Pittsburgh will promote associate head coach Jamie Dixon to replace Ben Howland, sources told ESPN.com Monday night. A news conference is scheduled for Tuesday.

After Howland left the program two weeks ago to replace Steve Lavin at UCLA, Pittsburgh players petitioned the president of the school to hire Dixon as head coach.

The possibility of a Dixon promotion was facilitated by Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser, a Pittsburgh native, turning down the Panthers on Friday. Prosser, who was interviewed by interim athletic director Marc Boehm and chancellor Mark Nordenberg at the Final Four in New Orleans, signed a 10-year contract to remain at Wake.

Dixon was the only other coach interviewed by Pittsburgh. This will be his first head coaching job; he interviewed at Wright State and Illinois State but was not chosen for either position.

Dixon was instrumental in Pittsburgh's success in 2002-03. He came to Pittsburgh with Howland from Northern Arizona, was Howland's lead recruiter for the Panthers and his top assistant. Pittsburgh was 89-40 under Howland despite going 13-15 in its first season, and won 57 games during the last two seasons.

Howland, who left for UCLA without telling his players, endorsed Dixon but kept a position open for him at UCLA had Pittsburgh not promoted him. A number of Big East coaches told ESPN.com they believed Dixon deserved to succeed Howland.

Dixon will retain assistant Barry Rohrssen, who decided to stay put rather than joining Howland at UCLA. Assistant coach Ernie Ziegler has decided to join Howland's staff as Howland's first hire. Two more full-time assistant slots will be filled.

The Panthers lose Brandin Knight, Ontario Lett and Donatas Zavackas but return a strong nucleus of Julius Page, Chevy Troutman, Jaron Brown and Carl Krauser. The Panthers have a strong incoming recruiting class, led by Chris Taft and Aaron Gray. Both players are expected to honor their commitments to Pittsburgh.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.