Memories of Pitt basketball

By Bob Smizik | Posted at 6:50 a.m. 

I like to tell people I’ve known every Pitt basketball coach for the past 87 years. I can make this statement because as a student a Pitt in the 1960s, it was my pleasure and good fortune to know Dr. H.C. Carlson, who was head of student health service. He also was the school’s legendary basketball coach from 1923-53, and that after earning All-American status as an end in football while playing at Pitt.

Doc Carlson, a medical doctor, was as delightful a man as you’d ever meet, and that old cliché is true about him: He actually had a twinkle in his eye. He spoke his mind on every subject and seemed to thrive in his old age in connecting with the young student body.

I’m thinking of Doc today as fourth-ranked Pitt gets ready to play No. 1 Connecticut tomorrow because I can’t even imagine what he would make of basketball in the 21^st century.

All but two of Doc’s teams played in what was known as the Pitt Pavilion, a dank cellar beneath Pitt Stadium. To put the Pitt Pavilion in perspective, in terms of architectural excellence it was to Fitzgerald Field House what Fitzgerald is to the Petersen Events Center.

When I was a student, Bob Timmons was the basketball coach. The elevation of Timmons to basketball coach tells precisely what kind of commitment Pitt had for basketball in the 1950s and 60s. Timmons previous job has been as an assistant football coach. In the 1952, the head coaching job became vacant and he was a candidate. When he didn‘t get the football job, as a consolation Pitt made him the basketball coach when Doc Carlson retired.

Timmons coached for 15 seasons and took Pitt to three NCAA tournaments. He coached one of the greatest, if not the greatest player in Pitt history in Don Hennon. But the sport never caught on with the city or even the students. Hard to believe but the Pitt games were not even on the radio in that era. Duquesne was the top college team in Pittsburgh. There were years when the crowd total at most Pitt games could be measured by three figures and times when Rex Peery’s nationally ranked wrestling teams outdrew basketball.

Timmons successor in 1968 was Buzz Ridl, a grand gentleman in the mold of Doc Carlson and also a brilliant modern-day basketball strategist. He had an inkling of what might be ahead and we got a whiff of that with the great Pitt team of 1973-74 -- led by Billy Knight -- which reached the round of eight of the NCAA tournament.Ridl’s assistant and successor, Tim Grgurch, saw the future brightly but couldn‘t bring it off. What I wrote about Grgurich the night in 2002 when they closed down Fitzgerald Field House remains true today:

``There was nobody -- absolutely nobody -- who loved Pitt basketball more or who worked harder to make it better than Tim Grgurich. He pushed hard to bring Pitt’s commitment into the 20th century. When it never came, he reluctantly left his alma mater. He’s the highest-paid assistant in the NBA today, where his love and knowledge of the game and loyalty are treasured.’’

I don’t know if Tim has ever been to the Petersen Event Center. He’s kept a distance for a lot of years. He should show up some day because he helped build it.

The man who truly brought Pitt into the modern-era of college basketball was Roy Chipman, who took over for Grgurich in 1980. Chipman came from Lafayette and was born and raised in Maine. But he was no small-town guy. He knew his way around.

I tangled with him as a reporter when both Pittsburgh papers, the Press and Post-Gazette, worked furiously to pin a recruiting violation on Pitt. He grew angry about what he thought was overkill -- and maybe it was -- and kept his distance for a time. But he enjoyed life too much to continue with that. He was a pleasure to cover. He loved winning and he loved a good time almost as much.

Here’s all that needs to be said about what Chipman did at Pitt: He recruited Curtis Aiken, Charles Smith, Demetreus Gore, Jerome Lane and Brian Shorter. He took Pitt into the basketball big time.He was the coach when Pitt joined the Big East, and what a memorable first year it was as the Panthers won home games against St. John’s, Syracuse and Georgetown.

With its recruiting vistas expanded and its membership in the Big East, Pitt was on the cusp of excellence when Chipman unexpectedly resigned. How proud Chipman, who died in 1997, would be to see what has happened to what he helped start.

Paul Evans, a raging success with David Robinson at Navy, replaced Chipman in 1986. Evans had much success, although most of it came with Chipman’s players. His teams won two regular-season Big East titles -- a far greater accomplishment than winning the post-season tournament -- and advanced to five NCAA tournaments.

But he and his staff got lazy. The stream of good players slowed to a trickle and Evans’ contract was allowed to expire in 1994.

His successor Ralph Willard came with superb credentials but Willard was not able to take Pitt out of its malaise in his six years.

Then came Ben Howland and Pitt has never been the same.

Howland came unheralded from Northern Arizona. His credentials paled next to those of Evans and Willard. But this was a man who knew what he wanted and knew how to get it. He played finesse ball at Northern Arizona but he quickly converted to a physical game at Pitt. He treasured athleticism, even at the expense of shooting skills. His teams sometimes won on brute force. He went from 13-15 to 19-14 to 29-6 to 28-5, with his final season being the first at the Petersen Events Center. He did such a good job that UCLA came calling and Howland, a California native, couldn‘t say no to the most legendary program in the country.

But he left something behind, his trusted assistant, Jamie Dixon.

Howland got Pitt to the big time, Dixon kept it there and proof of that is what will transpire tomorrow in Connecticut. No disrespect to Howland, a great coach, but Dixon has passed him by. We are no longer in the midst of the Howland-Dixon era. We’re in the Dixon era. Pitt isn’t just one of the best teams in the country, it's one of the best programs in the country. Howland did a masterful job of laying the foundation. Dixon has built a fortress.

Pitt and Connecticut is the top rivalry in the Big East, arguably the best conference in the country. Under Dixon, Pitt has surpassed Syracuse, Georgetown and St. John’s, the legendary Big East programs.

It will be a fantastic show tomorrow in Hartford and again March 7 when the teams play in Pittsburgh. There will be capacity crowds, national attention, network television and future NBA players on the floor for both teams.

Doc Carlson would be mystified, but I like to think he’d be pleased and excited for his team, for his alma mater.