http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...t-at-minnesota
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And nothing's gonna bring him back
Think we'll hear any pundits claim this was a racist move??
Anxiously awaiting Dickie V's righteous indignation on a scale equal to what we saw here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZPJQrHsIng
BTW--didn't Tubby just get extended? Why would they wait until after they extended him to fire him? I wonder what the payout is going to be.
Funny how some Minny fans support him still, expect less, get less. Not a Saul fan at all and at one time Tubby was a good coach, think those days are gone. At 61 and plenty of money move to TV or retire. Hey if they put Knight on TV why not Tubby.
His agent is really slipping, let him get fired before he got the next job lined up. Though in fairness even he couldn't have foreseen Tubby train wrecking what was supposed to be his best team at Minny. Agent had to figure he had till at least mid April this year, after the Final Four coaching schmooze.
Yeah, I'm waiting anxiously for the anti-Minny rant from vitale and the accusations of racism.
Bevans -- Ironic in that they just gave him the extension, but also he finally won a NCAA tourney game at Minny. His best season there and they fire him after giving him a pass for a couple of ugly collapses. This is why when it's time to fire a coach you have to do it decisively and not wait to see if he "turns it around". Sometimes it does happen, but rarely. Joker wasn't going to turn it around if you gave him till the Rapture, BCG wasn't going to change his spots from year 1 to year 2, and Tubby wasn't going to suddenly find new motivation out of thin air to put in the work and make the tough decisions to build a seriously competitive Big 10 program.
So he starts of by quoting one of the biggest cheaters of all time in college basketball (Jimmy Valvano) then goes on to claim Minnesota got the best of this deal? LOL. Sure UK had to go thru BCG to get Calipari but long term I'm betting Vitale doesn't still believe the Gopher's get the best of the deal.
Sort of like Joker.....how can one feel sorry for someone walking away with several Million $
Echo here on how the Vitale's of the world articulate this one......he had 10 years in Lexington and only 6 there.....those Minnesota folks are merciless in their win at all costs approach
In all sincerity, this is a shocker!!!!
Nobody forgets Saul Smith; he's still a punch line.
Have to say this news surprised me - but it is something that needed to happen 2 or 3 years ago. Think it's time for OTS to hang up his coaching whistle for good.
His only weakness would be his tendency to step on his own words and not speak in complete sentences. I defended this aspect of Tubby fwiw for years and still do. I know others who do the same thing, their mind is going one speed and their mouth another and they end up stepping on their own sentences and cutting them off. Not a sign of lack of intelligence or anything else negative, but obviously a weakness for a broadcasting job.
He'd be far from the worst though. Digger and Vitale speak fluently but say nothing of use, and Tubby does know the xs and os as well as anyone out there. His weakness is just his work ethic and desire post national title, but he knows basketball and I'd welcome his commentary regardless of delivery.
Mick -- not sure what Saul will do. Tubby's got a lot of ties in the coaching fraternity I would assume that can land Saul a job. If nothing else maybe they can get out of that icebox part of the country. Nice city but personally I'd be miserable in that climate.
Evidently Tubby did not know until Goodman asked him about it...
If true, not classy at all on Minny's part. Everybody deserves better than that and Tubby is a good man. Not the coach for UK but a good guy.
I wonder if Saul would assist Little Rick at FIU? That would be interesting :)
And an obvious one.
Tubby's results were to the point of him being fired, but you want to give him support to see if he can improve things. OK, fine. Did you bother to observe if he was actually changing anything in an attempt to get different results? Changing his staff, his style of play, his recruiting tactics, his work hours, anything?
No, you hoped he would somehow just do better with the same staff, the same approach, the same level of recruiting. Definition of insanity, an easy outcome to predict, and they were too stupid to see the obvious. When you end a season by losing 11 of 12 games and in the off season you don't change a freakin' thing, you're surprised when his next team has the same issues?
Same ol Tubby. Keep the same tired staff of yes men, don't kill yourself recruiting, run the system you know with little if any deviation and wonder why you didn't win more games.
Wow, yeah that would be low. Of course we don't know what went on behind the scenes to get to that point, from Something that ticked them off to just miscommunicating, but pretty poor result. Just a matter of professionalism regardless of the coach. Even BCG wouldn't have deserved that treatment b/c it's a reflection of the AD and his actions, not the coach.
Best it happened now. This was his best team, couldn't even finish .500 in the B10 and next year it looks really bleak. At least he went out with an NCAA appearance.
Tubby is now available for UCLA.
I really do hate to see Tubby go out this way. I am very glad he moved on from UK as that was good for both parties. However, I still like him, respect him and appreciate the few excellent years he provided us while always staying one of the gentlemen of college basketball. I use to enjoy his "STARE" and always had confidence in his X and O's and end game situations (minus the Sheree Thomas free throw debacle lol).
Good Luck Tubby Smith!
Chris Dortch @cdortch 1m Tubby Smith had been one of the lucky ones to leave three other schools on his own terms. The ziggy finally caught up with him.
Minnesota is not an overly attractive job..It will be when they get that practice facility built.:winking0011:
Tubby is a nice guy..hate that he got fired..this though will sound mean, there is the UK fan in me that can't help but say, told you
As for tubby.....man i cringed to hear him try and answer questions on the spot going into halftime. I think he gets too anxious and doesnt really hear the question, or just answers what he thinks he hears.