Jamie Dixon, Coach Howland's protege (his first assistant when he was a coach at Pitt) is thriving as the head coach for the Panthers. He just got a contract extension:

Pittsburgh basketball coach Jamie Dixon's contract was extended three seasons through the 2015-16 season Thursday, a deal that came two years following his last extension.

Dixon will receive a raise from his $1.3 million salary of last season, when he was the university's highest-paid employee.

Pitt may have felt an urgency to extend Dixon's contract so soon after giving him an extension through the 2012-13 season in March 2006 because other Big East coaches were beginning to sign more lucrative contracts.

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins' contract, for example, guarantees him at least $20 million over 10 years, including $1.5 million this year.

Dixon has had his salary more than doubled the last three years. Pitt substantially upgraded his salary after Arizona State and Missouri made overtures about hiring him following the 2005-06 season.

Before that, Dixon -- who had no major college head coaching experience before being hired by Pitt in 2003 -- was making about $600,000 per season.

Lot of times you can tell a lot about a great head coach judging by the assistants coming out of his program. Coach had Danny Crum doing well at Louisiville. Even Harrick (an assistant for the Coach) won banner number 11. Dean Smith had assistants like Larry Brown and Roy Williams.

Coach Howland's assistant has already proven himself at Pitt. Kerry Keating is a good bet to successful at a mid major like Santa Clara?

Coach K's Ratface's coaching tree? So far it has only produced flameouts like Tommy Amaker (fired from Michigan) and Quinn Snyder (fired from Missouri). No one knows whether Johnny Dawkins will be successful at Stanford.

Something to consider when comparing Howland to the most over-rated and celebrated college head coach by DSPN's hype machine. It might happen if UCLA-Duke gets matched up against each other in the 2K Sports Classic.

Go Bruins!!!!

Just saw this in the Tucson Citizen:

University of Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson is under investigation for possible NCAA violations, UA officials said. UA on July 2 reported an apparent Level 2 violation - or less severe - of NCAA rules regarding soliciting donations, Athletic Director Jim Livengood said in a statement released Monday afternoon.
A letter was sent this spring to the Rebounders Club board of directors from Olson's office, encouraging members to donate to an amateur basketball exhibition tournament at UA, Livengood's report said. The letter was printed over Olson's electronic signature and went out marked "personal and confidential," said the report Livengood sent to Ron Barker, the associate commissioner of the Pacific-10 Conference. Olson "adamantly denied" knowledge of the letter being sent and later sent a retraction, Livengood said in his report. NCAA rules prohibit institutional representatives from arranging financial assistance for or paying costs of prospective student athletes.

I guess Lute is doing whatever it takes to compete against Ben Howland. Old Lute is getting exposed as Dirty Lute. What a joke.

BYU fans are feeling cocky about Cougars being up on UCLA.

Now their QB has jumped into the smack fest:

"We've got to prepare like crazy. UCLA's a team that we've beaten before and should beat again," said BYU quarterback Max Hall, who completed 30 of 41 passes for 338 yards and three touchdowns against the Huskies.

Hall forgot to mention how his team needed a blocked FG to beat a UCLA team playing with an interim coach and a guy named McLeod Bethel-Thompson playing QB.  

Hall did qualify his statement by saying how the game is going to be another “dogfight” but the cockiness coming out of Provo is unmistakable.

One would think a program which is 2-7 against UCLA with a recent win coming at neutral site would show a little more humility.

I just hope Neuheisel and his coaches are gathering all these quotes and pining them up in our locker room. I don’t know if we have the personnel to beat those guys on their home turf with all of our injuries on offense, but after all the smack coming out of Provo our players should have no problem getting fired up.

Go Bruins!!!

I don't care much for Dennis Dodd's use of the term "NCAA felon" and the tired "Slick Rick" slur but the first few paragraphs of this article brings it home:

This is why they fired you Karl Dorrell. This is why UCLA welcomed home an NCAA felon to win back the city, the conference and -- thinking way out of the box here -- a national championship.

Only Slick Rick could survive a Pick Six in his debut. Only Rick Neuheisel could transform a forlorn third-string quarterback into the campus hero -- in the space of a half. Only Neuheisel could get away with wearing a sweater vest and long sleeves on a sweltering Los Angeles Labor Day and look good doing it.

Only Neuheisel could stage the pep rally after the game. Yes, that was the UCLA football coach making his first postgame comments to the crowd after grabbing a microphone on a cheer stand at the Rose Bowl. He pumped his fist, led the crowd in UCLA's traditional 8 Clap and was done. For now.

This, dear Karl, is why Neuheisel was hired. It is because he can lead, because he cares, because he's a 47-year-old kid who has been an NCAA pariah and made it back to his alma mater, because college football is still a place where those kinds of things can choke you up. The average team around him knows it after their 27-24 overtime victory over No. 18 Tennessee.

"There's so much passion associated with college football," Neuheisel said after coaching his first college game in five years. "Not that there isn't any in the NFL ... but it doesn't have the same feel, everything hinging on every play. You have to get used to that."

I am certainly getting use to it!!

If Rick keeps this going for few years, they will eventually forget about "Slick Rick" and all those secondary violations and instead talk about his redemption. Plus if teh NCAA ever actually grows a pair they will have to write about the real "NCAA felon" from cross town.

Go Bruins!!!