I don’t know.

Just get that out of the way now. I don’t know if Jamie Dixon will leave Pitt for TCU.

Here I was trying to decompress for a couple days with the end of the season. Just trying to enjoy the games that were playing and regroup. Nope.

I thought it was absolute silliness a week or two ago. Now, it seems to be a real possibility.

Now, from the Pittsburgh media, there is definitely a sense of being unsure, but leaning towards: nah.

Pitt is coming off a tough loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament, and several people around Dixon said he has felt the criticism from fans and media members and knows he has become a victim of his own success.

The position at Pitt also is different than the one he took in 2003 because the Panthers are in the ACC not the Big East and he has admitted that the transition has been a little tougher and taken a little longer than he first anticipated.

Still, one source close to the situation said that while Dixon “hears and reads what people are saying,” the source believed it is “unlikely” Dixon is going to take the job, considering what Dixon has built at Pitt and what it would take to be competitive in Fort Worth.

TCU fired Trent Johnson after four seasons in which he was 50-79 overall and 8-64 in Big 12 games, which is the lowest winning percentage for a coach (.111 in conference games) in conference history. The Horned Frogs also have not made it to the NCAA tournament since 1998 and have played in the tournament only seven times in their history.

In Dallas-Ft. Worth area, the feeling is a bit more optimistic.

At TCU, it is believed the feeling is mutual. Sources close to the discussions indicated Sunday night that the sides were closing in on a deal and that Dixon was trying to assemble a staff with Texas ties. An announcement could come Monday or Tuesday, one person close to the TCU program said.

TCU apparently is willing to be competitive in a salary offer for Dixon, sources said. Dixon is under contract at Pitt until 2023. His buyout is believed to be $10 million. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said Dixon’s salary is $3.2 million.

I’m having trouble with parts like: trying to assemble a staff. That seems a little too sudden.

I just don’t know. I do know that this story on Buzz Williams leaving Marquette for VT has stuck with me, and may seem apt.

He made five NCAA Tournaments (in his first six seasons), advanced to the Sweet 16 three times and the Elite Eight once before the age 40, and most young coaches would become intoxicated with that success. Not Williams, though. He instead identified it as the bar set, then assembled “facts and data” in an attempt to determine whether it was reasonable to expect to maintain that level of success in a less-attractive Big East while playing league games off of ESPN and on Fox Sports 1. He concluded it probably wasn’t. And what would happen if he didn’t? Answer: Williams would fall out of favor with his own fans the same way Ben Howland once did at UCLA, the same way most coaches who stay too long at any basketball-centric school eventually do. Consequently, Williams determined it was wiser to jump while he was still ahead, and though his contract at Virginia Tech is technically for less money on a per-year basis, it’s a seven-year deal with an automatic rollover clause that will never allow it to be less than a five-year deal, meaning the security provided makes it a better deal for a man openly planning for the day he’s fired.

Beyond that, the bar he set at Marquette no longer exists.

He has a fresh contract and fans with fresh sets of expectations.

Williams’ move ensures he doesn’t have to make three Sweet 16s over the next six years to prove to the world he isn’t slipping. He’s now in charge of a program that’s been to exactly one NCAA Tournament since 1996, that’s made just one Sweet 16 ever, and that won a mere two ACC games last season. In other words, the bar is really, really low. And Williams is more likely to spend the next six years outperforming his predecessors at Virginia Tech than he would’ve been to spend the next six years outperforming himself at Marquette.

[Emphasis added.]

That is so reasonable and logical when you look at it as a career or job. Not our passion. Not as simply winning it all.

If the situation with Dixon is reaching a Walt Harris level where the fans may not have turned on him, but are getting closer to a tipping point of dissatisfaction. Well, then, this is one of his last chances to jump before being pushed.

The last four years have been disappointing, frustrating and maddening at times. They haven’t matched the success that preceded them in the regular season or post-season.

At the same time, we’ve seen this before. Dixon has been pursued. Dixon has listened and considered numerous jobs.  He has a choice. Every other time, he has chosen to stay.

TCU is a full-on rebuild. Texas may have talent throughout the state, but there is a ton of competition for it. It is not an easy job, let alone one where success can be easily maintained if achieved.

It is also a fresh start at similar salary. A reset of expectations.

Personally, I would like Jamie Dixon to remain as Pitt’s head coach. I don’t feel this is an irrevocable slide to mediocrity or worse. Obviously there need to be some changes with assistants and recruiting. But it doesn’t feel beyond fixing yet.