Pitt’s Dixon still has plenty of time

‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt coach Jamie Dixon has Big East titles, 30-win seasons and the NCAA record for most… ‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt coach Jamie Dixon has Big East titles, 30-win seasons and the NCAA record for most wins after six years as coach. ‘ ‘ ‘ He won a Big East regular-season title during his first year coaching Pitt and has been to the conference title game four of six times. Still, there’s something missing. ‘ ‘ ‘ That’s because the Panthers, despite being the Big East’s most consistent winner over the last six seasons and continually being ranked in the nation’s top 25, haven’t advanced past the Sweet 16 under Dixon’s watch. And according to one basketball expert, that blank spot on his resume could be the one thing that’s keeping him from being mentioned with the coaching elite. ‘ ‘ ‘ Bob Ryan, a columnist for the Boston Globe who’s covered basketball for 40 years, said that if Pitt makes a run to the Final Four this season, Dixon has a shot at being mentioned among the elite coaches in college basketball. ‘ ‘ ‘ Still, Ryan said that you have to look at what other Hall of Fame coaches have done in the past. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘You have to remember that Dean Smith was 21 years in when he won his first [title],’ said Ryan. ‘Dixon still has some time.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Some time is an understatement. Dixon, 43, has been a head coach for only six years. And Smith, the long-time North Carolina coach who won two national titles in his career, was just one of the elite coaches who took his time to win titles. ‘ ‘ ‘ Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, another Hall of Famer, took over the Syracuse program in 1976. His only national championship came in 2003 ‘- 26 years after he took the job. It took Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun, another Hall of Fame coach, 13 seasons to win the title at Connecticut. ‘ ‘ ‘ Ryan said that the only reason people even talk about Dixon and the Sweet 16 is because of how successful Dixon’s been in every other area. While most coaches don’t have the pressure to advance as far into the Tournament after a short amount of time with a team, Dixon must deal with it because of how successful his career in the Big East has been and how Pitt is alway.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt plays Xavier Thursday night in Boston. Should the Panthers win, they’ll play the winner of the Duke-Villanova matchup, which follows the Pitt game on Thursday night. ‘ ‘ ‘ Maybe for Dixon, this is the team to do it. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘He said to us the other day,’ said Wanamaker, ‘that we’re his best team as far as bond and potential.’ ‘ ‘ ‘