UofM626

April 1st, 2013 at 3:41 PM ^

Tubby is still a well respected coach who always gets decent kids. And makes a good run every few years. I still bet he is thinking "wtf" just happened when he was fired. And I bet he I scratching his head saying something like this " do these fuckers know there Minnesota and not Michigan or Kentucky" something like that I am assuming he was saying lol



Good for him!

JamieH

April 1st, 2013 at 3:45 PM ^

Still can't figure out what Minnesota is doing. With either their basketball OR their football programs.  They are obviously burdened by the inability to understand that they are, well, MINNESOTA.

SamirCM

April 1st, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^

Living in Minnesota, I know a lot of people angry at the AD. Sure Tubby had a lot of faults, such as not building a fence around the state (unlike football, there is a ton of homegrown talent), but the man was getting 20 win seasons and bringing the Gophers to the NCAA tournament, which is unlike something that anyone else has done.

When Tubby was fired people figured that he knew what he was doing cause rationally you expect that he had a successor in mind (Shaka Smart or Flip Saunders) but with BOTH turning him down, the AD is under a ton of fire. Reportedly he is now pursuing FGCU's coach, which seems to me he is trying to think of something, anything, to keep his feet from the fire.

 

All I can say is that unless they get extremely lucky, welcome back to the dumpster of the B10 Goldenrods....

jmblue

April 1st, 2013 at 5:08 PM ^

 

the man was getting 20 win seasons and bringing the Gophers to the NCAA tournament, which is unlike something that anyone else has done.

That may be technically true according to the official rule books, but they were a successful program in the '90s and went to the Final Four one year.  It was later vacated because of an academic fraud scandal.  

I don't know what Minnesota's plan is now, but I don't think they were headed anywhere fast with Tubby.  He was there six years and never posted a winning Big Ten record.  He had some 20-win seasons, but in this day and age (when teams routinely play 30-33 regular-season games) that's not the benchmark for success it once was.  This season was supposed to finally be their breakthrough, but after starting 15-1 they finished 21-13.  There were a lot of similarities between his tenure there and Amaker's here, except that his bubble teams managed to sneak in the tournament.

 

 

 

 

Needs

April 1st, 2013 at 6:06 PM ^

I also think that Minnesota's AD wants to replace the Barn with the kind of multi-sport arena that Wisconsin has (which sucks, the Barn is awesome, one of the last old school gyms left) but that Tubby was decidedly uninterested in doing the promotional work around the state to make it happen. He apparently basically disappears for the summer.

LSAClassOf2000

April 1st, 2013 at 4:56 PM ^

Given Tubby's resume, this actually isn't a bad hire at all given the current state of affairs for Texas Tech basketball, which hasn't finished higher than 4th in the last ten seasons of Big 12 hoops, I believe. In seven of those seasons, they finished 7th or worse, if memory serves, so a program builder like Smith is a good strategic move. 

Meanwhile, there was a story in yesterday's Star Tribune highlighting Buzz Williams as someone the Gophers might be looking at in CoachingQuest 2013. Probably a tough sell, if they even consider Williams. 

corundum

April 1st, 2013 at 5:12 PM ^

More like if Williams even considers Minnesota. I'm sure they are looking at Bill Self, Roy Williams, and Coach K as well. Doesn't mean they will look back. Buzz Williams is at the helm of a solid Marquette program coming off an Elite 8 season. If he wanted to go elsewhere, it would be to somewhere better than Minnesota.

SeattleWolverine

April 1st, 2013 at 6:11 PM ^

Marquette is a better job than Minnesota. I guess you can't blame a program for trying but if they want to over reach and try to get Smart or Williams or some of these other coaches they better be ready to back up a Brinks truck for that coach because there is nothing else about that job that makes it really compelling.

mGrowOld

April 1st, 2013 at 5:03 PM ^

Dear Minnesota:

Next time your fan base clammors for a head coaching change because of dissatisfaction in "not winning it all" please try and remind them that you ARE Minnesota and not some sleeping giant of athletic excellence.

Sincerely, 

The other 49 states

jmblue

April 1st, 2013 at 5:11 PM ^

Why should they have that attitude when Wisconsin, their archrival, was once equally mediocre but has been a Big Ten powerhouse under Bo Ryan?  Wisconsin doesn't produce any more local basketball talent than Minnesota.  They found a coach who was perfect for the job and he's thrived.  Minnesota needs to find its own Ryan.  

SeattleWolverine

April 1st, 2013 at 7:13 PM ^

But when Wisconsin did their search, Ryan was hardly a hot name. His previous coaching career was basically 2 years of going .500 in the Horizon league at Wisky-Milwaukee and killing it at Division III Wisky-Plattsville. I don't really blame MN for trying but understand that if you find your guy it is going to be a young head coach from the MAC or Richmond or Northern Iowa or whatever. It's not going to be someone like Brad Stevens, Shaka Smart, Buzz Williams which are way out of Minnesota's league. Maybe it is just the media that is floating these names but you would think the A.D. would be leaking realistic names to the media for them to write about and thereby to control expectations so that the hire doesn't land with a thud.

jmblue

April 1st, 2013 at 9:19 PM ^

Agree.  The big-name guys either will turn them down or they'll come with red flags (Minnesota probably should have paused to consider why Tubby Smith was so eager to get out of Kentucky).  They should focus on up-and-comers who have something to prove.  Ryan was like Beilein in that he'd been a head coach forever at lower levels, but hadn't directed a major program before.   There's probably someone like that out there.  It might be a tough sell for the fanbase, but they'll get over it if he wins.  Maybe the South Dakota State guy (Nagy)?

Minnesota's AD was formerly at VCU and hired Shaka Smart and (I think) Anthony Grant, so I'm curious to see how this works out.

snarling wolverine

April 1st, 2013 at 5:43 PM ^

You have to keep in mind that Minnesota made him one of the highest-paid coaches in the country when they hired him, and sold him to their fanbase as a game-changer of a coach.  When he delivered no NCAA wins in his first five years and was never in contention for the league title (or even had a winning record)  that same fanbase was underwhelmed and predictably revolted.  Supposedly, part of the reason they couldn't upgrade their facilities was that the donors were balking at supporting the program with Smith there.

This year was do-or-die for him.  He had to deliver a big season or he was going to be fired.  He finally got an NCAA tourney win but otherwise it was a typical season for him there: a losing B1G record, a late-season collapse, elimination in the first weekend of the tourney.

 

snarling wolverine

April 1st, 2013 at 5:25 PM ^

This is good for Tubby but I'm not sure I understand it from TTU's perspective.  Smith turns 62 this year and doesn't seem like he has the same fire he once did.   Maybe a move will reinvigorate him - but then, that's what people said when he went to Minnesota.  

 

rlcBlue

April 1st, 2013 at 7:11 PM ^

They deserve it. They can't have already forgotten the Pat Knight years, can they?

 

Talk about schools with delusions of grandeur. If you have managed to be fired in spite of a national championship resumé, the 4th or 5th best program in Texas has a comfortable alternative to retirement for you.                   II I I i

 

I wonder if Tubby will schedule Larry Brown's SMU team in the non-conference schedule?

energyblue1

April 1st, 2013 at 6:54 PM ^

Glenn Mason must be laughin agian...........and they wonder why they are still fledgeling rather then going out and having a plan from the get go.......it is obious they do not.......I wonder if their ad thought he had Smart in the bag and jumped thinking it was happening.

Jinxed

April 2nd, 2013 at 4:27 AM ^

Minnie should probably cross their fingers and hope that Wichita State gets blown out by Louisville and then try to get Gregg Marshall out of Wichita State. The dude can obviously coach, he had Winthrop in the tourney every year before moving to Wichita State. 

Unfortunately for them, Gregg Marshall might turn them down and wait for a better job to open up. He's obviously going to be a candidate for every coaching vacancy than opens up next season.