From Pittsburgh to TCU
Prior to taking over for Trent Johnson at TCU in 2016, Jamie Dixon ran the show at Pittsburgh for 10+ years. Dixon didn’t start his coaching career at Pittsburgh however, which is something that you’ll discover if you glance at his resume.
In 1989, Dixon became the head coach at Te Aute College in New Zealand before accepting assistant coaching gigs at LA Valley CC, UC Santa Barbara, Hawaii, and Northern Arizona. Following the 1998-99 season, Dixon landed a spot as an assistant coach on Ben Howland’s staff at Pittsburgh.
Howland’s success during his final two years at Pittsburgh helped him secure a head coaching position at UCLA in 2003, which gave Dixon an opportunity to try his hand at leading the Panthers’ program for multiple seasons. How did Dixon perform right out of the gate?
Well, let’s just say that he was able to pick up where Howland left off and guide Pittsburgh to the Sweet 16 in year 1. After the 2003-04 season concluded, Dixon proceeded to help Pittsburgh reach the next seven NCAA Tournaments and outdo Howland by taking the Panthers to the Elite 8 in 2009.
Pittsburgh fans probably had a difficult time coping with the Panthers’ first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Wisconsin in 2016, but three days after the team’s defeat, Dixon elected to go and assist a struggling TCU program that desperately needed a coach who could instantly turn their program around.
In five seasons as TCU’s head coach, Dixon has led the Horned Frogs to the NCAA Tournament just once and is still trying to transform TCU into a respected Big 12 program. Recruiting-wise, Dixon has been able to reel in numerous 3-and 4-star prospects during his time with the Horned Frogs, but he’s struggled to convince some of those prospects to stick around for the long haul.
Jaylen Fisher, PJ Fuller, and Kendric Davis are three guys that come to mind when I think of promising former TCU players who didn’t feel compelled to stay with the program. Fisher, who arrived at TCU in 2016, is still the highest-rated recruit to commit to the Horned Frogs in high school (he was the 35th ranked player in the ESPN Top 100), but injuries caused the former 4-star prospect to transfer to GCU on July 2nd, 2019.
Fuller played two seasons under Jamie Dixon and saw a slight increase in just about every major statistical category this past year, but the former 4-star prospect in the class of 2019 opted to take his talents to Washington on May 18th, 2021. During Kendric Davis’ freshman season at TCU, the 5’11” guard averaged 6.3 points, 2.0 assists, and 17.1 minutes per game. However, Davis, who was a 3-star prospect and a member of the Horned Frogs’ 2018 recruiting class, ultimately decided to make SMU his new home on June 12th, 2019.
TCU will enter the 2021-22 season without two of their top three scorers from a season ago (RJ Nembhard Jr. and Kevin Samuel), but luckily the Horned Frogs were able to retain Mike Miles Jr., who was the Horned Frogs’ second-leading scoring last year, and snag several transfers in the offseason (Micah Peavy, Emanuel Miller, and Maxwell Evans are considered the most notable additions). I don’t think that TCU’s roster will intimidate the rest of the Big 12, but I do believe that they have enough talent to make things interesting this season.