Pitt Panther Prowl

The Circle of Recruiting/Coaching

There are two keys to a successful college athletic program: the need for a good coach and the need for sound recruiting. The two play off of each other and continue a circle that, when done correctly, will build on itself and bring a program along further and further over time. The theory is that if you can get a coach or a coaching staff that can begin as either a solid recruiter or a solid coach, the success in one will open doors to the other. If the coach has an aptitude for both, then one can build off the other and vice versa, to the point where a program becomes a perennial threat.

There is an inverse way in which this works as well. If a coach or staff is good at one but not the other they will ultimately fail to reach the level of success possible if they could achieve some degree of skill at both.

Consider Jamie Dixon. As an assistant to Ben Howland, he was known as a solid recruiter. Because of his recruiting abilities he has been consistently able to get in talent that the Pitt basketball program hasn’t seen in years. As it turns out, he is a pretty solid coach as well. He has led Pitt to unprecedented success in the Big East and to a reputation as a nationally feared/respected program. His success at recruiting gave him the tools and his success at coaching has allowed him to get the most out of his recruits. Arguably he is a better coach than recruiter because he has been able to get 5-star talent out of many 3-star athletes. But he recruits players that fit his system and then has the skill to coach them up.

Dixon’s recruiting got Pitt solid players, though not necessarily top tier players. His coaching then allowed him to get the most from those recruits. If you put total success alongside recruited talent, Dixon has arguably had more success than UCLA, Kansas, Duke, and UNC based on the facts that those teams are all littered with McDonald’s All Americans and Pitt is full of 3-star recruits with the occasional 4-star added to the mix. Kansas and UNC have national championships in the last few years, but Pitt is comparable in regular season success, and in the case of UCLA and Duke/UNC, they had comparable records while playing in a far better and tougher conference.

Dixon’s coaching success with decent recruits has led to better recruits coming to the program, which has, in turn, led to more success. All of this culminated yesterday with the commitment of Dante Taylor, a potential McDonald’s All American (the first of Dixon’s tenure should he be named one), and a top 25 recruit by both Scouts.com and Rivals.com, two of the premiere recruiting sites on the web. (Read more at Pitt Blather here and here.) This is a huge get for Pitt and it comes back to the circle of recruiting and coaching feeding off of each other in a symbiotic relationship that creates a successful program that can draw players to it. For example, Coach K doesn’t have to recruit the way other coaches do. He has his choice of McDonald’s All American’s and 4-5-star recruits dying to play for Duke. While Dixon has a ways to go to reach that level of success, the Taylor commit shows Pitt fans great reason to be excited and patient as Dixon only seems to be improving with time.

Then there is Dave Wannstedt. He has done a phenomenal job at recruiting. What everyone is holding their breath over is whether or not he can coach. In most respects he could be considered a better recruiter than Dixon is in basketball, considering he has managed to bring in talent such as LeSean McCoy and has been voted the top recruiter in the Big East- no small thing considering he has to recruit against WVU and Louisville. However he has yet to translate that into winning.

To be fair, football is on an entirely different scale than basketball. In basketball there are usually 8-9 players in a rotation. In football, you have to have 22 starters plus special teams. Given the numbers involved in football it stands to reason that it takes longer for the recruiting to filter into the program to the point that it makes an impact. It wouldn’t work, even with all 5-star recruits, to start an entire team of true freshmen. So Wanny has to be given some time.

If he proves to be even a competent coach, the talent level of recruits should be enough to bring success. If he can have decent success, such as making bowl games and beating teams like WVU, on a semi-regular basis, then the recruiting will increase and the team will get better. Given his skill at recruiting, Pitt could, over the next 5-10 years, return to being a national powerhouse. Somehow he has the knack for getting sound recruits. All this is dependent on a competent level of coaching, however. Should he fail to develop that talent and turn it into wins, then it will be a completely wasted resource. Potential recruits will watch other players go into the Pitt program and get swallowed up, never to be heard from again, and they will decide to go elsewhere.

All of this points us back to the original point: coaching and recruiting are the two necessary keys to a successful college athletics program. Our patience is paying off with basketball, where Pitt his flourishing under Jamie Dixon, being chosen a preseason top 5 team and landing a big time recruit this offseason. Football is on the right track, and has the potential for even more success than basketball based on the recruits Wanny has brought in. But it remains to be seen whether or not the football staff can deliver on coaching the way it has in recruiting. If they can, then the circle will continue, and soon enough, all will Hail to Pitt.