Pitt finally put out their press release on hiring Pat Skerry.

“We are excited about Pat becoming a member of the university community and I know he is ecstatic to be coming to Pittsburgh,” Dixon said. “Pat has worked with some outstanding coaches including 2008 National Coach of the Year Keno Davis and Rhode Island coach Jim Baron. He will help us in recruiting, scouting and player development. We are fortunate to have a coach with his well-rounded and vast background, along with an individual who has previous head coaching experience. He also has extensive recruiting contacts on the East Coast and in the Big East region.”

Skerry arrives at Pitt with 19 years of combined coaching experience at eight different schools: Providence (2008-10), Rhode Island (2005-08), College of Charleston (2003-05), William & Mary (2000-03), Northeastern (1998-00), Curry College, Mass. (1996-98), Stonehill College, Mass. (1995-96) and his alma mater Tufts (1992-95).

“I’m extremely excited to join the Pitt staff,” Skerry said. “We obviously want to continue the great tradition established at Pitt. The program’s championship success speaks for itself.”

Skerry spent the last two seasons at Providence under Keno Davis. In 2008-09, the Friars advanced to the NIT with a 19-14 overall record and 10-8 Big East slate. Skerry assisted with the Friars’ 2009 recruiting class which was ranked No. 35 in the nation by Hoop Scoop.

Prior to his appointment at Providence, Skerry spent three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Rhode Island under head coach Jim Baron. While at URI, Skerry gained national recognition when he was named one of the top assistant coaches in the country in 2007 by Hoop Scoop. In 2008, Fox Sports.com named Skerry the top mid-major assistant in the nation. He also gained exposure through his recruiting as his 2006 class was rated No. 24 in the nation by Hoop Scoop along with a No. 61 ranking for the Rams’ 2007 group.

Skerry served as an assistant for two seasons at the College of Charleston under former Pitt assistant and current Marshall head coach Tom Herrion. While at Charleston, the Cougars posted a combined 38-19 two-year record.

He coached for three seasons at Colonial Athletic Association institution William & Mary and worked for two years as an assistant coach and chief recruiter at Northeastern University (1998-2000).

In 1996 at the age of 26, Skerry became the second-youngest head coach in the nation when he was selected to guide the Curry College (Mass.) basketball program. He coached at Curry for two seasons, leading the Colonels to the school’s first winning season in five years. He also spent one year as an assistant at Stonehill College (Mass.) and three seasons as an assistant at Tufts University where he helped guide the Jumbos to two ECAC Tournaments along with the school’s first NCAA Division III Tournament berth in 1995.

Now, immediate speculation turns to one of Providence’s verbals for 2011, Naadir Tharpe, who Skerry was the primary in getting the 5-11/6-0 point guard out of Brewster Academy.

“I have not had an opportunity to speak with Naadir about it,” Brewster coach Jason Smith wrote by text. “We are in final exams. The prom is tonight [Thursday] and graduation is Saturday morning.”

Tharpe was considered another big get for Providence. While Scout.com still lists him as a 3-star, Rivals.com says 4-star and ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. (Insider Subs) puts him as a 94 (on 100 point scale, 90-100 is classified as an “immediate high level prospect”) and lists him as the 51st best junior in the 2011 class.

Keep in mind, though, that when Tharpe gave his verbal, closeness to home — Worcester, Mass — was cited as a reason. At the time he chose Providence over BC. So, it may merely re-open him to BC. Plus, another PG would be a big of a luxury for Pitt and may be considered a glut at the spot.

Still no official word from Pitt on hiring Pat Skerry as the new assistant. Providence, though, has acknowledged it.

Providence College Head Coach Keno Davis will look to replace assistant coach Pat Skerry, who left to take the assistant position at the University of Pittsburgh. Davis believes that the Friars are in a good position to bring in a top assistant coach who can help move the program forward.

“I appreciate the opportunity to have had Pat work with us the last two seasons,” Davis said.

Early reports are that the Friars might replace Skerry with ex-Iowa player and present University of Illinois-Springfield Prairie Stars (Div. II) head coach Kevin Gamble. Yet that same story contradicts with the fact that Davis is looking for a coach with East Coast ties. His only connection to the East was 6 years with the Celtics in the 90s.

Pitt released info on the highest paid individuals at the school. No shock that Coach Dixon is the highest paid employee.

The report says Mr. Dixon, head basketball coach, was the highest paid with $1,389,951 in total earnings, including $629,792 in base pay; $603,000 in bonus and incentive income as well as other compensation, some deferred.

This was for 2008. Not last year. So I imagine it’s a bit higher. Not sure if that includes the money he earns for basketball camps and Nike sponsorship money.

VegasWatch aggregates the various preseason polls and finds Pitt averaged out at about #7.

The Panthers were quite overrated for much of last year, but return everyone except Dixon, who didn’t have a very good season anyway. What his departure does mean though is that Gibbs is going to have to shoulder even more of the load offensively. It’s hard to get excited about this Pitt team one way or the other.

Uh, okay. I’ll quibble. Unranked to start. Picked to finish 9th in the Big East. Pitt didn’t enter the either of the polls until January. Did they rise a bit higher than warranted? Perhaps. Now it is hard to believe that they got as high as 9th, but for the most part they hung out in the second half of the top-25. Considering the number of games they won and who they beat, I hardly consider them “overrated.” Especially for “much of last year.”

I understand when you don’t look closely at this team it can be hard to understand how they did it and why pundits expect Pitt to do more next season — aside from the fact that Coach Dixon always has the team play well. There are still no big names on the team. At least not as far as the general public notices.