Despite talks of realignment, Big East remains an elite conference

If MGM were to commission a remake of the legendary 1986 basketball movie Hoosiers, few would be… If MGM were to commission a remake of the legendary 1986 basketball movie Hoosiers, few would be better suited for the role of Norman Dale than Pitt Basketball Head Coach Jamie Dixon. Just as Dale demonstrates by having his players measure the height of the baskets at Canseco Fieldhouse, Dixon will be the first to tell you that basketball is the same wherever it is played. The 44 year old is especially well-traveled for a man of his age, having made stops at seven different schools in his four years of playing and 21 years of coaching college basketball.

While the height of the buckets has unsurprisingly been the same at each of these seven destinations, the teams shooting on them have fluctuated constantly. He’s played and coached in the Southwest Conference, the Big West Conference, the Western Athletic Conference, and the Big East Conference.

During his time in those conferences, many schools have joined and left in conference realignment, but the potential shifts that may loom just beyond the horizon could be bigger than any he has faced before.

The most prominent conferences in the NCAA have begun to aggressively pursue new members, and the shockwaves of these searches are being felt throughout college athletics.

This summer, the Pac-10 announced that it would be adding two big programs: Utah from the Mountain West Conference in 2011, and Colorado from the Big 12 in 2012. The Big Ten grabbed a Big 12 school as well, when they announced that Nebraska would be joining their ranks in 2011.

Even though the Big East wasn’t affected by this summer’s conference realignment, the future of the conference remains unclear. After all, few things can be counted as certain now that the Big Ten will have 12 teams while the Big 12 is slated to end up with 10.

However, despite these unprecedented changes, Dixon is anything but worried. He has been conditioned to stay calm when his surroundings change.

“Everywhere I’ve been, there’s been realignment,” said Dixon after an open practice in July. “Whatever happens, schools survive, and schools do well. It usually turns out to be not as drastic of a change as everyone thinks it’s going to be.”

Dixon’s time coaching in the Big East might have played an integral role in the formation of this nonchalance. During the past decade, the conference looked like it could be in trouble when Boston College, Miami, and Virginia Tech left for the ACC in 2005.

However, the departures of those schools actually ended up strengthening Big East men’s basketball due to the subsequent additions of Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette, and South Florida.

“It was the end of the world four years ago, when there were the changes with going to 16, and look what’s happened,” explained Dixon. “Nobody predicted it would get better, and it’s gotten better, and that’s what we have to recognize.”

Dixon is also quick to point out that while the Big East is just a few years removed from losing teams to the ACC, the instability hasn’t translated into ups and downs on the court.

“I think what’s really happened over the years is that we’ve really clearly established ourselves as the best conference, the most consistent, the deepest conference. And then I think that every other one has kind of had their ups and downs and fallen into that second spot, whether it be the ACC, Big Ten, Pac 10, or the SEC specifically, and the Big 12 as well.”

Like teams in the Big East, numerous colleagues and players have come and gone for Dixon during his time at Pitt. Brandin Knight graduated during Dixon’s final year as an assistant coach, but returned to his side in 2008 as an assistant.

Knight views the rivalries in the Big East as multi-faceted, developing due to factors beyond proximity and history. He also sees a budding rivalry starting to replace the Backyard Brawl as the Panthers’ biggest hardwood battle.

“In-conference, I think everyone thinks West Virginia is our only rivalry. UConn, Syracuse, Notre Dame, those rivalries have developed into pretty significant games every single time,” Knigh said. “West Virginia is the one they keep alive, so no matter what we continue to play West Virginia. That’s the big quote-unquote rivalry game, whereas Villanova has become our in-state rivalry.”

Knight is quicker to admit the potential benefits that could result from a move outside the Big East than Dixon, but says that whatever ends up happening, the coaching staff’s goals will continue to remain the same.

“Hopefully we can go a little bit further and continue to make progress, as far as just winning games, recruiting good kids, graduating good kids, that’s the part that’s satisfying to myself and Coach Dixon,” he said. “The longer these kids improve on the basketball court, improve as people, as students, that’s all we can ask for.”

Dixon, on the other hand, maintains a loftier set of goals. He views the program as more than just a way to help players improve on and off the court. To him, success in basketball goes hand-in-hand with institutional advancement.

“What I want it to be is a program that represents the university to the highest level, striving to reach the same standards that our university is,” he said.

“We’re trying to be a top program in the country in basketball, as well as what we’re trying to do academically with our medical school, our law school, our business school, whatever it may be, and trying to be one of the best public research institutions in the country,” Dixon said. “That’s how I look at it, probably not a common answer from a coach, but that’s what we want to be.”