| Pittsburgh Sports Report November 2007 |
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| PSR Showdown Huggy Not too may coaches have been handed the keys to such a good collegiate basketball program as happened to Jaime Dixon. Many coaches have built programs from the ground floor. One coach that has repeatedly done so is Bob Huggins. His first coaching job at Walsh College gave some indication as to what he can do for a program in terms of wins and losses. Huggins' crew went 14-16 in his first season and 34-1 in his third season. He took a step up to the University of Akron, where his Zips went 12-14 his first year and then went to the NCAA Tournament for the only time in school history the following season. He followed that with 21-9, 21-7, 21-8 seasons before heading to the University of Cincinnati. Huggins took over a program that had gone 81-117 in the previous seven seasons and promptly went 167-62 over his first seven years, which included a Final Four appearance in his third year. He has been to postseason play in 20 of his 25 years as a college basketball coach. The man can recruit. By most collegiate basketball publications, he had the top recruiting class in the nation this year at Kansas State before he left for West Virginia. He will turn the Mountaineers into a consistent winner and, without a doubt, his team will never be picked again to finish 10th in the Big East, as it was this year. I don't want to hear about all of Jamie Dixon's success. He was handed the keys to a Ferrari, unlike the clunker his predecessor, Ben Howland, was given when he brought Dixon over as his assistant coach. Howland took a program that was 63-82 in the five previous years to 89-40 in his four seasons, before he bolted to his dream job at UCLA. He took over a pathetic Bruins program and, in his third year, was the NCAA runner-up and made the Final Four the next year. What has Dixon done with all his talent? Mike Mathison is the sports editor for the Steubenville Herald-Star. |
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