The Long History Between Bob Huggins and Jamie Dixon

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Few college coaches are more familiar with one another than West Virginia’s Bob Huggins and TCU’s Jamie Dixon.

The two have coached head-to-head 18 times since Huggins became WVU’s head coach ahead of the 2007-08 season. At the time, Dixon was the head coach of the Pitt Panthers, West Virginia’s biggest rival.

With both teams in the Big East at the time, Huggins and Dixon had plenty of opportunities to become acquainted with one another. Pitt and WVU played 11 Backyard Brawls as Big East foes with Huggins and Dixon leading the programs. It was that shared time in the Big East that Huggins credits to their relationship now.

“I think we have a good relationship, being in the Big East together and playing as many times as we played and recruiting, really, the same kids,” Huggins said. “I respect him as a coach, I think he does a really good job. What he’s done at TCU, a lot of people couldn’t do, obviously because they kept firing guys.”

In those 11 Big East games, Dixon held the head-to-head advantage 7-4. After the Big East re-aligned Pitt and WVU did not play one another again until after Dixon left in 2016. But he left to coach his alma mater at TCU and suddenly, he and Huggins were scheduled to again meet twice a year in conference play.

21 Feb 2004: Head coach Jamie Dixon of the Pittsburgh Panthers during the Panthers 67-58 victory over the West Virginia Moutaineers in Morgantown, WV. Jason Cohn/Icon SMI

While Dixon has the better record in the Big East games, Huggins has owned the Big 12 matchup against Dixon. In the seven games WVU and TCU have played since Dixon took over, Huggins has a 5-2 advantage, including Tuesday night’s 81-49 victory. This has evened the pair’s all-time record at nine wins apiece.

After the game, Dixon said he enjoys coaching against Huggins and is looking forward to their future meetings.

“We’re good friends, go way back. Although I liked him better last year after we beat them by this amount,” Dixon joked. “I have great respect for him and we look forward to continuing to play.”

The Mountaineers and Horned Frogs will play at least one more time this season, in Fort Worth on Feb. 22 and as things sit now the two could continue to meet for years to come.