Well, with Pat Skerry off to Towson University, the speculation turns to who will be Pitt’s new top assistant for Coach Jamie Dixon. There’s the question of whether an old assistant returns.

Rohrssen had a chance to become an assistant on Steve Lavin’s staff at St. John’s when Lavin was hired last spring.

There has been speculation that John Calipari, his old friend from the Five-Star Basketball camps, would create a position on his staff at Kentucky.

Rohrssen certainly has options, but he developed a fondness for Pittsburgh during his time here and this might be his first choice. Rohrssen has maintained good relationships with Pitt over the years. Every time Pitt played at Madison Square Garden in recent years Rohrssen would be in attendance if there was not a conflict with his team at Manhattan. After he was fired in March, Rohrssen was spotted sitting with Pitt fans at the Verizon Center for the Panthers’ two NCAA tournament games against North Carolina Ashveille and Butler.

Barry “Slice” Rohrssen was a very good recruiter at Pitt, and yes, other head coaches actually tried to hire him from his head coaching gig at Manhattan. Yes, he has an affection and good relationship with Pitt and he knows the system Coach Dixon.

The negative is that that same high interest from other deep-pocketed programs could well price Rohrssen out of Pitt’s price range for an assistant

The other issue is that Coach Dixon seems to like the idea of looking forward with hires rather than going back.

“We always hope to have opportunities like this for our coaches,” Dixon said Monday from Houston. “Guys getting jobs – and desirable jobs – is a great reflection on our program.”

Dixon keeps an updated list of potential candidates for any assistant coach openings; he already has received numerous feelers.

“We have a firm grasp of possible future assistants,” he said. “Because of our track record, guys are always reaching out prior to and during the process.”

Yeah, there’s no shortage of interested coaches.

As for possible candidates, well I think we learned with the hiring of Skerry that we don’t always know for sure who is a target. Chris Dokish had a pretty good idea, though. He had Skerry on his list of potential targets last spring. That seems like a good jumping off point, so let’s see where the candidates he listed are today.

Jeff Battle, Wake Forest assistant: Still a Wake Forest assistant. Survived regime change, and raising his kids alone. Might not jump because of kids, though, after the first year of Bzdelik in charge of the Demon Deacons he might be ready to run.

Tracy Dildy, Illinois-Chicago assistant: Now the head coach at UIC. Take him off the table.

Mike Dunlap, Oregon assistant: Now a St. John’s assistant. Unlikely to jump at this point.

Pat Duquette, Boston College assistant: Presently an assistant at Northeastern. Apparently a possibility for the Colgate head coaching job. If he doesn’t get it, and Dixon is looking to stay in recruiting in the New England area, he would be a target.

Dino Gaudio, former Wake Forest head coach: Analyst on ESPN. Not sure how much he wants to leave that gig for anything but a head coaching spot.

Sean Kearney, former Holy Cross head coach: Kearney was fired after only one season at Holy Cross. Present whereabouts, unknown.

Billy Garret, Sr., DePaul assistant: Down at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as an assistant/associate head coach. Almost certainly would take an offer.

Dave Leitao, former Virginia head coach: He’s in the running for the Fairfield head coaching job, and also to be an assistant at Providence under the new coach Ed Cooley — who came from Fairfield. If he doesn’t get the Fairfield job, no doubt the Pitt assistant position would be a more attractive choice.

Rob Moxley, Charlotte assistant: Presently an assistant coach at Middle Tennessee State. Would probably pay his own way to Pitt.

Fred Quartlebaum, St. John’s assistant: Heavily involved in NYC high school basketball and running a basketball academy. Might make him an interesting candidate.

Book Richardson, Arizona assistant: Not sure why he’d leave Arizona, but it would be a great get.

Scott Rigot, Duquesne assistant: No longer with Duquesne. Unkown, and given his track record, I’m hoping it stays that way.

Norm Roberts, former St. John’s head coach: Doing Big East analysis on SNY. Reports are he actually likes doing the analyst thing and is hoping to move up in that rather than go back to the coaching ranks.

Pat Skerry, Providence assistant

Pete Strickland, NC State assistant: Obviously looking for work as NC State is still trying to find someone to take the job. Local tie as a former Pitt basketball player.

Tracy Webster, DePaul assistant: Now an assistant at Nebraska. Probably could be grabbed.

Expect more names to emerge, and it is very likely that this list — owing to it being a year old — is completely wrong.