also received the Phelan mid-year coach of the year award.
Apparently there will be a 4pm presser at the Pete to announce the award. Coach Dixon was a distant second in most of the other awards to Bill Self.
Just one more thing about this season and how much Pitt ended up accomplishing.
I don’t get it…why was Bill Self winning all of the COY awards in the first place? Hey, great job, you took a top 5 recruiting class to the tournament! Good work! You lost players from the best team in the country, and remained a pretty good team. Wow. What an accomplishment. How is what he did any different from what Memphis or UNC did?
He can be Pitt’s best defensive back and worst defensive back within the span of 3 plays.
Wanny doesn’t get enough credit for the discipline he’s willing to dish out BTW. He’s suspended and gotten rid of quite a few guys during his tenure.
Compare that to JoePa’s recent track record, whom everyone thinks is a bastion of good judgement and character.
I do give Wanny credit for handling the off the field issues with swift punishment.
As for Bill Self winning all the COY awards, I understand why he has been getting the hype. He did do a nice job with the team, but there are certainly other coaches out there who have done just as good a job. Dixon for sure. What about Jay Wright? Or even Calipari after losing Rose and CDR. UNC was a little bit different b/c they didn’t lose anybody from a team that lost in the Final Four.
Pitt suspends Berry, Duhart and Wayne Jones for remainder of Spring Drills for unidentified team rules violation