Is Jamie Dixon really the best UCLA basketball can do?

AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 09: Head coach Jamie Dixon of the TCU Horned Frogs reacts as his team plays the Texas Longhorns at The Frank Erwin Center on March 09, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 09: Head coach Jamie Dixon of the TCU Horned Frogs reacts as his team plays the Texas Longhorns at The Frank Erwin Center on March 09, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /
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Reports are surfacing that TCU’s Jamie Dixon may be the next head coach at UCLA, and it’s fair to wonder how far the Bruins’ job has fallen in the college basketball pantheon.

After firing Steve Alford in the middle of the season, UCLA began to go big-game hunting for their next head coach. The Bruins made a run at John Calipari, but he is staying put after Kentucky gave him a “lifetime” contract to stay in Lexington.

It appears that the Bruins’ search for a new head coach is over with various reports indicating that they are closing in on TCU’s Jamie Dixon to succeed Alford. There is nothing official yet and UCLA would still need to negotiate a buyout of Dixon’s contract with TCU.

Dixon is certainly a fine head coach, having gone 396-164 in his career between Pittsburgh and TCU, taking those teams to the NCAA Tournament 12 times. The job that Dixon has done at TCU is particularly impressive since the Horned Frogs aren’t known for their basketball ability, and in spite of that Dixon has gone 68-41 with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament and two trips to the NIT out of the rugged Big 12.

Despite the fact that Dixon is an excellent coach, this hire still might not go over well with the UCLA faithful. The Bruins are still considered one of the country’s true blueblood programs, and despite all of Dixon’s success in the regular season, he hasn’t been a great tournament coach, getting to the second weekend only three times and never reaching a Final Four despite coaching some very talented teams at Pitt.

UCLA also should be a very attractive job since the program has a ton of prestige, a winnable conference in the Pac-12, and a tremendous market to help recruit players. Dixon feels like a bit of a settle for the Bruins, especially when they were looking at the likes of Calipari at the beginning of the search.

If you compare resumes, a Dixon hire feels like a slightly upgraded version of the Alford hire, with Alford building good programs at Iowa and New Mexico before taking over at UCLA. There were even rumors that UCLA would take a run at Virginia’s Tony Bennett, and he seems like a candidate with far more upside than Dixon based on the job he has done turning Virginia into an ACC powerhouse.

After talk of Calipari and Bennett, walking into Pauley Pavilion to introduce Dixon feels like the equivalent of shopping for an Audi or Lexus before setting for a Jeep. The Jeep will get the job done, but it feels underwhelming when you had the ability to go for a higher quality purchase.

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