TCU basketball coach Jamie Dixon hiring top recruiters for staff

New basketball coach Jamie Dixon has made sure his new assistant coaches are top recruiters.

David Patrick and Ryan Miller, hired in April, come to TCU with reptuations as strong recruiters. Patrick is credited with bringing national freshman of the year Ben Simmons to LSU last year, and Miller helped UNLV land the No. 5 rated class in 2014, which included Rashad Vaughn, and the No. 11 class last year with potential first-round pick Stephen Zimmerman.

Now Dixon has given the new coaches a job to sell TCU as a school making its biggest commitment yet to basketball.

“I think the success of football and the other sports, I think that resonates,” he said in an interview with the Star-Telegram last week. “I think there’s an understanding of what TCU can become and the advantages it now has.”

A third assistant is expected to be hired.

Jim Hicks of the Houston-area recruiting web site RcsSports.com tweeted Monday that Louisiana Tech assistant Corey Barker is headed to TCU.

Dixon said he knows the reputations of the coaches he has hired.

“Everyone will point to the recruiting, and certainly that’s probably the most important, but there are so many things that go into it — scouting, development, on the floor, off the floor, working in the university, with the administration, interacting with the players, all those things,” he said. “I just felt they brought something to the table as far as region and history, work ethic. And really, the chemistry of the unit, the coaching staff, is key. That’s a team, too, the coaching staff.”

Like Dixon, Patrick is a former overseas player, having played in Australia and England professionally and for the Australia Junior National Team. He was born in Bermuda and raised in Melbourne.

Miller has coached under John Calipari at Memphis, Steve Alford at New Mexico and Tony Barbee at Auburn.

For Dixon, it was important to think about recruiting reach outside of Texas as much as in Texas.

“The game’s international. It’s throughout the country. It’s prep schools, junior colleges, there’s just so many different components to it to just limit yourself to one thing or one area,” he said. “You’ve got to give yourself options.”

Patrick and Miller have been part of winning programs. LSU averaged 20 wins in Patrick’s four seasons, and Saint Mary’s averaged 25 wins in three seasons with Patrick on staff behind two of his signees, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova.

Miller has been part of more than 250 wins as an assistant at UNLV, Auburn, New Mexico, Pepperdine and Memphis. In his three seaons at Memphis under Calipari, the Tigers were 78-28.

TCU has had only three winning seasons since 2002. But he said TCU has some name recognition on the recruiting trail, from what Patrick and Miller have told him.

“They’ve just got to believe it’s going to happen,” Dixon said. “The players have got to believe it can happen for them and they can be a part of that. And have the belief and the strength to do that.”

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 2:30 PM with the headline "TCU basketball coach Jamie Dixon hiring top recruiters for staff."