While Ernie Kent’s time at Oregon is almost over — just a matter of seeing if the NIT bothers — the obvious next step is getting his replacement. Unlike Arizona and USC fans and media, there seems more realism that getting a new coach won’t be a simple matter of throwing bushels of Nike green at someone.

This one might be a most pessimistic take.

In the Pac-10, I’d put it about seventh.

UCLA and Arizona are the best gigs — don’t worry, we’re getting to Arizona. USC is about to get hammered by the NCAA, but at some point, well, there’s a reason (beyond the alleged payments) O.J. Mayo thought he could raise his Q score by playing in L.A.

Washington’s a better job because of the decent recruiting ground in the Huskies’ backyard. Ditto for Stanford and Cal. Arizona State sits in a big-time pro market.

Argue if you’d like, and slide Oregon ahead of one of the above, or maybe two; it’s how I got to seventh. But if you’re looking for consensus, the gig ranks for sure ahead of only Oregon State and Washington State.

I think he is overvaluing Stanford and Cal, but he is not far off. As far as attractiveness, the Oregon job is middle-of-the-pack for the Pac-10. He makes an even better point, that even the “name-brand” basketball powers don’t have the easiest time filling the gig — using Arizona as an example. That buckets of cash alone are not enough.

Surprisingly enough, despite the Nike bucks and the sucess of the football program. Guess what? Oregon’s athletic department struggles to make ends meet. Actually posting a small loss.

Still, there are the claims of interest from Coach Dixon.

I’m told that University of Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon is interested in the job, and that there’s some mutual interest coming from Camp Swoosh. Remember, this decision will be run through the Beaverton sneaker company. Dixon’s contract runs through 2012-2013 at Pitt and he’s taken the Panthers (24-7, 13-5 Big East) to an Elite 8 already so I’m not sure if he’s posturing here to get some leverage (Read: extension) or if he believes he’s done all he can do at Pitt.

And even that seems tepid in belief. With good reason. I’m impressed with some rather clear thinking from those writing about Oregon basketball.

There is no real downside to Jamie Dixon except that there’s almost no chance he’d leave Pittsburgh, that I know of, for Oregon. Really? Why would he come to Oregon? He’s set financially. He’s successful in a much tougher basketball conference. Doesn’t need the challenge of building something back up.

Add in the fact that he rejected both USC (twice) and Arizona with offers of more money and better longterm situations than Oregon. To say nothing of the fact that he had seniors leaving and Pitt was supposed to be rebuilding this year.  I can’t see anything happening with this other than maybe another extension.

I have no fear of Auburn coming calling.

The only job Coach Dixon seems to have taken an interest in, is where he was once an assistant and met his wife.

Word buzzing around M?noa is that Jamie Dixon, head coach of 16th-ranked Pittsburgh, called the University of Hawai’i to discuss the Rainbow Warriors’ head basketball coaching job.

Well, relax. He called to recommended Hawaii look into hiring St. Mary’s assistant Kyle Smith.