COMMENTARY
Some 114 years have elapsed since Add-Ran College changed its name to Texas Christian University, and it seems nearly that long since the Horned Frogs won an an NCAA tournament game. So everyone yell howdy to favorite son Jamie Dixon, who’s about to attack the worst job in the Big 12.
He probably won’t make the Dance 11 times in 13 seasons like he did at Pitt. Nor will he endure the malcontents who labeled his Panthers chokers after five losses to lower seeds in their last seven NCAA games. Sure, Dixon never vaulted Pitt into the Final Four, but no coach ever has.
It will take far less to impress in Fort Worth, where the composite first four years of Big 12 action yielded an 8-64 regular-season record under Trent Johnson. Only a week after Johnson’s firing, athletics director Chris Del Conte found a better coach than his program deserves, pulling Dixon back to the campus where he played from 1984-87.
It was during that 1987 season in which TCU last won an NCAA tournament game, beating Marshall 76-60. So by the time next March rolls around, it will be 30 years and counting.
Dixon returning to, and potentially resuscitating, his alma mater comes four years after Larry Brown arrived at nearby SMU, making the Mustangs instantly relevant to college hoops and instantly vulnerable to NCAA investigators. TCU hopes Dixon can replicate the good half of that equation.
Winning is hardly inevitable, though. Even after a $72 million renovation, TCU’s arena remains the least impressive in the conference. And while the talent-rich D/FW MetroPlex certainly can boost a program, its best players are either picked over by blueblood schools or more likely to look at Texas or Baylor or Texas A&M for in-state options. (Thanks to SFA, the Frogs aren’t even the best program in the state wearing purple.)
The Big 12 has been the No. 1 RPI league the past two seasons, making West Virginia coach Bob Huggins fond of labeling it much tougher than the old Big East, where struggling teams at DePaul, Rutgers and South Florida were nearly-automatic wins. “In the Big East there was a bottom,” he says, “but in the Big 12, there’s no bottom.” (To me, TCU’s 8-64 four-year stretch epitomizes a pretty firm “bottom,” though the Frogs did stun No. 5 Kansas in 2012 and won conference tourney games each of Johnson’s final two years.)
Dixon will be superbly compensated, and his relationship with Del Conte creates a comfortable work climate, but he faces an uphill climb in all directions. For those who claim Pitt’s recruiting base was damaged by moving to the ACC, just wait until Dixon tries to sell TCU. (Maybe Del Conte should be the one hosting prospects, considering he recruited his last two head coaches from far better programs.)
It will take far less to impress in Fort Worth, but ultimately, Dixon and Del Conte won’t be satisfied with the occasional NIT. This move is meant to energize TCU’s fan base by making the team competitive for NCAA bids.
Seven Big 12 schools reached this year’s NCAA tournament, and among the three that didn’t, two fired coaches. As basketball goes, that’s an unforgiving neighborhood.
Dixon’s pedigree proves he belongs in a league replete with big-time coaches. You just wonder whether any of them could lift up TCU under the circumstances.