Andy Katz throws Norwood Teague under the bus for how firing was handled

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BarnBoy

BarnBoy

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Just on ESPN TV. Not great for PR.

Talked about how they "told the staff at a 1PM staff meeting" when they knew at 9AM. Something like, "that's just not how you do things"
 

He also wrote about it today:

Tubby Smith and his staff had no idea they were about to be fired Monday morning as they sat in a staff meeting at 10 a.m. going over recruiting, offseason workout plans and evaluations of the Gophers' loss to Florida the previous day. Members of the Minnesota staff said they were sitting in the meeting when they started receiving text messages from coaching colleagues telling them they had been fired. Smith told them that he had to meet with the administration at 1 p.m. It was then, according to the staff, that Smith and ultimately the staff found out they had been fired. Minnesota athletic director Norwood Teague obviously has the right to fire Smith and the staff. But he should have handled this differently. This was akin to how Seth Greenberg and his staff found out he was being fired a year ago at Virginia Tech. Greenberg was unaware that a decision had already been made. A news conference had been called but Greenberg wasn't informed of the details of the event. ADs need to make sure the staff knows before the public. That's called common courtesy.

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebask...923/3-point-shot-let-staff-know-before-public

Go Gophers!!
 


Oh come on... things happen. I'm sure the firing wasn't supposed to be leaked out. There's so many people out there that want to be the first to break a story, and there's so many that want to leak stories. Plus when you have to go through so many people to finalize it, you get leaks. I'm sure it was not something that was meant to come out until after they had been fired. Get over it.
 

Who knew what at 9am? This firing seemed par for the course and much more respectful than Howland's.
 


If the shoe fits...

This was bungled and was rude. If they were sending messages to board members, etc. early in the morning, the staff should have been notified within minutes. There is no excuse for what happened, and the leakers need to be dsiciplined.
 

There is only one concern here: Who the replacement is. Do that right and everything else is good. Screw that up......you get 5 years of bad publicity.
 

Can't argue. No excuse could make-up for what happened. Tubby should have been told one minute after it was decided. Poor decision by N.T.
 

OzzieandRay posted some time relatively early in the morning. This was botched.
 



Welcome to today's social media...it is unfortunate, but as a reporter, he should recognize people's ego wanting to get the scoop and the lack of discipline inherent in today's culture.

Of course it was not right, regardless if it was Tubby or someone who never had a winning record.

That said leaks happen and there will always be people who lack judgment spouting out what is said behind closed doors. All the sports networks crave info like. Think he hasn't.
 

tikited said:
Can't argue. No excuse could make-up for what happened. Tubby should have been told one minute after it was decided. Poor decision by N.T.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Classless.

Now let's go find a quality basketball coach.
 

How about when a coach is sneaking out on the school, ala Tubby leaving Kentucky. It happens both ways, part of the business.
 




I heard Tubby and Norwood had a meeting set up for 9:30 am but Tubby no-showed. He got in way late because he couldn't navigate his way through a construction ZONE. Crap happens, NT probably wanted to tell him first, didn't work out, here is 2.5 mill.
 

Its strange that Seth Davis and others choose to focus on the sloppy dismissal process rather acknowledge the courage it took to jettison a tired and abusive demigod. Evidently it was OK for Smith to publicly embarrass his players, but not OK for him to be the victim, unintended as it was.
 

I wonder what Katz would have done had someone from the A.D called him at 9:00 and told them Tubby was being fired? Does he sit on the story and ask if they told Tubby Smith or does he run with the information?
 

I would gladly tolerate such disrespect for 2.5 million. Oh the horror! Hard to keep a secret in the age of social media/ texting etc.
 

Katz is just jealous he wasn't the one who broke the story. Had Teague himself told Katz at 9am, like Katz wouldn't have gone public with it before 1pm.

So is the blame on Teague or the people leaking the story?
 

Woody did apologize for the way it went down. I don't think he intentionally let this happen this way.
 


If Tubby no-showed for a 9:30 meeting, I don't see what Teague did wrong. If the meeting was originally scheduled for the afternoon, however, he had to have known that it would leak out. Presumably, they needed to give the Trustees a heads-up since there was a buy-out involved
 

Should be about four people that knew, Teague, Ellis, Kalor, and maybe a secretary or two, who leaked it to the press, that person should be fired also.
 

I went to Vegas on Sunday and played poker on Monday afternoon with a guy who was a high school basketball coach from southern Indiana and later that night with a high school coach from the Chicago area. I was a tubby supporter but I also realize that Norwood should be able to get his own guy in for the position. I will support whoever is our next coach. Back to my poker story....the national perspective on what happened is pretty negative for Minnesota firing Tubby. At that time I had a few drinks and was kind of excited at the prospect at Shaka being named coach. I kind of think it would have happened by today if he was our guy though. I tried to explain the toxic situation with the fan base and how their is a lot of envy for the badgers in Minnesota....but what I got back from people from all over America was that Minnesota looked bad in this decision. Hopefully we can get a coach who can lead the program to where we all want to be. Just thought I'd let you know a little national perspective from basketball fans.
 

Boo Hoo !

Give me $2 million to walk and I don't care how I find out.

Poor Andy Katz' feelings are hurt. Again, boo hoo.
 

I don't care what the national media or the rest of the coaches think, it was brutal to watch for the last half of this season and for the last half of most seasons under Tubby. Most of all, the sadness in the players' eyes and the lack of passion that they played with sealed the deal for me a long time ago. Tubby was toxic and he can can become the all-time biggest martyr in the history of college basketball for all I care we had no choice but to pull the plug and move on. Congrats to our AD for doing what had to be done.
 

I'm not talking about the national media or coaches,I'm talking about basketball fans around the country and Big Ten. When I told fans in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana that many fans in Minnesota felt our talent was as good as any in the Big Ten they just laughed....like hysterically. There are a lot of basketball fans down here both last week and this week. The national perspective from basketball fans is what is Minnesota doing. I told them I thought we were going to get Shaka Smart because of AD and they just smiled and asked why would be go to Minnesota when he could go to ucla.....they thought when he leaves it was going to be to a power program. All I know, is there is a lot of pressure on Teague to get a guy who is very successful.
 

It was sloppy, no doubt. I don't think he intentionally tried to have it all out there like that, but he should know, in this era, it doesn't take much. Pretty much anyone can be a leak, that meeting should have been set nice and early in the day.
 

Joel Maturi should run an investigation to get to the bottom of this........make him earn his 450K a year salary..........
 

Teague is arrogant and cocky this could be a good thing or a bad thing we'll see within the next couple of years though.
 

more then likely someone flippantly told a person without thinking of it going viral. Then the cbssportsline guy got a hold of it and off to the races.

People of all ages have yet to appreciate how the social media of today works, even through those who you think will not do anything with what is said.
 

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