One time Panthers assistant Barry "Slice" Rohrssen, one of the more popular and well liked people in the coaching fraternity, is back as an assistant for Jamie Dixon. The 52-year old Brooklyn native left the Panthers after the 2006 season after being named the head coach of Manhattan where he was 52-70 in four seasons. Rohrssen has a reputation of being an excellent recruit in the New York City area.
Rohrssen will replace Patrick Sandle who has been an assistant with the Panthers since 2003. Sandle did not recruit on the road, which was his decision. That left the Panthers with two assistants recruiting on the road instead of the usual three. According to sources, Dixon wants to have three coaches on the road due to the fact that recent player departures has left him with a depleted roster which needs to be filled quickly.
How about replacing the assistant that has yet to bring one recruit in through his two (I think) years on the job and just sits there during games, making no visual contribution to the coaching staff? Supposedly Barton was going to deliver the great prep class in New England for 2014, but as of now, Pitt is in on the lists of hardly any top 100 recruits. The lists they are on seem to be out of NYC, not New England. Why is Barton still on the staff?????
ReplyDeleteMac
Barton was former HC at Notre Dame Prep in MA.
DeleteSo,
Adams was recommended to go to ND for a year.
Artis is from Notre Dame.
Birch is from Notre Dame.
i'm assuming Barton had a hand in the 3 of them, perhaps more.
Birch was all Skerry but Barton helped place Adams and he was most responsible for Artis.
DeleteIt's good to have Barry Rohrrsen back on the staff. He did a great job recruiting in the York City area, when he was on the Pitt staff. Welcome back Barry!
ReplyDeleteChris:
ReplyDeleteYou report that with Slice now back Dixon plans to start sending three assistants on the road. But the Post-Gazette says that under NCAA rules only two assistants are allowed to be on the road. Which of these is right?
All three are allowed but no more than two at a time. Pitt fans get confused because they only have seen two, but that's only because Sandle preferred not to go on the road.
DeleteIf I listen real close I can hear Jamie Dixon saying, in his best john belushi voice:
ReplyDelete"We are putting the band back together"
Is that Brandon knight saying in his dan akroid voice
"We are on a mission from god."
And is that bill Barton, I mean bob barker now yelling
"Ben howland come on down..."
What?
DeleteI'm stunned... 7 comments already and our man JosephD has not told us this should have happened sooner.
ReplyDeleteJLawrence
I would love for howland to come but it'll never happen. At this point howland is the only person that can preach to dixon that his system is out dated and critically hampering his recruiting efforts. You can play a more lively uptempo style of basketball and still implement a defensive side. It's not a bad thing to mirror shaka smarts system. Kids buy into playing hard when basketball is fun and rewarded in March. Dixon style resembles kids taking sat's all day and come last period they pencil in any answer just to make it go away,which is equivalent to his early March departures in the NCAA tournaments
ReplyDeleteThey do play up tempo when they have the talent to do it. The 08-09 team played up tempo quite a bit, as did the 10-11 team. You can't just play transition basketball all of the time.
DeleteEver wonder why Pitt doesn't have the talent to do it? It is because they don't recruit players with the talent to do it.
DeleteAnd, yes, you can play aggressive transition basketball every year. Ask Shaka Smart. Ask Rick Pitino. Ask about 100 other NCAA head coaches. It is a philosophy, just as choosing instead to slowly bring the ball upcourt and burn 25-30 seconds off the clock nearly every possession is a philosophy.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteDid Jamie basically "fire" Coach Sandle to bring back Coach Rohrssen? I assuming Coach Sandle didn't decide to leave on his own. Maybe this is a change that Pitt hoops needs.
Question Dokes...
ReplyDeleteDid any Pitt assistants attend the rivals camp last weekend at Montour???
Anyway, in my opinion, Pitt FB recruiting needs to be first to offer the top wpial recruits.
2015 Sterling Jenkins at 6'8" and 300#..
he attended the rivals camp and in 1 week got offers from Virginia, WVU, Michigan...
WTF is up with clueless Chryst and crew??? nothing from Pitt... smh
I just posted a few days ago that the assistants were holding back the program. So a change is no surprise. Good to have Slice back.
ReplyDeleteThe guy who hired those assistants and left them on the staff is to blame, if the assistants are bad. Why can't fans even consider he is to blame for anything? If you accept the obvious good Jamie has done at Pitt, surely you have to accept the obvious bad.
DeleteRay Fittipaldo wrote that both Wright and Moore are currently considering transfer!! wow..
ReplyDeleteGood for them...
Seems this is a power play by the remaining players for playing time and style of play.
Wright gives them virtually nothing when they play upper tier teams and Moore has yet to figure out his game after being here for three years. I'm surprised it's taken them this long to leave.
DeleteMike W.
My point was... seems Dixon is losing the team...
DeletePlayers dictating..
Started with Birch... sounds like a lot of what Birch was saying is true... and it wasn't just Gibbs wanting the ball, etc.
I don't know about dictating on the part of the players is an accurate description, since they don't seem to be getting their way. It is more like dessertion, since they are just leaving en masse. Either way, someone is going to need to put Humpty Dumpty back together again real quick.
DeleteChris can you give us an update on where Pitt stands with the hoops recruits? I'm also hearing another cream puff non-conference schedule is in the works. When will Dixon play someone.
ReplyDeleteHave we lost another football player? Probably not much of a loss if true.
ReplyDeleteRippy is has left. He was sinking on the depth chart. He was a tweener like Hale, not quick enough to play safety, not big enough to play LB
DeleteThats 2 from Single A Sto-Rox gone in 1 week.
DeleteSo much for recruiting Single A ball...
They may look good when playing Single A ball... but when it comes time to play against the big boys... forget about it. It's not like Sto-Rox has some great football program either.
Very few HS Single A players can step up to BCS level..
When it comes to Ben Howland and the Pitt Administration, think Taylor Swift (We are never getting back together), not John Lennon (Give peace a chance). Basically, Howland left Pitt on the same wonderful terms that RichRod left WVU.
ReplyDeleteImpressive musical range. You worked Taylor Swift and John Lennon into the same thought.
DeletePlease get Sheldon Jeter. He had a good freshman season @ Vanderbilt & wants to transfer closer to home. Great FG% from 2 & 3Pt.
ReplyDeleteGeneral:
6'7 wing player that chose the Commodores in the late signing period over Wisconsin, Penn State, South Carolina, and Kansas State.
2012-13 (Freshman):
Played in all 33 games and started seven...Averaged 5.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game...Scored a career-high 14 points against William & Mary (1/2) and against Georgia (2/27)...Was 6-7 from the floor against William & Mary; the six made field goals was a career high...Played career-high 32 minutes against Ole Miss (1/15), scored 13 points and had four rebounds...Grabbed career-high nine rebounds at Mississippi State (2/23)...Scored in double figures six times...Shot 47.1% from the floor and 39.1% from three...Made career-high three three's vs. Arkansas (2/9).
Pitt could have had Jeter last year.... but played games with him. Shame on Dixon for that.
DeleteDixon went after/signed Jones instead.
Now Dixon wants Jeter... smh.
You're so sad. Get a life.
DeleteJoe D,
DeletePlease pick another school and act like you are a fan of their basketball and football programs. Then, rip them instead of Pitt 24/7. You are such a broken record.
If I'm a broken record...
Deleteperhaps you need to look at Pitt fb and bb records!!
Pitt BB "was" fine... but it blew up this year.
Right now, Dixon has to change his style of play as he is unable to land players regardless of being in the ACC!!
Pitt fB... can someone please tell me why Sterling Jenkins of Baldwin (2015) doesn't have an offer yet? He has 6 offers after rival camp in Montour. 6'8", 300#... no brainer to offer.
Jeter was interviewed on a local radio show tonight and asked about possibly attending Pitt. Interestingly, he said that Pitt had looked at him fairly early on but did not feel he was "tough enough" to play in the Big East. He did not sound as if he was disappointed they did not offer him a scholarship, but more like it was their loss, not his.
ReplyDeleteR U kidding me. Kids out of Beaver Falls are all tough.
Do you really believe Pitt actually told him he was not "tough enough" for the Big East? Maybe they told him they didn't think he was physically ready for the conference as a true freshman. It would be the height of stupidity to tell a kid who you are not going to get, who you might play down the road, who talks to other recruits, etc. that he isn't tough enough. I don't see them coming right out and insulting him like that. Nothing to be gained from it. Of course, if he felt slighted that they stopped pursuing him, maybe he is carrying a grudge. I can't blame him for that part.
DeleteGetting "Slice" is just a start. To compete in the ACC, Pitt will need to change their product on the court too. The top talent never comes from 1/2 court philosophies. Look at Louisville and Kentucky. They recruit players that can and do play at a high tempo on both sides of the ball.
ReplyDeletePitt plods along. This is one of the reasons for lack of success in the tournament. Pitt cannot go to the next level at tournament time because they play with full energy just in the 1/2 court ality sets. Full court pressure with physicality will be the key to success. That and having some scholarship players. The players need to have fun!
Well said, Joe E. Your are the 53rd person to recognize and say this in the past 6 weeks alone, but you are spot on - as was everyone else.
DeleteMusic to Joe D's ears.
ReplyDeleteJester Weah owns the fastest times in Wisconsin in the 100m and 200m this year. 10.67 and 22.08.
10.67 is flying for a hs kid.
Had Weah run track as a junior with those numbers... he would have been a highly sought-after WR and doubtful he would have selected Pitt. Pitt was his best offer.
DeleteForecast: Weah will have more catches in 2014 season than all the Clairton kids put together.
Everybody knew Weah was that fast. He wasn't recruited more because he is stiff.
DeleteMusic to Joe D's ears. Jester Weah owns the fastest 100m and 200m times in the state of Wisconsin this year.
ReplyDelete10.67
22.08
10.67 is flying for a hs kid.
Dokish - please explain Dixon's recruiting philosophy for the rest if this year. Roster is thin, good recruits are gone.
ReplyDeleteI was told that Pitt's four targets are DeAndre Kane, Joseph Uchebo, Sheldon Jeter, and Nkosi Ali. The first three would be very good additions.
DeleteDixon rejected Kane and Jeter when they were in HS, now he wants them??
DeleteDixon missed out on how many recruits... I lost count in the last month.
Jeter nor Kane fit in Dixon style... will Dixon change? He has to because he has no takers as far as recruits.
In a Trib article, Roherson said...
“Quite frankly and quite honestly, it's always been my feelings that the players in your program are the best recruiters,” Rohrssen said. “They're what you'd call the ‘living proof' of what's going on.
If that is the case, perhaps that is why Pitt can't land players and many players are leaving.
Pitt wanted Kane but he couldn't get in. Jeter was considered too soft for the Big East. And he's still a question mark. Pitt fans are acting like he's Alex English for goodness sakes.
DeleteAlex English reference. That's awesome.
DeletePersonally, I'd have gone George Gervin!
DeleteCould Kane get in this time?
DeleteYes
DeleteDoke
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else I was excited when roherson came back and them i started thinking about it and wondering why I got excited in the first place. He brought some good kids to Pitt but nonem were McDonald's all Americans and I think Chris Taft was his only recruit to get a sip o coffee in the NBA...
I was also hoping that Dixon would change his style but it probably means more of the same since it was the bump and grind tyle they ran when Barry was here before and they never made it past the sweet sixteen with this style.
Basically I think it means more of the same as it was the first time around (granted that is better than what it's been in the last four years)
Maybe he would have been better off hiring a young blood recruiter who could brin a different style of playerr to Pitt.
Please tell me I should be more optimistic with this coaching change...
The problem isn't Rohrssen. He was wanted by many big time programs in the last two years. It's Dixon who gives the orders. It's the job of the assistants to land them.
DeleteWill Dixon change? A smart coach would easily see all of the warning signs of imminent collapse and take it to heart. He would say that the times are changing and he needs to adapt or become a statistic.
DeleteA stubborn coach would say it is not my system that is the problem, but that the players are not operating it properly. The stubborn coach will also tell himself that the assistant coaches talked him into taking kids that weren't tough enough and didn't buy into his proven, defense-first philosophy. That stubborn coach will adopt a bunker mentality and not change a thing.
Jamie is truly at a crossroads.
Chris - please let us know what you know about whether JJ Moore, Can Wright and Durand Johnson will be a part of this program moving forward.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Moore will be back. The other two I have not heard are leaving.
DeleteI envision Moore landing at the new "Louisville of the Northeast" - Fordham. He'll play out his final college days in front of crowds totaling well into the high 3 digits.
DeleteChris -
ReplyDeleteWhat are realistic expectations for Rohrssen moving forward? Is there enough time for him to have any sort of impact on this year's class? What should Pitt fans expect moving forward? Will his coaching abilities be evident in their play next year?
I don't know if he will be able to do much this year, but it will be very evident in recruiting and on the bench very quickly. Dixon missed a strong right hand man ever since Herrion left. His coaching has suffered without that guy, and Rohrssen will give that to him.
DeleteOne thing we know for certain now is why Dixon suddenly seemed so excited about the USC offer and was said to be considering leaving Pitt. He had to know bad things were brewing for his program, so he ensured that he would be handsomely paid no matter what happened. He played Pedie for a fool.
DeleteDoke
ReplyDeletewhat I am going to be interested in observing at the games next season is if dixon has a huddle with the coaches for a moment during each time out before he steps back and talks to the players.
The coaches used to do that when Howland was here and early in the dixon tenure, but i have not seen them do it much in the pasts few years.
that seemed to show me that dixon was runnng the show himself while evceryone else stood around during the timeouts with their hands in their pockets looking at the crowd...
I haven't read anywhere that Sheldon Jeter is looking to transfer. He is NOT on Goodman's transfer list. Not on Vandy site. Did someone start a rumor hoping to get Jeter to transfer?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/22007798/transfer-list-first-edition
Uchebo reportedly signed with Pitt. Well, he'll certainly get all the playing time right away that he wants.
ReplyDelete