Dixon, men’s basketball reload coaching staff

Facing the losses of two assistant coaches and perhaps one star player, the Pitt men’s… Facing the losses of two assistant coaches and perhaps one star player, the Pitt men’s basketball team’s off-season wasn’t going too well — until last week.

Head coach Jamie Dixon solved the coaching problem by appointing former Saint Joseph’s assistant Mike Rice and Pitt’s former director of men’s basketball operations Orlando Antigua to assistant coach positions.

The star player, junior center Aaron Gray, had declared for this month’s NBA Draft, but as of yesterday hadn’t made a final decision on whether to stay in the draft or return for his senior season at Pitt. Gray can still maintain his eligibility because he has not hired an agent.

Rice and Antigua fill the coaching voids left by former assistants Barry Rohrssen and Joe Lombardi who left Pitt for head coaching jobs at Manhattan University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, respectively.

Rice, an assistant for head coach Phil Martelli’s Red Hawks the last two years comes to the Panthers with 12 years of NCAA Division I coaching experience.

“For the past two seasons, Mike has worked for one of the best coaches in the country in Phil Martelli,” Dixon said last week. “He also has the experience of coaching in several different environments and is familiar with the Big East region.”

A Pittsburgh native and Fordham University graduate, Rice returns to his hometown after a windy road of coaching jobs. After beginning his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater in 1991, Rice has held assistant coaching positions at Marquette, Niagara and Chicago State before joining the Red Hawks in 2004.

Rice also has another notable Pittsburgh sports connection, being the son of former Duquesne head basketball coach Mike Rice, Sr. The elder Rice served as head coach of the Dukes from 1979-82 before taking another head coaching job at Youngstown State from 1982-87. He is currently the radio play-by-play announcer for the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers.

“We are extremely excited about Mike becoming a member of the University community and I know he is ecstatic to be coming home to Pittsburgh,” Dixon said.

Antigua isn’t coming back to Pittsburgh — he’s staying. Antigua served three years as Pitt’s head of men’s basketball operations since Dixon was hired as head coach in 2003, but moves a few spots up the Panther bench with the appointment.

“Orlando has played a key role in our recruiting since he joined our staff three years ago,” Dixon said. “He understands what type of players we look for and what type of student-athletes we want to represent the University.”

Antigua might know what Pitt looks for most in its players because he was one of them. Between 1991-95, Antigua played for the Panthers, scoring 930 career points and 409 career rebounds and serving as team captain his last two years.

After graduating from Pitt, Antigua spent seven years playing for the world-famous and famously funny Harlem Globetrotters. Antigua was the first player of Latin American descent to ever play for the Globetrotters.

Antigua was named one of the nation’s top-100 most influential Hispanic Americans by Hispanic Business magazine.

Antigua, a native of the Dominican Republic, has served as one of Pitt’s primary recruiters for the past three years and will have to take on more of the role because of the departures of Rohrssen and Lombardi.

Rohrssen became well-known because of his recruiting connections to New York, bringing in players like Chris Taft, Carl Krauser and Ronald Ramon. Antigua was also raised in the Bronx, N.Y.