5 candidates to replace Steve Alford at UCLA

1. Jamie Dixon

Dixon is now into his third season at TCU, where he has quickly revived the program at his alma mater (56-28 overall record; 11-1 so far this year, 20-plus wins in each of his first two seasons). He’s got a long track record of success, with a 384-151 record and 12 NCAA Tournament appearances in the last 15 full seasons dating back to his first season at Pitt in 2003-04.

Dixon is from the Los Angeles area (born in North Hollywood). He has no previous ties to UCLA, but there’s a degree of separation there as he worked as an assistant under Ben Howland at Pitt from 1999-2003. Howland took the job at UCLA after that, leading the Bruins to three straight Final Fours (2006, 2007, 2008), and Dixon began his long run as head coach at Pitt then.

TCU surely carries a level of importance to Dixon. While the school does not release salary data for its coaches, it’s believed he’s making around $3.2 million a year to coach in Fort Worth and live quite comfortably with no state income tax somewhere in the Metroplex.

UCLA will obviously have to offer a raise to get Dixon to make the move back home, to $4 million a year by the estimation of most. It’s worth wondering if that would even be enough, as Dixon may want to keep building the thing at TCU and the actual financial difference would become negligible quite quickly. But the worst Dixon can do is turn them down, and UCLA has to find out if he’s interested as part of a full search to replace Alford.

Other Candidates: Gregg Marshall (Wichita State), Chris Beard (Texas Tech)