In the search for a coach, No. 2 choice could be best

With the exception of pencils, it’s tough to be No. 2.

The average person probably doesn’t… With the exception of pencils, it’s tough to be No. 2.

The average person probably doesn’t remember who finished second in the 100-meter dash in the 1992 Olympic Games or who lost the World Series in 1948.

And it doesn’t feel all that great when a person chooses someone, or something, else over you.

But it happens. Get over it.

Which is what Pitt needs to do. And do it fast.

So what if Ben Howland decided to jump ship and head home to coach at UCLA? It’s not like he took the Petersen Events Center with him.

So what if Skip Prosser decided to stay loyal to Wake Forest and coach there for a long time? It’s not like he was going to bring any of his players or recruits with him.

Life goes on. The sun, or in this city’s case, the gray clouds, will come out tomorrow. There will be life after Ben.

Not to say that interim athletics director Marc Boehm lies awake at night, clutching his pillow and balling his eyes out, wondering why neither coach deemed Pitt good enough to grace it with their coaching abilities.

But it’s got to be frustrating, having your head coach and your No. 1 choice to replace him decide they want to coach somewhere else.

And if Pitt is the second choice of a couple of elite coaches, then maybe it’s time the school turns to someone who has been No. 2 for quite some time now.

Jamie Dixon has been endorsed by Pitt’s players to replace Howland.

They love him because he was the one who recruited them when they were looking for a place to play. He knows them, he knows what they can do and he knows the system that Howland has been teaching them for the past four years.

Dixon is also familiar with Pitt’s current class of recruits, which became an important factor this week as the school’s top two incoming players have wavered on their decision to come to Pitt.

In the absence of a head coach, Dixon has even been running the team’s off-season workouts and will most likely represent the team at Tuesday night’s team banquet.

So Dixon is the logical choice then, right?

Maybe to you, me, the players and even Howland, but apparently not to Pitt.

The main reason is Dixon has been top dog for only one of his 14 years as a college basketball coach, with that coming in 1989 at TeAute College.

He spent the past four years as Howland’s No. 2 guy at Pitt and, if Pitt doesn’t give him its head coaching position, he’ll travel to UCLA to be second in command out there.

Another possible stopping point for Boehm and crew is that, like Howland, Dixon is from the West Coast and, after losing Howland and athletics director Steve Pederson to jobs closer to home, loyalty has become a big issue.

But what job is there that Dixon might want?

The UCLA job is taken and there are no schools in California that are as rich in tradition. Well, unless of course Howland fails to rebuild the Bruins in a short amount of time.

Bottom line is that Pitt needs a head coach and soon, preferably sometime before Midnight Madness. The Panthers cannot afford to lose their top recruits and right now the only way to guarantee that is to hire Dixon.

So what if Dixon has no experience being the head coach at a major program? The guy before him had a similar resume as well.

Who knows? Maybe the No. 2 guy can get Pitt to a place no one has been able to do for a long time: No. 1.

Joe Marchilena is the assistant sports editor for The Pitt News and he likes the number 2. No reason why; he just does.