225: Pitt basketball program finds consistent success

In the last decade, Pitt men’s basketball transformed into a prestigious and talented program, envied in many corners of the country.

But it hasn’t always been this way.

Before Pitt’s recent spell of consistent success, change and instability plagued the program, which was established in 1905.

But through it all, Pitt managed to attract talent that maintained a certain level of respectability, despite playing in subpar facilities in the Fitzgerald Field House for many years.

The foundation of today’s basketball program, led by head coach Jamie Dixon, was built by the recruiting ability and shared hard-nosed mentality of Pitt’s former coaches.

After advancing to the Elite Eight in 1974, the program has failed to reach this level of competition again, earning bids to just two NCAA Tournaments in the next decade.

But that would change under Paul Evans, head coach from 1986 to 1994, who amassed a 147-98 all-time record as the leader of the Panthers. His first year as head coach underwhelemd fans, as he finished with a 10-18 overall record, dropping 10 out of 11 Big East games in January 1986 alone.

Then-assistant-coach John Calipari, now head of the storied University of Kentucky basketball program, gained collegiate coaching experience under Evans at Pitt.

As Evans learned to better utilize his talent on the court, his team earned Big East regular-season titles in 1987 and 1988 and several top-10 rankings in the polls. All-Americans Charles Smith and Jerome Lane led the squad, followed by Sean Miller, Brian Shorter, Jerry McCullough and Eric Mobley.

“That was the Pitt dream team,” longtime Pitt basketball fan Lorraine Dees said. “Sean Miller was great to watch — he was so smart on the floor. Charles Smith was just fabulous — he was unbelievable. He carried the team.”

Dees, who has been attending Pitt basketball games since 1968, saw many teams play at the Fitzgerald Field House, where the Panthers played their home games before moving to the Petersen Events Center.

She recalls a significant member of those teams, Lane, who famously shattered the backboard on a slam dunk during a 1988 contest against Providence.

“He wasn’t that tall, but he sure could crash those boards,” Dees recollected.

Evans saw the Panthers to a No. 2 ranking in the country overall. During his tenure at Pitt, his teams advanced to five NCAA Tournaments and one National Invitation Tournament, but these postseason appearances did not end in championships.

Despite the wealth of talent on the Panthers squad, Evans struggled in the early ’90s, and those failures eventually led to his replacement by Ralph Willard, a highly touted coaching prospect from Western Kentucky.

After taking over in 1994, Willard promised to rebuild the program by recruiting big-time talent, including Mark Blount, Vonteego Cummings, Michael Gill and Kellii Taylor. But in his second year, Willard’s hopes for a successful season were squashed by Cummings’ nine-game recovery from a hand injury and Taylor’s season-ending back injury. Taylor also faced team disciplinary issues. Despite Evans’ continued excellence in recruiting, the team appeared in only one NIT in his five-year tenure.

When Willard left Pitt to return to his alma mater — Holy Cross — in 1999, Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson hired relatively unknown Northern Arizona head coach Ben Howland, who took Pitt to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in nine seasons.

“When Ben Howland arrived at Pitt, he walked into a dingy Fitzgerald Field House and a tattered Pitt program,” said Chuck Finder, a 25-year veteran sports writer and columnist with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Finder was one of the first members of the Pittsburgh media to meet and write about Howland.

Howland’s first order of business was to dismiss senior star player Kellii Taylor from the team due to disciplinary issues.

“Taylor was just another piece of remodeling the new guy was forced to undertake,” Finder said.

Despite Taylor’s departure, Howland’s squad did not suffer from a lack of talent. Senior standout guard Ricardo Greer and future All-American Brandin Knight, one of Willard’s recruits, led the charge for success.

“[Howland] had to talk Knight into sticking with his commitment to Willard. And he had to sell leftover players on the idea of working hard, playing defense and sharing in the motion offense. [Howland] credits Greer with helping to build their program. He bought in — he convinced the others,” Finder said.

With Howland came change and consistency, two things the Pitt program had been missing for decades. In his second season, the Panthers surprisingly advanced to the Big East Tournament championship game and the NIT. The 12,508-seat Petersen Events Center was built to provide the Panthers with a more adequate practice facility and a competitive home-court advantage.

Then began the most successful decade of Pitt basketball since the 1920s.

The Panthers won back-to-back Big East regular season championships in 2003 and 2004 and won the Big East tournament in 2003. The team advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2002 and 2003. Coach Howland was named the Big East Coach of the Year and Naismith College Coach of the Year. With Howland and his prominent assistant Jamie Dixon at the helm, things were starting to look up for the Panthers.

Something was different about Howland. His style of coaching and his recruiting tactics attracted players that were good matches for the conference’s physical style of play.

“[Howland and Dixon] won with athletes from the suburbs. They had them shoot 3-pointers, made them into tenacious defenders,” Finder said. “They still went after the athletes — the kids who showed unselfishness, drive and determination. They liked multisport athletes who despised losing.”

This shift in recruiting emphasis attracted players like Ontario Lett, Julius Page, Carl Krauser, Chevon Troutman and others to the Pitt program. Page hit the last 3-point shot at the Fitzgerald Field House and the first at the Petersen Events Center. In similar fashion, Lett had the last steal at the Field House and the first at the Pete.

“The Howland and Dixon way was to work and teach and draw on each player’s selfless personality. They wanted guys to stick around for years, lending leadership and character. Guys they could build banners around,” Finder said.

After Pitt dominated Connecticut in the 2003 Big East Tournament championship game, UConn head coach Jim Calhoun acknowledged that the Panthers were an extremely tough team.

“They were the tougher team and wore us down with their mental toughness,” Calhoun said. “They held us to 19 points in the second half and won the game with defense and by doing a terrific job of controlling their own offense and defense.”

When Howland left Pitt in 2003 to accept his dream job as head coach of UCLA — finishing with an 89-40 record at Pitt — it seemed only right for Dixon to take over the program.

Dixon has continued the style of play that Howland taught him and has amassed an incredible cumulative 238-77 record since he took over.

“What Ben Howland did in resurrecting the program, and the way Jamie Dixon has continued that [success], is phenomenal,” famous basketball anchor Dick Vitale said in a broadcast.

Though last year ended in disappointing fashion for the Panthers — tied for 13th place in the Big East and missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade — past success indicates a brighter future for Dixon’s squad in the 2012-2013 season.

One thing is certain: Change is coming for the Pitt basketball program, but not in the form of a new coach, just a new conference. As the team plays its final games in the Big East, Coach Dixon will have to adapt his recruiting game and perhaps his team’s playing style, as well.

“When a Steven Adams comes with the possibility of a short career, it seems to signal a change,” said Finder of Pitt’s new recruiting tactics. “It will be interesting to see if Dixon recruits the brawn, physical player in the Atlantic Coast Conference, where more finesse and speed rule.”

Despite their respective struggles, Evans, Willard and especially Howland built the foundation for Dixon’s success.

And even though the caliber of players committing to Pitt has greatly improved, the ideals of teamwork, toughness and resiliency will always make the Pitt basketball program a proud one.