Men’s Basketball: Pitt hires new assistant

Bill Barton will join the Pitt men’s basketball coaching staff as the team’s newest… Bill Barton will join the Pitt men’s basketball coaching staff as the team’s newest assistant, head coach Jamie Dixon announced yesterday.

Barton, 50, was the head coach at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass., from 1999-2007 before serving as an assistant at Duquesne University from 2007-08 and an associate head coach at Duquesne from 2008-10.

He spent last season as an assistant coach at Marshall University, serving under former Pitt associate head coach Tom Herrion.

Barton arrives at Pitt with  the reputation as one of the best recruiters on the East Coast.

“With his numerous recruiting contacts, Bill will help us in recruiting, scouting and player development,” Dixon said in a news release. “We are fortunate to have a coach with his well-rounded and vast background.”

Barton played an important role in bringing former Duquesne stars Damian Saunders and Shawn James to the Dukes. Saunders, who took the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year title the past two years, finished his career with more than 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. James was the 2008 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year.

“I’m extremely excited to join the Pitt staff and to return to Pittsburgh,” Barton said in a news release. “We obviously want to continue the great tradition established at Pitt. The program’s championship success speaks for itself.”

During his time at Notre Dame Prep, Barton guided the school to consecutive Prep School National Championships in 2005-06 and 2006-07. He finished with a 255-66 overall record.

He also helped more than 70 players earn NCAA Division 1 scholarships and coached five players who were drafted by NBA teams, including first-round picks Michael Beasley and Lazar Hayward. Beasley, who played one year of college basketball at Kansas State, was drafted 2nd overall in 2008 by the Miami Heat and currently plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Former Marquette standout Hayward was drafted 30th overall by the Washginton Wizards in 2010 and also currently plays for the Timberwolves.

Barton also coached former Pitt point guard Carl Krauser and Syracuse standout Paul Harris during their time at Notre Dame Prep. Krauser played at Pitt from 2001-05, while Harris played at Syracuse from from 2006-09.

A Boston, Mass. native, Barton graduated from Salem State in Massachusetts in 1989 with a degree in business and then earned his master’s in business admistration from Suffolk University in Massachusetts in 1989,

A position on Pitt’s staff opened earlier this month when former assistant Pat Skerry left to become the head coach at Towson University. Skerry worked on Pitt’s staff for one season.