I want to start by saying I am making generalizations by the Pitt fan base, and clearly while not everyone falls into these categories, I think they are safe to say overall feelings with the fans. I am a Pitt alum, and was a student when the Pete first opened up in 2002-2003. The world of Pitt basketball during my four years was far different than what we have today. Was I spoiled? Sure I was because The Pete was THE PLACE to be in college basketball when I went to Pitt. You could not get tickets to any conference game, and even the noncon games were not cheap. Over the years that aura has declined, and they maybe sell out a couple games a season now. The fact that you can buy conference tickets on Stubhub for less than $20 is upsetting to see. So I sat here yesterday after another Massacre at The Pete and wondered why does Pitt basketball get treated so differently than Pitt football? We have a double standard as a fan base and it is one that doesn't make sense to me.

When I started at Pitt, Walt Harris was the football coach. Walt turned around a dead program and made them relevant again. He recruited guys like Gerald Hayes, Larry Fitzgerald, Darelle Revis, and even Joe Flacco. Walt's tenure ran sour with the fan base because he couldn't get over that 8 win hump and continued to lay eggs in big games. Walt was considered mediocre so was run out of Pittsburgh so we could get better and in came Wanny.

Wanny started slow, but built up top recruiting classes and even got Pitt to 10 wins. After a few letdowns, and failed opportunities, the fans grew sour with Wanny and the story was the wins are not matching the talent, so Wanny was run out. I know there were off the field issues that played a part too, but lets be real that if Wanny was consistently winning 9-10 games a year, he would still be the coach of Pitt. I am skipping the Haywood/Fraud tenure because that lasted a year and we can't judge it, other than it was a complete mess.

In comes Paul Chryst, who was a good guy who had a lot of success as the Wisconsin OC. Paul Chryst was the definition of mediocrity at Pitt, and as a whole the fans were frustrated the entire time. His knock was that he couldn't recruit and Pitt was falling quickly into obscurity with the weak classes he was bringing in. People felt he was not bringing in enough talent considering there was so much of it in his backyard. More people were happy when Chryst left for Wisconsin than sad.

All of those coaches were given small windows to completely prove themselves and many of us were frustrated by year 5 at the very latest.

Now lets shift gears to basketball. Jamie Dixon inherited a program on the rise in a brand new, state of the art venue. Things started off great, but we never got over the tournament hump early in Dixon's tenure. We were excellent in the regular season, and Big East Tournament, but couldn't get over that Sweet 16 hump in March. We certainly had tough match ups along the way too, but losing to Pacific and Bradley stings to this day. Pitt was doing all of this with undersized and under recruited players that had chips on their shoulders. The argument was "wow wait until we start getting talent to Pitt with the coach we have."

Finally in 2009 we got past the Sweet 16 and things looked bright for the future with Dante Taylor, Steven Adams, and Khem Birch all lined up over the next few years. None of those three guys made the impact we thought we would see when any of them committed. Steven Adams was solid, but he was NOT the game changing big we all thought he would be. Taylor was a huge letdown, and Birch left just as his time started.

2011 was a successful regular season that ended with a major disappointment, and since then Pitt has found themselves in the land of okay. We have made the tournament twice and missed it twice since '11. The reality is since 2009, Pitt has not found themselves in the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. That is 7 years, which is more than half of Dixon's tenure. 2009 was a long time ago, and while the program had one solid regular season in 2011, they have been irrelevant on the national stage for almost a decade.

So I am now going to make the football arguments that the fans have used for years as to why Pitt basketball is not good anymore.

#1 Mediocre play...Since 2009 Pitt basketball has been one and done in their conference tournament more times than they have even won a game. Even in 2011 they lost to Kemba Walker in the first round of the Big East Tourney. They also are 42-40 in conference games since 2011, and that means that two of those years were in the Big East. Dixon is also 7-24 vs ranked teams in that stretch too. I can't look at the overall record because 90% of our noncon schedule is a joke year to year. The weak noncon schedules are why Pitt constantly starts like 13-2 at the very worst. The thing we can look at is conference play being basically .500 over the past half decade. That is very telling that the program for a half a decade is stuck in mediocrity .

#2 is Dixon's recruiting doesn't match the results because more of our top recruits have been mediocre to bad than good. Birch left, Taylor was bad (considering where he was recruited at), and Adams was mediocre at best. Throw in 4 star James Robinson (who gets defended like he's this great player, yet we buried Sunseri in football for far better stats as a qb than Robinson has as a PG), Isiah Epps, etc. I feel they have seen more misses in recruiting more than the successes.

#3 is the downward recruiting trend we have seen over the years. Jamie Dixon currently has the 77th best class for next year...77th! Even Harvard is ahead of them in some rankings. How is that possible that a school in the ACC with beautiful facilities can't bring in a better class than Harvard? Don't tell me that Boston is some basketball powerhouse for recruiting. Heck, Ben Howland is slowly building a top program at Mississippi State of all places. The reality is no top player wants to play for Jamie Dixon and the basketball program. We are boring, don't put out pros, and the guy micromanages every second of the game. Recruiting is part of the whole coaching process, so we can't say Dixon is a great coach and a bad recruiter because part of the whole process is recruiting. He needs to be criticized for not bringing in the talent to match the rest of the conference. Those are his guys and he has to suffer the consequences with them as the head basketball coach.

I get that Pitt has no history in basketball like they do in football, but why is Jamie Dixon allowed to be mediocre, not improve top talent, and stink at recruiting? I totally understand that football is easier to recruit in western PA than basketball, but there are a ton of programs who are pulling in better talent that don't offer the same luxuries that Pitt can offer.

I want the program to be in the best place possible because I am not sure I love a sport more than college basketball, and certainly a team more than Pitt. I am just sick of watching this tired program slowly disappear into obscurity while the football program in one year has brought back an energy that I honestly am not sure I have seen before. Jamie Dixon is a fantastic human being, a great representative for the university, and did some great things early on at Pitt that cannot be overlooked, but I think his success in Pittsburgh has almost dried up, and a high energy guy could change the fate of Pitt. I want to see The Pete be THE PETE again, and I want the energy, excitement, and attitude brought back to Pitt Hoops!

Don't settle and think that Dixon is the best Pitt can do because of the fact that Pitt has no history. Barnes can bring in a top coach because Pitt plays in the ACC, has The Pete, and most importantly the Oakland Zoo!

HAIL!