While everyone scurries to throw any remotely decent coach into the 'Who's headed to Kentucky?' hopper, I'm scratching my head and wondering why Tubby Smith is going to be the next coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers.Anyone remember the last time Minnesota was good? How about decent? The Dan Monson experiment was an unmitigated disaster, and you have to go all the way back to 1997 and the days of Sam Jacobson, Quincy Lewis and Bobby Jackson to find relevancy in this program. That club lost to eventual National Champion Kentucky in the Final Four. Of course, the NCAA doesn't even recognize that team due to a massive cheating scandal.
With Steve Alford having left Iowa earlier in the day, and Tommy Amaker getting canned by Michigan recently, one has to wonder - why Minnesota?
It's easy to say Tubby was chasing the money (rumored to be $1.8 million) and probably was keen on the fact that Iowa and Michigan are football-first Big 10 powers. But for a guy who was, within the last few years, always rumored to be an NBA coaching option, Minnesota seems like a major step down from the other two options.
Iowa was bringing back Tyler Smith, one of the better freshman in the league. And it's a state that perennially produces some high-quality talent (Fred Hoiberg, Raef LaFrentz, Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison to name a few). Michigan needs no introduction. Although all the top talent graduated, it's not a difficult school to recruit to.
My Dad always says that decision making is a choice among alternatives. Give the options, I don't think Tubby Smith made the right decision.
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It appeared that the fire in Coach Smith's belly had diminshed considerably over the past two or three years. Maybe the pressure at UK dampened it some -- who knows? Maybe despite the pressure he had become "comfortable."
Expectations won't be so high for him at Minnesota, which has had hard times since the academic scandal of 10 or so years ago put the school on probation. Maybe the guy's ready for and needs a good-paying job that's not a pressure-cooker.
Also, he may be acquainted with Clem Haskins, the Kentuckian (who I believe is back in Kentucky) who was coaching Minnesota when it got into trouble. I think that I recall correctly it being reported in the Louisville Courier-Journal that Haskins liked Minnesota and found it a comfortable place for a black man with a black family to coach and live. Maybe he told Coach Smith that. (To my knowledge, Coach Smith found Lexington to be much the same -- but maybe Minneapolis-St. Paul is better.)
Tubby is a bit impulsive. Before Ohio State got O'Brien, they wanted Tubby and Tubby wanted to come, but he panicked waiting for confirmation and thought he wasn't going to get offered, so he called a press conference to announce he was staying at Georgia. Now of course that impulsivity worked out pretty well for him when Pitino left a few months later.
You are right that this may not be the best of the three, but it was the bird in the hand. I wish him well, but I think he has the toughest sell in the Big11, except for Northwestern.
Maybe it has something to do with.....
UM firing a couch after 4 years who took over the program in shambles and was actually making progress.
I think Tubby made a smart move. Why go from one program with unreasonable expectations to another?
I just wanted to say I think Tubby is a wonderful coach and I will miss him being part of the great Kentucky basketball program. Thanks for the memories and good luck.
I am a die hard UK fan. I think Tubby has been treated badly for the past couple of years. Almost makes me ashamed! My big wonder is, who in the world is Mitch gonna get to take his place that is even remotely as good as Tubby. No one with his resume wants the job. And after the way he was treated, who could blame anyone for not wanting to come to UK. I heard Travis Ford was thrown into the rumors. I think that would be a big mistake. I loved Travis as a player. And I am really happy that he is doing a good job at UMass, BUT, he still has not proved himself as a top 10 coach.
unless you are winning by 30 points or a sec or ncaa championship the troops are not happy .i am a ky fan myself but back in the days of rupp there wasn't the competition there is today . i think tubby is a premier coach and i wish him the best of luck .i feel sorry for the next coach .he has some big shoes to fill . .unless they bring rupp back and give him a basketball, then the troops might and i said might be happy
Tubby Smith is a great man and I will miss him. UK fans expect too much and that's bad. I'm sorry he is leaving. I hope to be able to follow him. He has been treated so unfairly. Good luck to the UK search team.
why wouldn't he come to minnesota?
the bar is set so low that he may trip on it.
just to finish in the top 5 in the conference may get him a parade and a statue.
basketball is 4th in our attention. behind viking football wild and gopher hockey and the twins.
One of funnest season's in UK history was 1992, the Unforgettables. Now, the elite programs (UK, UNC, Duke, IU, etc) feel like they have to have all americans and a final four appearance every year. Wondering which players and coaches leave early is the supposedly only unknown they want.
What fun Tubby will have. A great X and 0 coach with players that play for the love of the game. That's what he won his championship with in 98. The guys that could not turn pro. Nobody ever put in print "With UK's returning players, Smith should win a championship"
Why MN? You ask. He will have more fun and success.
"That's what he won his championship with in 98. The guys that could not turn pro. Nobody ever put in print "With UK's returning players, Smith should win a championship" "
Mohammad, Magloire, and Padget had long pro careers, Turner and Shephard got a look or two, and there were solid college players around them like cameron Mills.
The team that won in 98 was preseason top 10, lost but four games and was a #2 seed entering the tournement.
Few coaches have ever taken over a preseason top 10 team.
I appreciate Tubby's coaching efforts but it's a big, huge reach to classify the championship run as anything like a miracle and it's a disservice to the players to pretend they didn't have talent.
Tubby walked into one of the better situations in history for a new coach at any program and took full advantage but he didn't split the Red Sea or dublicate Valvano and NC State.
The guy is a fine coach but he can be lauded or defended without insulting or devaluing the history of the game or the abilities of the players he coached.
tubby is smart he knew morris was going pro,and he recruited two stiffs for next year.going to minn.where you win ten games per season you are a success.
Tubby Smith can coach basketball, period! The people in Kentucky are flat crazy for wanting this man to leave. Tubby, take your money and enjoy life.
Having been a lifelong UK fan, I am so sick of hearing about the unreasonable expectations at UK. We don't have unreasonable expectations. Didn't North Carolina fire Matt Daugherty? Why wasn't anyone claiming unreasonable expectations? With the money that is available to the UK basketball program, it is entirely reasonable to expect better teams than 10-12 losses each year. UK fans do not expect to win the NCAA championship every year, but they do expect to compete for it. It is a fact that the program was in decline with Tubby at the helm. He is a fine person, and if I had a college-age son playing basketball, I would want him to play for Tubby. But Tubby's teams -- with players he recruits -- will never be more than first or second round NCAA teams. If Minnesota will be happy with that, then they have their perfect coach. SEC and ACC schools usually aren't happy with that, and it is NOT just UK. Saying that UK fans have unreasonable expectations is worn out and simply not true.
Good ridence Were still ky, Now maybe we will get a coach that can recruit star players. no big name recruits want to go to a school that holds them back .Tubby game is defense and half court offense boring to watch boring to play . Bring back the run and gun live by the 3 die by the 3 offense. tuck fubby
Tubby's last two years at UK were sad to watch. He was just hanging on till he could collect his bonus. He takes McDonalds Allamericans and makes role players out of them. Sure, the team had some serious injuries, but all teams do. The teams that beat UK this year all shoot the 3. Usually UK was lucky to get one 3 point basket by half time and went into the locker room down 14 points. Then we would use all our energy to catch up only to fall way behind. Game after game UK came out cold to start the game. To happen this often is the coaching. Game after game UK was out coached with no defense to stop the opposing teams 3 point shooters. Oh, did I forget we can't shoot free throws either? Oh, did I forget to mention all those turnovers? With our record we were lucky to get picked to go to the NCAA. I hope Tubby ball works better at Minnesota?
The original poster stated one had to go back to 1997 regarding Golden Gopher basketball "to find relevancy in this program". You mean a college hoops program is "relevant" because it is in the national limelight, even though it had (in 1997) massive ethical problems? Winning at all costs is relevant? And don't forget that Clem Haskins was brought into that program 10 years before that ('86-87) to clean up earlier, massive ethical problems at Minnesota, only to make similar (perhaps worse) mistakes. Relevant? Making deep-pocketed alums happy by providing them bragging rights, I guess, is the way to relevancy in "amateur" athletics today.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Kentucky public education system:
"Good ridence Were still ky, Now maybe we will get a coach that can recruit star players. no big name recruits want to go to a school that holds them back .Tubby game is defense and half court offense boring to watch boring to play . Bring back the run and gun live by the 3 die by the 3 offense. tuck fubby"