James Patrick Dixon II (born November 10, 1965) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach who is the head coach of the TCU Horned Frogs men's team, where he played college ball. He previously served as the head coach of the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

men's basketball team from 2003 through 2016. In 2009, he was the head coach for the FIBA Under-19 2009 gold-medal winning

United States national basketball team The USA Basketball Men's National Team, commonly known as the United States men's national basketball team, is the basketball team representing the United States. They are the most successful team in international competition, winning medals in ...

for which he was named the 2009

USA Basketball USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States Olymp ...

National Coach of the Year. Dixon was named Big East Coach of the Year in 2004,

Naismith College Coach of the Year Naismith College Coach of the Year Award is an award given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to one men's and one women's NCAA Division I collegiate coach each season since 1987. The award was originally given to the two winning coaches of the NCAA Divi ...

in 2009, Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year in 2010, and the ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' National Coach of the Year award in 2011. Dixon played

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Discipl ...

, was selected by the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

in the

1987 NBA draft The 1987 NBA draft was held on June 22, 1987, in New York City. This draft included two future members of the NBA 50 Greatest Players list, David Robinson and Scottie Pippen, as well as fellow Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, who was named to t ...

, and played professionally with the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball mi ...

's Lacrosse Catbirds and for

Hawke's Bay Hawks The Hawke's Bay Hawks are a New Zealand basketball team based in Napier. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Pettigrew Green Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Taylor Hawk ...

of the New Zealand National Basketball League.

Early life

Dixon was born in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, who ...

, to Marge and Jim Dixon. His father was an actor, screenwriter and producer. Dixon played basketball at Notre Dame High in

Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California located in the San Fernando Valley, founded in 1927. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density tha ...

. As a freshman

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by ...

, he was only and was among the smallest in his class, but he grew and graduated as the tallest. Dixon wanted to play college basketball at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

, but the

UCSB Gauchos The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the intercollegiate athletic teams who represent the University of California, Santa Barbara. Referred to in athletic competition as ''UC Santa Barbara'' or ''UCSB'', the Gauchos participate in 19 NCAA Division I ...

' top recruiter, assistant coach Ben Howland, decided not to sign him. He landed at

(TCU) instead.

College career

With the

TCU Horned Frogs The TCU Horned Frogs are the athletic teams that represent Texas Christian University. The 18 varsity teams participate in NCAA Division I and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football, competing mostly in the Big 12 Conference. The sc ...

, Dixon led the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

in assists as a senior, when he earned all-conference honors and led the team to the 1987 NCAA tournament.

Playing career

Dixon was selected in the seventh round of the

by the Washington Bullets (known now as the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

). He was cut early by the team. He considered using his finance degree for a job earning $20,000 annually, but instead played with the

La Crosse Catbirds The La Crosse Catbirds was an American basketball team based in La Crosse, Wisconsin and member of the Continental Basketball Association. The Catbirds were the 1990 and 1992 CBA champions. The team moved to La Crosse from Louisville in 1985, an ...

in the

for $400 per week. In 1989, he moved to New Zealand and played for the

in the National Basketball League. He played two seasons, earning All-Star Five honors in 1989 and 1990. His career ended in 1990 after he was injured playing in the Netherlands. He was accidentally kneed in the midsection while diving for a loose ball, and suffered a ruptured

pancreas The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e. it has both an ...

, a rare basketball injury. He spent 90 days in the hospital, unable to eat for weeks, and saw his weight drop by a quarter from to .

Coaching career

Dixon began his coaching career in 1989 as the head coach at

Te Aute College Te Aute College (Māori: Te Kura o Te Aute) is a school in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand. It opened in 1854 with twelve pupils under Samuel Williams, an Anglican missionary, and nephew and son-in-law of Bishop William Williams. It has a ...

, a

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in New Zealand, before serving as an assistant at

Los Angeles Valley College Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC) is a public community college in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Los Angeles Community College District. The college is adjacent to Grant High School in the neighborhood of Valley Glen. Often call ...

from 1989–1991. After his playing career ended, he got a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respo ...

position at UCSB with the help of Howland, and later became an assistant coach at the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. Dixon then served as an assistant at

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1899 as the final public university established in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona was admitted as the 48th state. ...

under Howland, who had become a head coach. After a brief stint as an assistant at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

under

Riley Wallace Robert Riley Wallace (born October 25, 1941) is an American retired basketball coach. He spent most of his career coaching college basketball, and was the head coach of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors men's team from 1987 through 2007. Early life an ...

, Dixon was reunited with Howland at Pitt in 1999. He was promoted as Pittsburgh's head coach when Howland left for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

following the 2002–03 season.

Pittsburgh

In 13 years at Pitt, Dixon had a record of 328–123. He won 188 games in his first seven seasons, tying the NCAA Division I record for most wins in the first seven seasons of a head coaching career. Previously, Dixon's 162nd win, which came in the

2009 NCAA tournament The 2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament in which 65 schools competed to determine the national champion of the men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2008–09 basketball ...

over

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, ...

, broke the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

record for most victories in the first six seasons as a head coach formerly held by former

North Carolina State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The unive ...

coach

Everett Case Everett Norris Case (June 21, 1900 – April 30, 1966), nicknamed the "Old Gray Fox", was a basketball coach most notable for his tenure at North Carolina State University, from 1946 to 1964. Early life and career Born in Anderson, Indiana, Case ...

. He was awarded the

honors following the 2008–09 season. JamieDixonBE

Dixon won Big East Coach of the Year honors in 2004 for leading Pitt to a school-record 31 wins and the Big East regular season championship. He took Pitt to the final game of the

Big East men's basketball tournament The Big East men's basketball tournament is the championship tournament of the Big East Conference in men's basketball. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. As part of the 2013 d ...

in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008, winning the 2008 Big East tournament Championship against No.1 seed Georgetown. He is Pitt's first and only head coach to guide the Panthers to seven consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and seven consecutive seasons of at least 20 overall wins and 10 league wins. In the NCAA tournament, Dixon led Pitt to the Sweet Sixteen in 2004 and 2007 and to the Elite Eight in 2009, a year that saw his Panthers earn their first-ever No.1 rankings in the

AP poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and br ...

and

Coaches' Poll The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officiall ...

, their first-ever victories over a No.1 ranked team (UConn, twice), and their first ever No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament (East Region). His success at Pitt continued through the 2010 season, perhaps his best coaching performance to date. The Panthers tied for second place in the Big East and earned a No.2 seed in the Big East tournament, despite being picked to finish 9th in the conference preseason poll. Dixon guided Pitt to yet another NCAA Tournament appearance, their seventh in his first seven years as head coach, and was awarded both the Big East Coach of the Year and Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Awards by CollegeInsider.com. He is the first and only head coach in Pitt's history to lead his team to seven consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. At the end of the 2010 season, Dixon is the winningest coach in Big East history with a current .721 winning percentage in eight seasons of league games (98–38). He also stands second on Pitt's all-time wins list, behind only the legendary

Doc Carlson Henry Clifford "Doc" Carlson (July 4, 1894 – November 1, 1964) was an American basketball coach and football player. He is a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee as the men's college basketball coach of his alma mater, the University of Pi ...

. On March 31, 2010, Pitt extended Dixon's contract by two years, through the 2017–18 season. On April 2, 2010, Dixon was named the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com. On October 23, 2010, Dixon received national attention when he assisted in removing victims from a severe car accident in a Pittsburgh suburb. On December 22, 2010, Dixon won his 200th game with a 61–46 win over

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. With the victory, Dixon tied the all-time NCAA Division I record held by

Mark Few Mark Norman Few (born December 27, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Gonzaga University since 1999. He has served on Gonzaga's coaching staff since 1989, and has been a constant on the sidelines through ...

and Roy Williams for the fastest coach to earn 200 wins by achieving the mark in only eight seasons. The achievement of winning his first 200 out of 255 games also ranked Dixon among the all-time top-15 for the quickest coaches to achieve 200 victories in regards to total number of games played. On March 2, 2011, Dixon won his 214th game with a 66–50 win over

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of ...

. With the victory, Dixon broke the all-time NCAA record for the most wins in a coach's first eight seasons. Following the regular season, the Panthers received a Number 1 seed in the Southeast Region of the NCAA tournament, where the Panthers defeated 16th seed UNC Asheville. They were upset in the third round by

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...

. Dixon was named the 2010–11 ''Sporting News'' National Coach of the Year. Jamie Dixon with assistants 2014

Outside of basketball, Dixon has been credited with a peripheral role in the Big East's decision to invite TCU to become the conference's 17th member. Specifically, he suggested to TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte that the school pursue Big East membership during a conversation at the 2010 TCU– Baylor football game. TCU would end up going to the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

instead. On March 23, 2013, Pitt would again extend Dixon's contract through the 2022–23 season. The University of Pittsburgh moved to the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...

following the 2012–13 season with Dixon finishing atop the all-time list of head coaches for best conference winning percentage (.658, combined conference regular season and conference tournament games) in

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

history.

TCU

On March 21, 2016, Dixon accepted the head coaching position at his alma mater. In his first season in Fort Worth, he led the Horned Frogs to their best Big 12 conference record (6–12) since joining the league in 2012–13, their first-ever program win over a #1-ranked team, their first Big 12 Tournament semifinal game, and the NIT championship. In 2017–18, the school reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years. The following season, Dixon coached them to their third straight 20-win season.

Notable players coached

Steven Adams Steven Funaki Adams (born 20 July 1993) is a New Zealand professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After playing one season with his hometown team, the Wellington Saints, in 2011, Ad ...

(12th overall pick of 2013 NBA draft) * Sam Young (36th overall pick of

2009 NBA draft The 2009 NBA draft was held on June 25, 2009, at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, the National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other e ...

) *

DeJuan Blair DeJuan Lamont Blair (born April 22, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Pittsburgh Panthers from 2007 to 2009. Blair entered the 2009 NBA draft where he was selected as the 37th overall ...

(37th overall pick of 2009 NBA Draft) * Aaron Gray (49th overall pick of 2007 NBA draft) *

Chris Taft Chris Taft (born March 10, 1985) is an American basketball player. NCAA career Chris Taft was born in Brooklyn, New York, and began his college career at the University of Pittsburgh after graduating from Xaverian High School in Brooklyn. Taft ...

(42nd overall pick of

2005 NBA draft The 2005 NBA draft took place on June 28, 2005, in the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, NBA teams took turns selecting amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, such as players fr ...

) * Brandin Knight (Assistant coach under Dixon) *

Lamar Patterson Lamar Patterson (born August 12, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the South West Metro Pirates of the NBL1 North. He played college basketball for the Pittsburgh Panthers. College career Patterson, a 6'5" swingman from Lan ...

(48th overall pick of

2014 NBA draft The 2014 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2014, at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international player ...

) * Kenrich Williams (Player for the Oklahoma City Thunder) *

Brad Wanamaker Bradley Daniel Wanamaker (born July 25, 1989) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball at the University of Pittsburgh. Wan ...

(Player for the Indiana Pacers) *

Desmond Bane Desmond Michael Bane (born June 25, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the TCU Horned Frogs. Early life After he was born, ...

(30th overall pick of

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

) * R.J. Nembhard (Player for the Cleveland Cavaliers)

United States

Dixon became the head coach of the United States under-19 men's national basketball team in 2009. That summer, he led the United States to its first

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

in 18 years in the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

Under-19 World Championship held in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, New Zealand. For this accomplishment, Dixon was later named USA Basketball Coach of the Year.

Acting

Dixon is a member of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to me ...

. He starred in various commercials as a child and into his early twenties, including ads for

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

Rice Krispies Rice Krispies (known as Rice Bubbles in Australia and New Zealand) is a breakfast cereal, marketed by Kellogg's in 1927 and released to the public in 1928. Rice Krispies are made of crisped rice (rice and sugar paste that is formed into rice ...

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in mor ...

and

Bud Light Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in oth ...

Head coaching record

Personal life

Jamie Dixon and family accepting a check

Dixon has 2 sisters: Julie and Maggie. Maggie died from heart conditions in 2006 at the age of 28. She was the coach for

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

at the time of her death. The basketball tournament

Maggie Dixon Classic The Maggie Dixon Classic is an annual early season women's college basketball tournament that was first played in 2006. The classic is played in honor of Maggie Dixon who in April 2006, just after leading the Army women's basketball team to ...

is played in her honor. Dixon is married to his wife Jacqueline, and they have a son, Jack, and a daughter, Shannon.

References

General

Citations

External links

TCU profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Jamie 1965 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in New Zealand American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from California College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball coaches Hawke's Bay Hawks players La Crosse Catbirds players Male actors from Burbank, California Northern Arizona Lumberjacks men's basketball coaches Notre Dame High School (Sherman Oaks, California) alumni Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball coaches Point guards Sportspeople from Burbank, California TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball coaches TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball players UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's basketball coaches Washington Bullets draft picks