Fire Orlando "Tubby" Smith

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Teams that want to win, don't care what the national media has to say. You have to look at the past 6 years as a whole. It is a fact that Tubby has significantly underachieved. He has brought more talent here, but that has not resulted in more B1G wins.

Waiting another year for him to underachieve solves nothing. There may be a chance, albeit slim, that one or two of the big three does stay. Firing Tubby after next year lowers that chance to absolute 0.
 

HIRE THIS MAN:
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Bad Gopher said:
I don't see this as an easy decision for Teague. I do see some valid opinions on both sides. Whichever way he goes, he needs to be decisive and quick. It would be best if this decision were made previously and he's operating from a plan of action. I mused on another post that I wouldn't be surprised if he's been in touch with Flip and even told him, "Be ready." I stick by that. The degree to which Flip has been active and visible around town is eye opening. Did he really chat up Tyus after the HS championship game?
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Very well said.
 




Whatever happens, can we be assured he won't leak that he's fired to the Startribune and then have to hold a press conference saying 'well if this were just about wins and losses he'd be fired, but it's not.'
 

MRJ said:
I agree. However, given that our choices for next year's prospects are somewhere between mediocre and just plain bad, it's a matter of long term versus short term imo. If we keep him, somebody will say its about money. But it certainly looks like this team is going nowhere with or without Tubby at the moment. Maturi would NEVER have fired Smith under these circumstances. Teague doesn't seem as hesitant to pull the trigger and seems more willing to take chances. We'll see just how much so in the coming days.
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Did Ellis and Foster suddenly become Top 20 recruits?
 




I say keep him. Won the 1st NCAA game in 15, years...20+ if you count the cheating. No way anyone has the balls to can him, IMO...

Plus who would they really get that is better?
 





howeda7 said:
Whatever happens, can we be assured he won't leak that he's fired to the Startribune and then have to hold a press conference saying 'well if this were just about wins and losses he'd be fired, but it's not.'
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Ha! Too true. Maturi couldn't have handled that entire situation any worse than he did. The leaks from his own department, the backtracking, the 24 hours of silence, the "I'm not going there" the horrible vote of confidence for Monson, etc. I felt bad the way he left Monson and the staff hanging for an entire year.

Let's just hope we hear something one way or another within 48 hours. The program needs the definitive direction one way or another. Either Tubby is our guy or we're going in a different direction.

Go Gophers!!
 


Roland Brooks said:
He will be gone dont worry folks... he will be gone.
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Based on what? Norwood's the only one that knows. I love all the rumors coming from the 'big donors.' Please. If we had any big donors we'd have a practice facility yesterday.
 

howeda7 said:
Based on what? Norwood's the only one that knows. I love all the rumors coming from the 'big donors.' Please. If we had any big donors we'd have a practice facility yesterday.
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Well, that's false. "Big Donors" are wealthy because they are smart with their wealth and invest it at the proper time. They don't cut a check to build buildings without having a set strategic plan or vision for the department (which Norwood is working on). That's the different between wealthy and "rich." Alumni relations 101.
 

howeda7 said:
Based on what? Norwood's the only one that knows. I love all the rumors coming from the 'big donors.' Please. If we had any big donors we'd have a practice facility yesterday.
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There's no way you'd find a coach with a better resume. You don't have a practice facility, you have an old out dated arena, one of the coldest climates in the USA and a lack of elite talent in the regional area though 2014 is an exception to that.

You're not going to compete for Big Ten titles or National titles with those things working against you. Plus there is IU, OSU, MSU, WU, UM, UL, and Purdue who all have more success overall than Minnesota in terms of history. It's a huge uphill climb. Can you honestly say the program is not in a better place than it was the day Tubby arrived?

Tubby has been to 3 NCAA tournaments in 6 years, won a game on top of that. No other coach has even come close to that other than the one who cheated. The fact that the big ten is the best conference in the country the last 3 years has something to do with your conference record overall though. Compared to the history of the program, he's exceeded expectations and you can assure it's been clean the whole time. I don't know, I think some of you people are delusional.
 

As far as Flip, well, as far as we'd hear a lot more "as far as's if he was as far as the new coach, as far as the coaching situation is as far as having Flip as far as our new coach....as far as. Listen to the Friday Funkawhatever and listen to how many times this man uses "as far as"
 

Tubby

GopherNation said:
Love Tubby. Great effort tonight. Needs to step up the recruiting though.
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A=Completely agree. He has found two very nice players in the Hollins'--both underrated coming out of high school and both belong starting for a major program. He picked up a nice transfer in Mbakwe. The rest of the current group we're either terribly overrated coming out of high school--Williams and Coleman come to mind--or they are simply bad news. I'll reserve judgement on Mo Walker since I saw some real promise his freshman year that has not been evident this year. Tubby may or may not be a good "x & o" guy--I can't make that judgement--but I can evaluate talent and this is a very weak athletic bunch and it jumps out at you. Not a single future NBA guy on this team--both Hollin's will be able to make a nice living playing European ball if they choose and perhaps Mbakwe, but no one else comes close. The good news is that the Hollins' both return next year and we'll have Mo and Eliason back. If we can find two players from the incoming freshman/red shirt freshman class, we could have a decent year.
 

CrocShots said:
Well, that's false. "Big Donors" are wealthy because they are smart with their wealth and invest it at the proper time. They don't cut a check to build buildings without having a set strategic plan or vision for the department (which Norwood is working on). That's the different between wealthy and "rich." Alumni relations 101.
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Unless someone is holding a check for the facility over Norwood's head and saying 'fire Tubby and it's yours' how are they a factor in the decision. If they loved Gopher basketball enough to make the donation, they probably did it already. If not, this isn't going to change it. If there's a T. Boone Pickens, or Phil Knight you let him effect your hiring decisions. We don't have one.
 

For those saying we shouldn't get a new coach until there is a practice facility, you have to realize that a pracitce facility will never exist without donor money. Do you think people are going to donate millions of dollars with the current coaching situation? Give them a reason to get excited and have some optimism. If Flip wants the job, it would be foolish not to give it to him. I think with a hire like that, there will be new excitement and optimism around the program and the money will come for a facility.
 

I would oppose firing him, because my sense of meritocracy suggests that if we won't fire him after his worst year or his second worst year here, it makes no sense to fire him after his best season here.

However, I wouldn't be terribly upset if they did. When we were ranked number 8 and 3-0 in conference, Tubby had every chance to make this the kind of season where no one would be able to suggest firing him without looking like a total moron. And then, instead of doing they, he went through stretches where the team absolutely wet the bed.
 

CrocShots said:
Well, that's false. "Big Donors" are wealthy because they are smart with their wealth and invest it at the proper time. They don't cut a check to build buildings without having a set strategic plan or vision for the department (which Norwood is working on). That's the different between wealthy and "rich." Alumni relations 101.
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this is about the dumbest response anyone could render. A practice facility is not a financial investment that yields big returns. It's an effin donation to your school because you love your school and want to see it prosper, it's not a stock or bond investment you idiot. Vision or no vision any rich old man that follows basketball knows a practice facility is essential to being competitive. So if you love your school enough, pony up otherwise shut up. It's really that simple. One could even start his own fund among his rich friends if he supposedly doesn't like the current AD. It's just the reality that there isn't enough private captial to get it done.
 

notagopherfan said:
this is about the dumbest response anyone could render. A practice facility is not a financial investment that yields big returns. It's an effin donation to your school because you love your school and want to see it prosper, it's not a stock or bond investment you idiot. Vision or no vision any rich old man that follows basketball knows a practice facility is essential to being competitive. So if you love your school enough, pony up otherwise shut up. It's really that simple. One could even start his own fund among his rich friends if he supposedly doesn't like the current AD. It's just the reality that there isn't enough private captial to get it done.
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You completely missed his point.
 

notagopherfan said:
There's no way you'd find a coach with a better resume. You don't have a practice facility, you have an old out dated arena, one of the coldest climates in the USA and a lack of elite talent in the regional area though 2014 is an exception to that.

You're not going to compete for Big Ten titles or National titles with those things working against you. Plus there is IU, OSU, MSU, WU, UM, UL, and Purdue who all have more success overall than Minnesota in terms of history. It's a huge uphill climb. Can you honestly say the program is not in a better place than it was the day Tubby arrived?

Tubby has been to 3 NCAA tournaments in 6 years, won a game on top of that. No other coach has even come close to that other than the one who cheated. The fact that the big ten is the best conference in the country the last 3 years has something to do with your conference record overall though. Compared to the history of the program, he's exceeded expectations and you can assure it's been clean the whole time. I don't know, I think some of you people are delusional.
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A coach with a better resume? No. A coach who will achieve better results? Quite possibly. The arena itself is not a big issue. It's still a pretty sweet home court advantage. The practice facility is a big issue. You either trust the AD is going to deal with it or you don't. This is still ~ a top 30 job. There's a reason we got Tubby in the first place.
 

I have always been a big Tubby fan and have always taken up for him on here. Even I have had enough though.

Six years in. One tournament win. Best team he has ever assembled winds up the 9th seed in the B1G tournament and then doesn't play into the tourney's second week. More talent graduating this year than is coming in next year.

It makes me really sad to type this, but it is time to pull the plug.

Hiring a new coach won't solve all the problems, but it will solve one big one.
 

do we have systemic weaknesses in our program? yes. can we compete with the KUs, Dukes, MSUs, IUs. NCs? No. but stop settling for mediocrity. if you cant understand why Tubby won't cut it after all these years you aren't watching close enough.
 

I've read some less than stellar responses on this thread.

The idea of keeping Tubby because we'll be worse next year as a reason to keep him... that's comedy gold.
 

How long do you think the process from securing the funding to the grand opening of the practice facility would take?
 

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