There's a myriad of GOOD coaches interested in the job. However, saying that there's a frontrunner is probably pretty premature right now. We can make an educated guess and say that Jaime Dixon and Brad Underwood are likelier candidates and closer to what UNLV can afford than Pitino. Beyond that we can't say for certain how this will all turn out. A lot of questions still need to be answered.
I will say i believe the Pitino thing is the long shot of all long shots. Yet, after reading that ESPN OTL article the other day, i think it's safe to say Rick and L'ville will be parting ways. There is way too much evidence and heat now for even a coach like RP to avoid getting burned. He will most likely be allowed to resign in an effort to save as much face as humanly possible, but make no mistake the guy wants to coach and he is going to want a landing spot. Maybe it's the NBA, but i personally think Rick wants to stay in college. And If he does want to come to Vegas, UNLV HAS to find a way to get him here. Scandal, or not. Money trouble, or not. He's a top 5 college coach and no one can take our program to the heights he can and not be named Coach K, or Cal. But all of that is a moot point right now IMO. Until we know for certain he's on the market, there's too many what ifs. Even when he is on the market, there's a ton of what ifs.
So let's instead entertain the idea of Dixon and Underwood for a minute...
Stylistically, i think it's safe to say Dixon's Pitt teams are closer to SDSU and Fisher than they are Tark and UNLV. Which to me is fine. CJD's teams are known for grit, toughness and for the most part i'd say overachieving. Style points aside, u have to look at what the man has done over his career.
Dixon is proven. No one can argue that. He's won at the highest levels D1 has to offer. The old Big East was arguably the best basketball league in college year in and year out while it existed and Dixon was a mainstay there. CJD led Pitt to two regular season titles and has gone dancing 11 of his 13 years as a head coach. In the NCAA tournament he has 12 victories, two S16 appearances, one E8 and once he had Pitt in as a number one seed.
That's the kind of success that has a lot of Rebel fans salivating at the prospect of his hire. Others who are less sold on him will point out that Dixon has struggled some lately, even before the transition the Panthers made before going into the stacked ACC. Since 2011 Pitt hasn't finished higher than 4th in either the Big East, or the ACC. Two of Dixon's tournament misses have come within the last 5 years. On top of that, CJD has never finished better than 5th since coming to the Atlantic Coast Conference and the last 2 years he has tied for 9th in both seasons. A lot of people would say that it is because recruiting has been a sore spot for him and that he can't compete on the trail against the titans in his own conference. Anyway u slice it, it does look as though maybe Pitt has fallen off a bit under his watch if u look at things closely.
That brings us to the SFA head coach. Underwood, while extremely successful in his own right, just doesn't have the same kind of resume that Dixon does. I think the community would have to be far more faith driven to get behind that hire and there's not a lot of sunshiney optimism left around those that hold this program near and dear to their hearts.
That being said, CBU runs the kind of scheme Runnin' Rebel fans have clamored for since the glory years. His teams run, score, press and they look like a well-oiled machine doing it. The Lumberjacks scored 80 ppg this season, making them the 21st highest scoring team in D1. They also dished out 19 apg, which put them at 2nd in America. The D was every bit as impressive as those numbers, as SFA held opponents to 62 ppg, making them the 13th best in the nation. Underwood doesn't talk about run n gun, he implements it.
As for his career winning totals, all Underwood has done is win 88% of his games, while compiling a staggering winning percentage of 98% against conference opponents. He doesn't have a whole lot of success against P5 competition in the OOC (His best victories came against Memphis on the road and VCU in the tournament), but he does dominate lesser competition in league play, something UNLV has been unable to do for well over 2 decades now.
Recruiting will be another big question mark if Underwood is brought in. I don't think u can look at SFA and say he has had a whole lot of high profile recruits (Or any for that matter), but u can look at his time under Huggins IMO. At KSU Underwood was considered the hot shot recruiting assistant much like CTS or CRM. He was responsible for bringing in Michael Beasley and a lot of the other kids who made up that roster in Manhattan.
What about the NCAA tournament? SFA and Underwood have never missed it together. So far he's just 1-2 in the tournament, but they play WVU and his mentor Huggie Bear in the opening round this weekend and have an opportunity to better that mark. I know i'll be watching with rapt attention.
In conclusion, it's hard not to desperately want Pitino. It's hard to even get excited about a name that's not Pitino after that carrot has been dangled in front of us. But it is an exciting time. It's been depressing falling to the depths where we have, but it's also encouraging considering that there's coaches like Dixon and Underwood who might possibly be the ones to rise us back up again. I think either of those two can turn us into the proverbial phoenix.
I will say i believe the Pitino thing is the long shot of all long shots. Yet, after reading that ESPN OTL article the other day, i think it's safe to say Rick and L'ville will be parting ways. There is way too much evidence and heat now for even a coach like RP to avoid getting burned. He will most likely be allowed to resign in an effort to save as much face as humanly possible, but make no mistake the guy wants to coach and he is going to want a landing spot. Maybe it's the NBA, but i personally think Rick wants to stay in college. And If he does want to come to Vegas, UNLV HAS to find a way to get him here. Scandal, or not. Money trouble, or not. He's a top 5 college coach and no one can take our program to the heights he can and not be named Coach K, or Cal. But all of that is a moot point right now IMO. Until we know for certain he's on the market, there's too many what ifs. Even when he is on the market, there's a ton of what ifs.
So let's instead entertain the idea of Dixon and Underwood for a minute...
Stylistically, i think it's safe to say Dixon's Pitt teams are closer to SDSU and Fisher than they are Tark and UNLV. Which to me is fine. CJD's teams are known for grit, toughness and for the most part i'd say overachieving. Style points aside, u have to look at what the man has done over his career.
Dixon is proven. No one can argue that. He's won at the highest levels D1 has to offer. The old Big East was arguably the best basketball league in college year in and year out while it existed and Dixon was a mainstay there. CJD led Pitt to two regular season titles and has gone dancing 11 of his 13 years as a head coach. In the NCAA tournament he has 12 victories, two S16 appearances, one E8 and once he had Pitt in as a number one seed.
That's the kind of success that has a lot of Rebel fans salivating at the prospect of his hire. Others who are less sold on him will point out that Dixon has struggled some lately, even before the transition the Panthers made before going into the stacked ACC. Since 2011 Pitt hasn't finished higher than 4th in either the Big East, or the ACC. Two of Dixon's tournament misses have come within the last 5 years. On top of that, CJD has never finished better than 5th since coming to the Atlantic Coast Conference and the last 2 years he has tied for 9th in both seasons. A lot of people would say that it is because recruiting has been a sore spot for him and that he can't compete on the trail against the titans in his own conference. Anyway u slice it, it does look as though maybe Pitt has fallen off a bit under his watch if u look at things closely.
That brings us to the SFA head coach. Underwood, while extremely successful in his own right, just doesn't have the same kind of resume that Dixon does. I think the community would have to be far more faith driven to get behind that hire and there's not a lot of sunshiney optimism left around those that hold this program near and dear to their hearts.
That being said, CBU runs the kind of scheme Runnin' Rebel fans have clamored for since the glory years. His teams run, score, press and they look like a well-oiled machine doing it. The Lumberjacks scored 80 ppg this season, making them the 21st highest scoring team in D1. They also dished out 19 apg, which put them at 2nd in America. The D was every bit as impressive as those numbers, as SFA held opponents to 62 ppg, making them the 13th best in the nation. Underwood doesn't talk about run n gun, he implements it.
As for his career winning totals, all Underwood has done is win 88% of his games, while compiling a staggering winning percentage of 98% against conference opponents. He doesn't have a whole lot of success against P5 competition in the OOC (His best victories came against Memphis on the road and VCU in the tournament), but he does dominate lesser competition in league play, something UNLV has been unable to do for well over 2 decades now.
Recruiting will be another big question mark if Underwood is brought in. I don't think u can look at SFA and say he has had a whole lot of high profile recruits (Or any for that matter), but u can look at his time under Huggins IMO. At KSU Underwood was considered the hot shot recruiting assistant much like CTS or CRM. He was responsible for bringing in Michael Beasley and a lot of the other kids who made up that roster in Manhattan.
What about the NCAA tournament? SFA and Underwood have never missed it together. So far he's just 1-2 in the tournament, but they play WVU and his mentor Huggie Bear in the opening round this weekend and have an opportunity to better that mark. I know i'll be watching with rapt attention.
In conclusion, it's hard not to desperately want Pitino. It's hard to even get excited about a name that's not Pitino after that carrot has been dangled in front of us. But it is an exciting time. It's been depressing falling to the depths where we have, but it's also encouraging considering that there's coaches like Dixon and Underwood who might possibly be the ones to rise us back up again. I think either of those two can turn us into the proverbial phoenix.
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