Ken Davis

Raise your hand if you were one of those who counted out the Pittsburgh Panthers back in January. Raise your hand if you thought there was no way Pitt could win four games in four days and finish off the Big East Conference tournament with a convincing victory over Georgetown for the trophy.

And raise your hand if you owe the Panthers — and coach Jamie Dixon — an apology. Here’s betting you’ll never count Dixon out again.

Dixon, 42, doesn’t look like such a tough guy. The Pittsburgh coach still possesses some of the boyish good looks that helped him launch a brief career in television commercials as a child actor. Growing up in North Hollywood, Calif., with a father who worked in the entertainment industry, Dixon landed ad jobs with Volvo, Mattel, Rice Krispies and Kentucky Fried Chicken. If basketball hadn’t led him down another path, Dixon might have made a successful living as an actor.

But hiding behind the smile, was the heart of a fierce competitor. If Dixon were a self-promoter, someone who sought the spotlight for his own benefit, he might have achieved star status in the coaching fraternity long before now. Instead he’s probably the most underrated leader in this year’s NCAA Tournament field, a product of toughness, resiliency and hard work who may be on the verge of much bigger things.

Before the Panthers defeated Oral Roberts 82-63 Thursday, Dixon was asked to define toughness. He said the things Pittsburgh accomplished last week in the Big East tournament were nothing compared to challenges his team faced throughout the season.

Boy, is that true.

Senior forward Mike Cook tore his left anterior cruciate ligament Dec. 20 against Duke and was lost for the season. One game later, point guard Levance Fields, Pitt’s floor leader, broke his left foot. After season-ending injuries to center Austin Wallace and center Cassin Diggs, the skeptics said Pitt wouldn’t even qualify for the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Now Fields is back, Pitt is the No. 4 seed in the South, and the Panthers are one of the hottest teams in the nation. They look every bit as dangerous as that team that beat Duke that night in New York.

So this is what Dixon had to say about toughness:  “When you have kids that lose their season, especially a kid that's a senior, someone who has worked so hard, made such sacrifices, and they're friends with you . . . when you see that their season ends, that's tough. That's tough.

“When you have to gather yourselves together and gather your team and play for them, play for them for their losing out on their season that they worked so hard for, that's where you develop toughness. That's where you develop a determination to get through and not let them down.  I think that's what this group has had right now.”

Dixon said his players viewed the challenge as an opportunity, not a series of setbacks.

“We went through those and learned from them and became better for it,” Dixon said. “I think that's why we started playing our best basketball the last four conference games and now these last four [Big East] tournament games that we've played.”

Most people know about Dixon’s sister, Maggie, the former Army women’s coach who died suddenly and tragically from a heart condition in 2006. And they were impressed with the classy and touching way Jamie handled that heart breaking moment.

Special feature Recipes for an NCAA upset Just how do teams pull off NCAA Tournament surprises? Find out. NBCSports.com

But since he doesn’t talk much about himself, not many know about the life threatening incident he survived in 1990 while playing basketball in Holland. In a collision with another player, a knee to Dixon’s body sent him to the hospital for three months. He had suffered a ruptured pancreas, didn’t eat for 50 days and lost 50 pounds.

“Everybody faces adversity and different things,” Dixon once told me. “But that was something that gave me plenty of time to think.”

At that point in his life, Dixon decided to go into coaching. It’s obvious his own personal dealings with adversity gave him the tools to teach his players about life and never giving up. Isn’t that what teaching is all about? Isn’t that the very essence of coaching?

Dixon may not be able to match overrated coaches such as John Calipari of Memphis or Bob Huggins of West Virginia when it comes to the number of NCAA tournament victories or Final Four appearances. He may not be as outgoing or flashy when giving interviews to the national media.

But Dixon isn’t doing this for himself. He’s at Pitt to teach his players the lessons that will help them through today, tomorrow and beyond. If winning a few games goes along with it, that’s all the better.

In an age when huge egos and breaking the rules have overtaken the coaching profession, Dixon offers a refreshing change of pace. It’s a good story at a time when good stories are hard to find. And that’s why so many people are pulling for him.

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