AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > March > 17 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USTubby knows who he is
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Chicago — Here’s what the bashers don’t understand: Tubby Smith doesn’t hear you and doesn’t really care what you think. He knows he can still coach. He knows he can always find suitable employment. He knows who he is.
A half-hour after Kentucky beat Villanova here Friday night, I asked Smith how much of the criticism actually registers. “You don’t want to give it any credence,” he said. “There’s always going to be critics.”
And what of his wife? (Donna Smith is an avid reader and Internet-surfer.) Does she absorb it all? “We’re too old for that crap,” he said. “If I were 25 or 30, it’d bother me. But when you’re 55 …”
He looked up, almost defiant now. “I can always get a job. That’s one thing my dad told me: ‘Don’t ever worry about work.’ “And what did Guffrie Smith, a Maryland sharecropper who raised 17 children, mean by that? Said Tubby Smith, sixth of the 17: “It’s only the lazy people who have to worry about work.”
To judge from the clamor back in the Bluegrass, Smith should be a nervous wreck. His Wildcats, who lost 13 games last season, have lost 11 this time and will be a massive underdog against Kansas today. His athletics director, the mealy-mouthed Mitch Barnhart, issued a statement last month so lacking in support of Smith that the AD felt moved this week to offer a “Tubby’s-our-coach” clarification. Then you saw the coach at work against Villanova, and you saw a man who seemed utterly relaxed.
He didn’t rip his jacket off, usually a signature move. He didn’t make any of those glowering Tubby Faces. Truth to tell, he spent the first four minutes sitting with his legs crossed. He knows who he is. He knows he can coach. (His team beat Villanova, didn’t it?) A few blowhards insisting he’s running their precious program into the ground won’t make him feel overmatched or inadequate or even unduly stressed.
To be fair, not all criticisms are groundless. Smith’s staff is among the weakest in the country. It was thought Tubby would hire new assistants after last season — Georgia Tech’s Charlton Young was believed to be one of the possibilities — but he wound up settling for a strength coach and for bringing back Shawn Finney, who’d been fired at Tulane, as director of basketball operations. And at the start against Villanova, the incompetence of Smith’s aides showed yet again.
Chief assistant David Hobbs identified Dwight Perry, as opposed to his cousin Bobby Perry, as a starter in the official scorebook. Thus did the nation’s winningest program open the 2007 NCAA tournament with a walk-on in its first five. (Dwight Perry was ordered to foul immediately so he could be substituted, and he dutifully complied.) “A little embarrassing,” Smith conceded. “But I couldn’t even read what was in the book.”
Because Smith doesn’t care much for recruiting, he needs stronger assistants who’ll do the heavy lifting. Two years ago, we had this conversation:
Me: “You know, I’m from Maysville (Ky.), and I’m still upset you didn’t recruit Chris Lofton.”
Smith: “Why didn’t you say something?”
The greater point is that Smith needs people around him who’ll say something, not just yes-men happy to be sitting by the eminent coach’s side. The greater point is that Kentucky shouldn’t have to settle for lesser talent on an annual basis. (Besides the dauntless Lofton, the Wildcats also passed on Corey Brewer, who’s the best all-around player on Florida, the nation’s best team.) As clever as Smith is — and at Xs and Os, he’s among the very best — he can’t override the sort of resource imbalance he faces against Florida and will face against Kansas.
But here’s what even his supporters (and there are, contrary to popular belief, more than a few of those) don’t fully grasp: Tubby Smith likes doing things his way. He was taking teams (Tulsa, Georgia) to the Sweet 16 before he arrived in Lexington, and if he decides to leave for a more welcoming climate he’ll win big there, too.
He knows who he is — a smart man, a successful man, as decent a man as there is in his cutthroat industry. He knows he can always find another job. What the bashers don’t understand is that Kentucky, for all its hubris, might never find another Tubby Smith.
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By Hairy Dawg
March 17, 2007 5:00 PM | Link to this
The problem is that Kentucky should recruit better players because it is a high-profile school that can go out and get the best. There’s no reason to settle for guys that you hope can overachieve when you can go out and get team players who have more talent. That is Tubby’s mistake. That is why he will be let go soon enough. If Tubby had stayed at UGA, he’d be a legend in Athens. Instead, he’s an oft-maligned coach at a school that doesn’t appreciate consistency. UK only appreciates Final Fours and national titles.
By Ryder
March 17, 2007 6:47 PM | Link to this
Hairy Dawg is right. I understand that Tubby stood to make more money and prestige in Lexington, but at what price? It’s a shame he didn’t stay at GA where he would’ve been appreciated. That being said, UK is used to success and anything less than a championship is a failure. I wish they would let him go so he can lead a team to success and people will love him for that.
By John S.
March 17, 2007 10:21 PM | Link to this
Let’s hope we never find another Tubby Smith at Kentucky. The program will be much better off that way.
By Paul Simon
March 17, 2007 10:22 PM | Link to this
You obviously didn’t watch UK fumble and stumble its way down the stretch. They looked uncoached and completely without a plan at crunch time.
By Keith E
March 17, 2007 10:50 PM | Link to this
There are some idiot UK fans out there that are calling for the coaches head and most of them don’t have a clue what the hell they are talking about. Listen, but most of the UK fans know that coach Smith is a great coach. He is also a class act and runs the program right. There is also indications from Lexington that he knows he has not done the right things on the recruiting side of it. He has been working very hard recruiting lately and the program will be back on top in the near future. I am from Cincinnati and I have seen first hand what it means when a coach has no control over a program. It will take the new coach at UC to clean up a program that Huggins humiliated. I am very glad that Coach Smith does it right and he does not bring disgrace to this program like what went on in Cinci.
By Chris
March 17, 2007 11:07 PM | Link to this
Amen brother! I love the wildcats and I love the Bearcats and I would have loved to have had a man like Tubby Smith in Cincinnati when Huggins was here. To the average fan they thought all the wins were all that mattered. There was a stretch where I was afraid to pick up the paper in fear of what disgrace he or someone in the program had brought to the university. With coach Smith there is no such worry. He is a great coach and a great human being and I hope and pray that he and his family stay in Lexington as long as they like. Go big blue!
By Kelly
March 18, 2007 12:04 AM | Link to this
Let’s not be revisionist historians. If it wasn’t for Buzz Peterson who coached Tennessee at the time “settling” for Lofton because he needed a shooter, Lofton would have wound up in the OVC. Nobody recruited him. Kudos to him for developing into a fantastic player. Tubby’s got his issues, but not recruiting Lofton was not one of them.
By Bruce
March 18, 2007 12:26 AM | Link to this
Mark,
You defend Tubby very well. Unfortunately, as a journalist, at least in this article, you miss your mark. You ignore sigfificant facts that would compel any reasonable sports writer to conclude differently about Tubby Smith.
While it is true that Tubby Smith is a decent man and a great ambassador for the UK program. Those qualities, while admirable and important are not be the most persuasive criteria that will enable a person to be hired as a coach nor will these satisfying these criteria alone once hired allow a coach to keep their job. In the end it is more about performance on the court.
Tubby Smith has had more seasons with 10 losses (5 in his 10 years) than any of his predecessor Kentucky coaches. He has not been to the Final Four in 9 years, the longest such abscence in UK history. No player ever recruited by Tubby Smith in his 16 years as coach has ever played in the Final Four. The list of Tubby’s “negative firsts” at UK is so long it could fill an entire column.
You note that he has poor assistant coaches who make mistakes and can’t recruit. My response to you is who hired these guys and if they are as poor as you have observed why has Tubby not done something before now? Of course, Tubby hired these guys, decent men too I am sure, but why blame them? Tubby is responsible for evaluating the coaches he hires and retains. If his assistants are not doing the job and the program is unquestonably slipping why does it take a sports writer to point out this glaring deficiency in his coaching skills?
Hiring new assistant coaches will not right the S.S. Wildcat. Besides, what makes you think he will have the ability to hire any better assistants than he has ever hired? None of his current assistants are wanted for head coaching positions. Of all Tubby’s former assistants that have become head coaches, only one retains his job and he is recovering from a severe disease. All the rest have been fired.
The talent level at UK has not been this low since the late 80’s when they were on probation. You say Tubby does not like recruiting? Then, why be a college coach where successively recruiting high quality players is the essence of a winning program, and particularly at the winningest basketball program in history?
Tubby’s recruiting has been spotty at best except in the last two years where it has been atrocious. Why? Perhaps Brandan Wright, a top tier player courted heavily by UK for three years before signing with North Carolina stated the reason the best players are staying away from UK: said Wright in Decemember of this year, “I didn’t like Kentucky’s style of play, it is more ball control and I wanted to play more up tempo”
The reality is that Tubby ball is boring. Not only do the best players not want to play it, UK fans don’t want to watch it. Check out the drop in Rupp Arena attendance during the last 5 years for confirmation.
Yes, Tubby is a nice guy, a gentleman, a good citizen, great to have as a friend, a father and next door neighbor, but not as the head coach of a top 5 college basketball program.
By Karen
March 18, 2007 1:57 AM | Link to this
The majority of Kentucky Wildcat fans are also Tubby fans. No way in the world could we ever have a better coach and representative of our University and state.
By Bruce
March 18, 2007 2:33 AM | Link to this
Karen, the majority of UK fans do not support Tubby, take a look at the polls conducted by Channel 27 and Channel 36 in Lexington, where 75 percent want him gone.
By Matt
March 18, 2007 2:39 AM | Link to this
Mark, you make some excellent points, and I agree with most of your remarks. However, let’s be honest for a moment. You, and many others are spending your energies attempting to blame Tubby’s lack of recent success on unreasonable UK fans. That shouldn’t be the issue.
Name any coach, at any elite sports program, anywhere in this country that wouldn’t take heat for losing 1/3 of his games, for two seasons in a row? I don’t think it’s fair to blame the fans for being unreasonable here. It’s a very common reaction, not only in Kentucky, but at any elite sports institution.
Come on, even during the early Pitino era at UK, we didn’t lose ten or more games for two seasons in a row, and that was during probation. I agree with you on the UK assistants, but I can assure you that no UK fans were involved in their hiring.
Here’s the real issue. It’s obvious that changes must be made to improve this program. Will Coach Smith actually make those changes? Or will he once again choose to bury his head in the sand?
By Ray
March 18, 2007 2:47 AM | Link to this
Mark, You made the same case against Coach Smith as Bruce except for the boring basketball. Coach Smith has proved, when furnished quality players, he can win but can not seem to keep quality players entering UK. When he was first hired I thought UK had it made, Coach Smith had teams in the Sweet Sixteen 3 of the previous 4 years in such basketball hotbeds as Tulsa, OK and Athens, GA. But at UK he has with few exceptions recuited the same level of talent as in Tulsa and Athens. Thanks
By SoCalUKfan
March 18, 2007 3:33 AM | Link to this
Bradley; you are from KY and you know the expectations of the program. Tubby was aware of those same expectations when he arrived and UK began paying him 2.1 million per year. For that price UK (and its fans) can damn well expect a head coach who will get the best assistants, recruit top players, and ultimately accept responsibility for the failure to maintain UK as a top basketball program. I don’t care if Tubby is the best human being on the planet (and the way you media types suck up to him he must already be a Saint), or the best basketball coach in history; if he can’t maintain the historic levels of the program then he should leave. I’m also really tired of hearing how unreasonable UK fans are and how we should be so pleased to have Tubby around because he’s a Saint and the best basketball coach in history, despite his recruiting failures, no wins against ranked teams, and double-digit losses each year. Hogwash! If Tubby wants to remain coach and continue to collect his 2.1 million each year, then he’d better be willing to surround himself with competent individuals who can recruit, and players who can play. Moreover, if the UK administration is satisfied with double-digit losses each year and a program that performs on a second tier, then let the school be honest enough to say so … just be up front about it with the fans. Then let the school re-negotiate Tubby’s contract and pay him what second-tier coaches are paid based on the results of the program under his stewardship … that’s surely not worth 2.1 million. So, hurrah for Tubby and his continued ability to coach, and for his zen approach to criticism. I’m happy for him. It’s the state of the UK program and Tubby’s refusal to do what it takes to keep it at the elite level it once was that makes me unhappy. As for you, Bradley, don’t you get a little tired of playing the politically correct little wuss and sucking up to all the sports figures? Grow up, and remember where you came from.
By A. Doolin
March 18, 2007 3:35 AM | Link to this
I think it is amusing yet pitiful that for some reason all you writers along with the TV commentators(Vitale, Kellog, etc)are stumbling over each other to protect Tubby Smith’s Job and reputation. What, do you not have anything else to pontificate on. Most Uk fans are disolusioned with the failure of this program(and it is in a failed state)and they want change. Mostly they dont like Tubby’s type of basketball, its boring to say the least. I think very few feel ill will toward the man. Im sure he has all the good qualities you cite personally. But, coaches are not hired to be nice guys, they’re hired to win games and often the two dont coincide. You and Mitch Barnhart can call the assistants bumblers or whatever you like, but they are not the problem. As Harry Truman said “The Buck Stops Here”, Tubby needs to stand tall, recognize what fans are saying and alter his style if he can, if not he needs to take it where it is more appreciated, and do it while he can always maintain fond memories of the University of Kentucky and the Bluegrass state.
By Phil
March 18, 2007 3:39 AM | Link to this
I had a friend of mine from Georgia tell me less than a month ago that UK fans will never know how happy Georgia fans were when UK hired Coach Smith away from them. That tells me something wasnt right if UG fans were happy to see him go.
I am tired of people calling those who do not like what is being done to the UK basketball program “bashers”. I do not know Coach Smith and I am just going by what everyone says that he and his wife are very nice people. But I have watched family members and friends who have been life-long UK fans just start tuning out and giving up on UK basketball. There use to be UK flags everywhere on game days. On cars, on houses, on flagpoles. But not much anymore. The spirit of the Big Blue Nation is losing hope. Its hard to get excited about UK basketball anymore even during the NCAA tourney. Of course there are those who tell us to leave and not come back but these are the people who will settle for a mid-major level basketball program and any win.
The reason is because it is not among the elite programs anymore. Even during the probation years the hope was still there. Rick Pitino came to UK with a love for the game and passion for the program that riveled any that life-ling fans had. And the fans took to him and he took to them. He led the program out of the wilderness and back onto the top of the basketball world.
Coach Smith inherited a program at the top and slowly over the years has brought it down to where fans are happy for any win and where UK never blows out any teams anymore. In fact, even against the “cupcake” teams there is no guarantee of a win. The program is struggling and its because of the style of coaching and his inability to manage the program and keep it at the level he got it in, his inability to recruit quality players at UK and the fact that fans cant relate to him. On his call-in show fans are tightly screened. He acts like this is just a job for him when he should be just as passionate about the program than any fan. All the new assistants in the world cannot offset a lack of enthusiasm by the head coach.
Expectations at UK are not overblown. They have been met by previous coaches. I dare to say that any program with passionate fans would feel the exact same way as UK fans if they saw their beloved program going on a downward slide with no hope on the horizon. UK 3 years ago had 3 McDonald’s All-Americans recruited into the program. One tried to enter the NBA, another wanted to leave but stayed and the other one did leave.
Coach Smith won the 1998 National Championship with players recruited by Rick Pitino. That is a fact. Also a fact is that he had to play uptempo ball to win that championship. He promised to maintain the same style of play Rick Pitino had used. He promised Rondo that he would have the team play uptempo last year and when he didnt Rondo left. And at the start of this season he said that UK was going to play more uptempo. In reality UK ended up playing his half-court offense and ball-line defense and only played uptempo when his style of play got the team double digits behind and he had to play uptempo to catch up. All UK fans are asking for is some exciting basketball to watch. We use to have thorobreds who would run up and down the court and play in your face defense. Now we have plow horses walking up and down the court and playing defense 3 feet away from the ball handler.
I am tired of people holding veiled threats over the UK program. I have heard about the “bad backlash” that will occur if UK fires Coach Smith. Yet those very same people who made that comment turned around and picked Villanova to beat UK. These were national sports media types. I honestly believe that many college programs might overlook some very promising young coaches because they will see the situation UK is in and not want to run the risk of getting into the same thing. Its sad that it comes to something like this. Correctness run amuk.
By Jacket 4 Life
March 18, 2007 4:20 AM | Link to this
I’m white from Smyrna and hate to play the race card;however,if Tubby were white those Kentuckians would have no problem with him….He won it with Pitino’s players ? then why did’nt Pitino win a NC with them the previous year…Remember Adolph(Hitler)Rupp…
By JRO
March 18, 2007 7:18 AM | Link to this
I’m white and from Southern Indiana. Race is not the issue. UK fans just want a coach who acquires top talent and gets his team into the final four at least once every 5 years. Assuming Morris leaves for the pros (He certainly outplayed Tyler H. at NC when they met), there is no talent to replace him. Cat fans just see dismal years ahead. Cat fans also want to see KY boys on the team and an entertaining brand of basketball. Watching their offense is like a visit to the dentist - painful.
By 59bulldawg
March 18, 2007 7:19 AM | Link to this
Good point Jacket! If they can Tubby, I think it’ll set the Kentucky program back quite a bit. Oh how I wish Tubby could have been happy at Georgia. If he had stayed we would have named buildings after him and Georgia basketball would be light years ahead of where it is now.
By Robert H.
March 18, 2007 7:28 AM | Link to this
I thought you were a great basketball whiz, If so how could you possibly pick George Washington over Vandy?
By Bruce
March 18, 2007 8:17 AM | Link to this
Yellow Jacket, if, “you hate to play the race card” then why play it, especially when it is not applicable? In point of fact, if Tubby were white he would have received the same heat. Joe B. Hall (white guy in case you don’t know) was at UK for 13 years, he had much longer and more criticism than Tubby ever has. Joe Hall won the national championship, and went to the Final Four two other times. When it comes to putting heat on coaches who fail to perform up to the expectations of Wildcat Nation we are equal opportunity fans.
By Gene
March 18, 2007 8:36 AM | Link to this
I am a Georgia graduate living in Georgetown, KY. I am not a big basketball fan, but I would take Tubby any day over the criminal Harrick. I am sure Harrick is available if these angry UK fans want a real winner.
By George Bauer
March 18, 2007 8:41 AM | Link to this
For all the informed national media, please let the Kentucky fanbase know when it will be acceptable to question the direction of the Kentucky basketball program?
By Barry
March 18, 2007 8:57 AM | Link to this
When talking about about Tubby Smith and Georgia basketball, let’s not settle for revisionist history.
Georgia fans loved Tubby Smith; I can’t recall a single fan who was pleased he left the program.
Subsequent results proved this out. Ron Jirsa, a Tubby assistant, coached the B-Dawgs to basketball mediocrity, Jim Harrick led us to probation. Only now, almost a decade later, is Georgia basketball beginning to return to quality.
Tubby has not had a great record at UK; I will not dispute that point. Nor will I argue he has recruited well; anyone who follows b-ball must agree he has not performed up to expectations. But please don’t argue that UGA had given up on Tubby - that simply is not true.
By GBB
March 18, 2007 9:09 AM | Link to this
First UK coach to go 8 straight years without a final four. First UK coach to have to play on Thursday in an SEC tournament since the expansion to the current 12 team format. The First UK coach to lose 10 or more games three years in a row, and 4 of the last 7 years. The first UK coach to lose to Vandy in Rupp The first UK coach to be swept by Vandy in a season in 32 years The first UK coach to lose 4 straight to an SEC opponent in 30 years. Only coach to lose to Ole Miss at Rupp Only coach to lose to Vandy twice at Rupp Only coach to lose 4 home games to SEC Opponents More Home losses than any previous UK coach Most Double Digit loss seasons of any UK coach 1st UK coach to not finish at least 2nd in the East since the SEC expansion Most transfers and problem players of any UK coach Never recruited a player to play in a final four in 16 years as a head coach Fewest NBA draft picks of any coach with at least 5 years (only 2 1st rounders in 10 years) 47% of his recruits don’t make their senior year Current 5 game losing streak to florida could soon be a new record Only coach with the overall #1 seed in the NCAA to lose in the 2nd round Lowest Average Points Scored Per Game since the 3 point shot was introduced Worst loss to Indiana ever (26 points) Only UK coach to lose consecutive games to Kansas Worst Loss on Senior Day since 1919 Only UK coach with a losing record vs Michigan State (2-4) Only coach to ever lose to a number 1 ranked team at rupp. Only coach to ever begin the season ranked in the top 10 and finish the season unranked. Worst average attendance at Rupp Arena for one season, under Tubby (00-01 avg.21,014), since it opened in 1976. Rupp Arena hasn’t averaged 23,000+ since the 98-99 season.
Percentage of games ranked in top 5: Tubby 16% Pitino 59% (53% if you include probation year)
Number of games in top 5: Tubby in 326 games ranked 54 games in top 5 Pitino in 269 games ranked 142 games in top 5
Number of Home losses: Tubby 19 Pitino 5 (7 if you include probation year)
10+ loss seasons: Tubby 4 (in 7 years - 1 loss away from 5 in 8) Pitino 0 (1 if you include the probation year)
Average number of losses per year: Tubby 7.9 Pitino 4.8(throwing out the 1st year)
Games played as #1 ranking: Pitino 10 Tubby 4 Games played as #2 ranking: Pitino 44 Tubby 14 Games played as #3 ranking: Pitino 33 Tubby 10 Games played as #4 ranking: Pitino 18 Tubby 15 Games played as #5 ranking: Pitino 37 Tubby 11 Total games with top 5 ranking: Pitino 142 Tubby 54
Team Turmoils: Tubby 2 Pitino 0
Transfers out of the Program: Tubby 14 Pitino 7
NBA 1st round draft picks: Tubby 2 Pitino 10
Rick Pitino’s 1st year 14-14 probation team averaged more than 10 ppg than ANY Tubby Smith team except 2. It averaged 8.9 ppg more than those 2 teams:
Rick Pitino - Points per Game 1989-90 88.82 1990-91 85.89 1991-92 85.72 1992-93 87.50 1993-94 86.88 1994-95 87.39 1995-96 91.44 1996-97 83.13
Tubby Smith takes over: 1997-98 80.08 1998-99 75.41 1999-00 69.09 2000-01 79.79 2001-02 76.88 2002-03 77.28 2003-04 73.91 2004-05 73.62 2005-06 70.77 2006-07 72.32
Final Fours Pitino 5 (3 at Kentucky) Tubby 1
Championship games Pitino 2 Tubby 1
NCAA tournament (at Kentucky) Pitino 22-5 (.783) Tubby is 23-8 (.663)
Misc. Notes
Pitino beat 11 teams seeded 5th or higher in 6 NCAA Tournaments.
Tubby has beaten 4 teams seeded 5th or higher in 9 NCAA Tournaments.
Tubby has beaten only 1 team seeded 5th or higher since his first season at Kentucky.
By Stan W.
March 18, 2007 9:14 AM | Link to this
Who would take the time to look up all those stats? I can see some of what the wildcat fans are talking about now. Nice post GBB.
By p
March 18, 2007 9:16 AM | Link to this
We know who tubby is, too. a nice guy wo’ll take you to the sweet 16 every year.
Stuck in a state that doesn’t produce a lot of basketball players, he HAS to get out there and get some kids from NY and cal.
By Tom
March 18, 2007 9:19 AM | Link to this
GBB, you need to amend your “Tubby’s First” Column. We have now lost six (6) consecutive games to Florida.
By brett michaels
March 18, 2007 9:29 AM | Link to this
Yet once again, it is all about Tubby, never about UK!
Why can’t we just focus upon what is most important and best for UK basketball?
There is history, a legacy and UK traditon, so what is wrong with that?
If Tubby or anyone cannot measure up, they why is it all about the poor poor coach that everyone is picking on?
What about the UK program and the people of Kentucky who pay TAX DOLLARS to support his 2.1 million salary! Is there any accountability for that?
By KyCat52
March 18, 2007 9:41 AM | Link to this
The comments by Bruce above are very good and unfortunately very accurate. If we don’t get another coach soon, we’re looking at middle of the road seasons as long as Tubby is the coach. He is a good man, I admire him but he’s not a UK coach. The program was built on offense, not defense. The program will die on defense, not offense. I’m like many long time, die hard UK fans, sick that the major sporting event in Kentucky (for people that live in Kentucky, the Derby is mostly for out of towners) is dying a slow death. As Bruce pointed out, people are not excited about UK basketball like they were in the past. It’s because of the defensive style and the lack of big time recruiting. I am appalled that the UK coach freely admits he doesn’t like to recruit, what does that say to the “Blue Chippers” in high school that would consider Kentucky? Could they think they may not get any good players to play with them if they go to Kentucky? I’m not sure if we do get another coach it will be any better but after cheering for the Cats for 46 years, I know it is time for a change.
By Aaron
March 18, 2007 10:36 AM | Link to this
Brett Michaels - Your TAX DOLLARS don’t pay Tubby’s $2.1 million. Your TAX DOLLARS only pay about $200,000 of his salary. The rest comes from private renevue sources such as tv, radio and shoe contracts. Argue all you want about whether Tubby should stay or go but don’t sensationalize, drag things out of context and spout mis-truths in order to make your point.
By Jay Parsons
March 18, 2007 11:51 AM | Link to this
Hey Jacket 4 Life, speak of what you know! Just because you saw the tainted view of Kentucky Basketball from the eyes of “Glory Road” doesn’t give you the right to make an uninformed statement like you did in this format! I’m sure that if the Chairperson of your Trigonometry department didn’t make it to the finals of the “Math Bowl” for ten straight years, you too would consider replacing him (or her).
By Terence High
March 18, 2007 12:28 PM | Link to this
Mark, Nice article regarding Tubby Smith. Although Kentucky basketball is the bell cow of the SEC, their fans have to realize that just like the parity in SEC college football, there is parity in SEC basketball. Has Pitino been able to turn Louisville into a Monster Program since he returned to the college game? The answer is no. Tubby Smith probably needs to hire some coaches who can recruit better. However, Smith is obviously the best Xs and Os coach in the SEC.
By mike
March 18, 2007 2:20 PM | Link to this
Tubby is an outstanding person, but even outstanding people have faults. Tubby’s weakness is recruiting and it shows. He may be a great X & O coach as you say, but he has to have the horses to play his style to be be effective. He is no longer getting the thoroughbreds to do this. He now gets quarterhorses, which do fine, but not enough to win the races that count. He has put himself in a position that should have never been. To be an effective leader, one must own up their weakness (recruiting) and get the help needed to get the job done. The weakness is not admitting you do not have one, when it stares you in the face. Don’t let one’s confidence in one area, overshadow the weakness of another area…..Regardless GO BIG BLUE!!!
By Don
March 18, 2007 4:38 PM | Link to this
I’ll turn 60 this year. I’m a UK grad and have been going to UK games since I was 9 years old. I was there in person in 1958 when Rupp’s unheralded team won his last national title over Elgin Baylor and Seattle. I’ve been a UK basketball season ticket holder since Rupp Arena opened.
I have virtually lost interest in the program and many others like me are in the same boat. It hurts too much to remain “into it” during these times. These times are worse than the Eddie Sutton probation times because there seems to be no hope. Tons of losses, embarrassing blowout losses, boring play, etc. I never thought I’d see the day when I’d forget the game was even on and not really care to watch, but that’s where I am.
This has nothing to do with Tubby’s personality, his race or anything else other than his lack of success and boring “product.”
I have met Tubby. I have talked with him at length. I like him a great deal. He is truly a good man. But, he’s not a good fit for UK basketball. He’s the type of coach who will take a collection of mid-level players and contend for Sweet 16s with them. He doesn’t relate well to top level players because he wants to force them into his system and they want to play a faster tempo.
This is not about UK fans. I too am damned sick of hearing about unreasonable UK fans. If Tubby was the basketball coach at UNC, Kansas or any other elite program, he would be gone after this season (see Matt Doherty). Ditto if he was the football coach at places like Ohio State and Alabama (see Mike Shula) and could not keep the team in the top ten. We don’t expect titles and final fours every year. We do expect to have a reasonable shot at the final four in most years. The program is a long way from there and, most significantly, it is getting worse. Tubby should move on for his own sake and that of UK basketball.
By @Dogs
March 18, 2007 5:33 PM | Link to this
Everyone thinks Ky fans was a final 4 every year. That is the image the media always tries to paint. It is completely untrue. The thing we do want is a team that is at least mentioned from time to time in the running for the championship. Not every year, but every few years. We can handle a down year from time to time. But even when we are a #1 seed, we don’t make a run for the title or final 4 for that matter. As for recruiting, many of the top recruits have said they do not
By Jack
March 18, 2007 8:10 PM | Link to this
It took Tubby four years to destroy one hundred (l00) years of basketball tradition. Call me a spoiled fan? How dare you.
By SoCalUKfan
March 18, 2007 9:50 PM | Link to this
Don; Well said and 100% correct. Thanks for the true perspective on the UK program.