There are good coaches still out there
Northern Arizona to Pitt. Mike Krzyzewski went from Army to Duke. Jay Wright went from Hofstra to Villanova. Chris Beard went from Arkansas Little-Rock (by way of Angelo State) to Texas Tech. I could go on.
Point is, Washington’s Mike Hopkins or Buffalo’s Nate Oats or any of dozens of others out there might be a good fit, too. It’s up to Lyke to find the right guy.
Hurley’s resume was blown way out of proportion because of the paucity of “big-name” candidates. The narrative somehow became, “Oh my God, if Pitt doesn’t get DAN HURLEY they will look foolish and run out of choices and … and … and … might have to cancel basketball altogether!”
Hurley has coached for eight years and has one (1) regular-season conference title. He had a good year at Wagner before losing to Robert Morris in the 2012 NEC semifinals, but other people had good years at Wagner. Mike Deane went 23-8 four years before Hurley arrived. Dereck Whittenburg is the only man to take Wagner to the NCAA tournament this century (2003).
Hurley rebuilt Rhode Island in his six-year stint there, but other people have won at Rhode Island recently. Jim Baron had four consecutive 20-win seasons from 2007-08 to 2010-11.
None of which is meant as disrespect of any kind to Hurley, who has won an NCAA tournament game each of the past two years. He has the look of a coach still on the rise. I would have praised his hiring. Let’s just not lose our minds.His resume is not so different from Mark Schmidt’s, save for age. Hurley, 45,is 10 years younger.
While we’re at it, let’s clear up a few other Pitt-related myths that have driven me toward Bobby Knight-like rage.
The first was nicely encapsulated by Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, who tweeted this upon the Hurley news Thursday: “Jamie Dixon went to 11 NCAA [t]ournaments in 13 seasons at Pitt and averaged 25.2 wins per year. The Panthers had a great coach and didn’t appreciate him. Facts are facts.” Yeah, well, here are some
facts put into context, Dr. Rothstein: In his last five years here — not a small sample size — Dixon missed the NCAA tournament twice and nearly three times (a narrow win over a hideous Wake Forest team saved him), had all of one tournament win, went .500 in conference play, saw attendance sink and went 4-5 in conference tourneys. His last two recruiting classes were terrible. He was 7-23 in his last 30 games against ranked opponents.
A once very good program had declined, and the arrow clearly was pointed down. Those are the more pertinent facts. And that is coming from a longtime member of the Jamie Dixon Apologist Society.
Now to the other myth, which goes something like this: “Once Pitt lost that ‘New York City pipeline,’ it all went to you-know-where.” Any list of top players from the Howland/Dixon years could include the following: Sam Young, DeJuan Blair, Chevy Troutman, Brad Wanamaker, Julius Page, Jaron Brown, Aaron Gray, Michael Young, Jamel Artis and Steven Adams.
What do those players have in common?
Not a single one was from New York City.
Find a coach who can recruit players from anywhere and fit them to his system, the way Bob Huggins does at West Virginia. The way so many others do in places that don’t grow basketball players.
The good news here is that Pitt (again) is willing to pay big money for a coach. Hurley would have been a nice choice. To think he was the only good one left is silly.