[ COLLEGE BASKETBALL ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jamie Dixon, a former Hawaii assistant, has Pittsburgh ranked 13th with an 18-0 record.
Dixon doing well
at Pitt
PITTSBURGH >> When Ben Howland hurriedly took off for UCLA and left Jamie Dixon in charge of Pitt basketball, he apparently forgot to leave behind the folder on dealing with tough losses.
More than halfway through his first season as a head coach, Dixon, a former Hawaii assistant coach, has yet to lose -- an enviable and unexpected achievement despite the weakness to date of the No. 13 Panthers' schedule.
The transition from Howland, a man with considerable head coaching experience, to Dixon, who had very little of it, has gone so smoothly and seamlessly, the Panthers' players have barely noticed.
Except this: Howland, more emotional than Dixon, always flung his suit jacket off within the opening minutes of a game. Dixon sometimes waits almost until halftime. Not that he's likely to wait that long when the Panthers (18-0) travel to No. 1 Connecticut today.
"Coach Howland would come in there before a game, he's just ready, focused, screaming, getting us pumped up," point guard Carl Krauser said. "With coach Dixon, you never see any kind of worries or anything, no anger. He's not anxious. He's just out there real calm and that helps us because we're bouncing around the room, ready to play, and coach is just sitting there like, 'Everybody calm down, relax.' "
The 38-year-old Dixon's calm, patient approach -- one not seen often in a profession known for its millionaire screamers and sideline stompers -- may have ensured that he succeeded Howland.
Howland, the 2002 Associated Press coach of the year, left for UCLA within days of Pitt's second elimination from the NCAA round of 16 in as many seasons last spring. Howland urged Pitt to hire his top aide as his successor.
Despite Dixon's pivotal role during the Panthers' rapid, four-year turnaround from sub-.500 team to Big East champion, there was hesitancy to promote someone whose only previous head coaching experience was in New Zealand. Instead, Pitt actively recruited Skip Prosser, the Wake Forest coach and Pittsburgh native, during an intense 10-day courtship.
Even as Pitt did so, Dixon didn't pack his bags in a huff to seek a lesser position or join Howland's UCLA staff. The former TCU star patiently waited and was rewarded when Prosser turned Pitt down.
Once he got the job, he promised he'd still be the same accessible, reasonable person he was as an assistant -- not that anyone who knew him expected he would change.
Dixon's personality hasn't changed since he was a dimple-faced Little Leaguer who, growing up in Hollywood as the son of an actor-screen writer, appeared in commercials for Volvo, Rice Krispies and Mattel.
"He's got things working there," Leonard Hamilton said after his Florida State team lost to Pitt. "Those kids are playing hard for him. They understand what he wants, and that's the sign of a great coach."
Dixon had two stints as an assistant at Hawaii, working with the Rainbow Warriors from 1992-94 and 1998-99, and has kept in touch with the UH coaching staff.
"Jamie's a great guy and it's a very good start because that's a pressure situation that he went into," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said.
Dixon hasn't found it necessary to be totally hands-on, if only because of the self-policing that goes on at Pitt. Julius Page, Jaron Brown, Chevon Troutman and Toree Morris have been in the program for three or more years each, and they'll often correct a younger teammate before Dixon will.
"Our guys like to compete," Dixon said. "They just want to play. They like challenges."
Dixon also kept the basic systems used by Howland, which means the Panthers remain the same physical, unselfish, defense-first team they were while going 57-11 the last two seasons. They always look for the open man, hit the boards hard and almost never allow a contested shot.
Not that everything has stayed entirely the same. Dixon doesn't yell as much as Howland did, but he's pushed several players -- notably, 6-foot-10 junior Mark McCarroll -- he felt were underachieving. McCarroll recently rewarded Dixon with a career-high 26-point game, only two fewer points than he scored in all of last season.
And if Dixon ever needs a few suggestions, Howland is just a phone call away. The two talked almost daily during the preseason, and Dixon also sought the advice of several other former assistants turned head coaches, including Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Gonzaga's Mark Few.
Not that his players think he needs much help. They felt Dixon proved himself in an 84-80, double-overtime win at Miami on Jan. 10, one made possible when Krauser drove the length of the court to tie it during the final 3.9 seconds.
"Before I made the last shot, he came into the huddle and was smiling," Krauser said. "He told everybody to calm down and said, 'We're not going to lose.' When you see a coach come to the bench with confidence and calm, you know you have a big-time coach."
The Star-Bulletin's Jason Kaneshiro contributed to this report
