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Tubby Smith fired
- Thread starter L Buff
- Start date
CVilleBuff
Well-Known Member
Tubby has his flaws, but what exactly does Minnesota expect? They basically have the fewest NCAA Tournament appearances of any power conference school not named Northwestern.
CVilleBuff
Well-Known Member
That's definitely what he has in mind. And Smart is from Wisconsin.
Flip Saunders plz
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Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
That and Shaka are the big two rumors right now.
I know a number of MN people not surprised and pleased with the decision.
jgisland
Club Member
Not that I've heard. My father-in-law has tickets to MN. It sounds like this has been in the works for some time. Very similar situation to Howland. Tubby's time had simply run its course, the alumni and donors had seen enough. Even though MN made it to the second round of the tourney they hardly made it in. However irrational it may be, going .500 in-conf isn't what they expect there.
From what I've heard, Flip Sanders is who they're targeting, that they realize getting Smart isn't reasonable.
BehindEnemyLines
beware the habu
I kinda feel sorry for him. First, the short stint and release as coach at Kentucky. Now this.
L Buff
Commissar of the Albuffs Collective Left
Glad you acknowledged its irrationality. Going .500 (or just below) in conference play in what is the strongest conference this year (clearly established by the fact that 4 B1G teams are in the Sweet 16) is perfectly respectable. Not to mention getting to the second round of the tourney.
The fact is, as CVille pointed out ... Minny doesn't exactly have a great tradition of consistent basketball success, especially when compared to Indiana, Michigan, Mich. St., and Ohio St. Sure ... they had some good teams back in the Mussleman era (Dave Winfield was one of his stars ... had his choice of professional sports to go into, opted for baseball) ... and their facilities don't measure up to the aforementioned four schools. Not to mention the god-awful winter weather up there, which is much more attractive to hot-shot hockey recruits than basketball ones.
jcatcher
Club Member
Imagine what Minnesota would be like if Tubby were able to keep his players happy and in line. Cobbs from Cal was a Minnesota player, as was Devoe Joseph at Oregon, Colton Iverson at CSU, and Royce White at Iowa State.
Wisconsin constantly picks up the best players from Minnesota.
Wisconsin constantly picks up the best players from Minnesota.
cubuffs85
Active Member
He was there for six years and won one NCAA game. I think Minnesota expected more when they hired someone of his stature. I didn't get why they extended him earlier this year. Other than that, I have no problem with this firing. He didn't do enough to keep his job in this day and age.
JimmyBuff
Well-Known Member
Also was richly compensated for his services. Sometimes their comes a time where you have to move on and get a new coach to get some BUZZ back into the program.
cubuffs85
Active Member
Exactly, it's a two-street here. You get paid well, your expected to have good results in return.
jgisland
Club Member
Their basketball facilities aren't great. Very similar to CU's situation before the new practice facility was built. They haven't announced when they are going to break ground, but a conceptual drawing of a new bball facility with courts, coaches offices, locker rooms and dedicated bball weight room has materialized.
They did just build a new football stadium and raised $80 some million in private financing for that. And their main donor didn't contribute heavily to that b/c they couldn't agree on naming rights. I've heard that he's agreed to foot a good part of the bill for the bball facilities. So they do have the prospect of new facilities to lure a coach.
BeBe
Club Member
Is that a hint as to who you think they should hire!?? :lol:
CVilleBuff
Well-Known Member
If Minnesota expected more, they obviously didn't look much into analyzing Tubby's results at Kentucky. He did a whole lot of winning 22 or 23 games and bowing out in the Second Round at Kentucky. He took Minnesota to 3 Dances in 6 seasons (2 NIT appearances) 20+ wins 5/6 seasons. It's another case of I hope you've done your homework and know that you're going to land Saunders (or some other coach that energizes the fans), because if you fire someone with that resume and end up hiring IUPUI's coach, you're a fool.
When Virginia Tech irrationally fired Greenberg last year -despite the fact he was clearly the best coach they'd ever have- they hadn't done any poking around for solid hires....and ended up re-hiring one of Greenberg's assistants as their head coach. That's really turning out well for them.
When Virginia Tech irrationally fired Greenberg last year -despite the fact he was clearly the best coach they'd ever have- they hadn't done any poking around for solid hires....and ended up re-hiring one of Greenberg's assistants as their head coach. That's really turning out well for them.
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i wouldn't be surprised if trent tucker is the next coach.
cubuffs85
Active Member
I don't think Minnesota expected them to be routinely in the Elite 8, but they expected them to be in the 2nd weekend by now. That's not unrealistic IMO.
In terms of Seth Greenberg, I didn't like that but more because of the timing of it. Who did they expect to get at that point?
To be highly successful in Minnesota you had better have a coach who is very special. They used to be the big thing in town but now that they have the NBA, the NHL is back, and the erosion on college basketball created by cable they aren't the big show in town any more.
As discussed earlier their facilities need upgrading and they lose a lot of in state recruits to other places. Also add in that recruiting to Minnesota is not exactly easy. The people are friendly and the town is nicer that most people think but if opposing coaches can get the kids to think about the weather a lot of them aren't highly interested. They also don't have great tradition or enough recent success to make kids want to go there, they aren't a "name" program.
As discussed earlier their facilities need upgrading and they lose a lot of in state recruits to other places. Also add in that recruiting to Minnesota is not exactly easy. The people are friendly and the town is nicer that most people think but if opposing coaches can get the kids to think about the weather a lot of them aren't highly interested. They also don't have great tradition or enough recent success to make kids want to go there, they aren't a "name" program.
The weather isn't exactly good anywhere in Big 10 country. I don't know much about Mpls but it's pretty clear that it's a pro sports town, as most bigger cities are. I'm surprised they have such high standards for their basketball program unless maybe that Final Four appearance from around 10 years ago has given them expectations that are too high.
cubuffs85
Active Member
I don't think it's high standards for their basketball program. I think it's high standards given how much they are paying their coach. You have to win more than one tournament game in six years when you are getting paid so well. If he's getting what Boyle makes, he's probably still employed.
There is bad weather then their is Minnesota bad weather which is a step worse than the rest.
One of my profs in college was offered a dept chair position at the U of Minn. He had never been there so went for a visit. Said that they told him that one of the perks of the position was an on campus house that was connected to the tunnel system. He asked what the tunnel system was.
They told him that all the principal builiding on campus are connected by a system that allows people to get from place to place without going outside when it gets to cold to be outside comfortably. He asked what they meant by that. When they explained it to him he decided that he would rather stay in Colorado even if it meant not being a dept chair.
I don't buy the weather excuse. Syracuse is a national power, for chrissakes.
But I do think that Minnesota over-estimates its own prestige. They seem to be very impatient in both football and basketball, expecting a coach to come in and turn it into the 1950s again within 3 years of being hired.
But I do think that Minnesota over-estimates its own prestige. They seem to be very impatient in both football and basketball, expecting a coach to come in and turn it into the 1950s again within 3 years of being hired.
cubuffs85
Active Member
It wasn't too long ago, it was said you couldn't win at Colorado for similar reasons -- and while were far from a national powerhouse, we're doing a lot better than many pundits ever thought we would get. It's not like Michigan, Ohio State, and Wisconsin are tropical destinations. With better facilities like Colorado, they should be able to do better. I remember Ron Franklin making excuses for CU during a game about the reason no one went to games was because of skiing. This has just reinforced, people will support a winner. UMiami usually didn't fill more than a 1/3 of their arena which had about 2-3k less seats than CU, after they beat Duke, people realized they had a basketball team.
They gave Tubby Smith a chance, that's the one thing I resent of what you said. He was there six years, had won one NCAA game, and was making a pretty good salary. Let's not forget he also looked at other offers over the past few years -- it's a two way street.
But they fired him after his most successful season. I mean, why put up with the previous years if you're going to fire him for making the Round of 32?