How Tubby Changed the Program

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Gopher Teeth

Fear the Teeth
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Let me start by saying I have not been in the pitchfork crowd, but this season convinced me to at least consider picking-up a rake, well one of those cheap plastic ones.

Let's look at some facts, which I feel, are quite convincing. I decided to compare Monson's tenure to that of Tubby's tenure. In my mind the firing of Monson was a no brainer. I wanted to see how far Tubby was from the clear "no brainer", I was a bit surprised. I felt by comparing Monson's time at Minnesota vs. Tubby's time at Minnesota you can eliminate all these stupid excuses that always get thrown in; excuses like facilities, cold, 9th best job in B1G, facilities, etc. Both coaches dealt with these same variables so using them as excuses goes out the window in this comparison. Oh by the way, Monson should actually be given a handicap because he had to coach through the sanction years.

If you look at the average B1G finish for both coaches you don't see a big difference:
Monson years avg finish in the B1G: 7.857
Tubby years avg finish in the B1G: 7.333

So on average Tubby "improved" the program a 1/2 positional improvement in final B1G standings. To me that is devastating. On top of that Monson's contract was less than $500,000 /yr, whereas Tubby was getting just below $2,000,000. That means the U dished out an additional $1,250,000 ~ for a 1/2 of standing position improvement, again, devastating.

So in the end those people that are saying, "Oh you will be sorry now, because you got rid of Tubby. Now who are you going to get?" Well apparently we could get Dan Monson again, pay him a 1/3 of what we were paying Tubby and finish about the same. I guess I fail to see the big risk here.

Did anyone see where I put my rake?
 

The program now is so much better that the Monson era. Not even close really. I'm not a big Tubby backer but at least give the guy some credit. 3 NCAA > 1.

Monson was fired 10 games into a disastrous season.
Tubby was fired coming on a R-32 appearance.

Not a good comparison IMO.
 

I think Tubby improved upon Monson, but not by nearly as much as people might think.

It doesn't matter to a lot of people, but we've had some fun nonconference runs with Tubby, that can't be completely dismissed. It was fun watching them beat Memphis, Louisville a few years ago, etc. A lot of the Big 10 collapses sort of made us forget about these runs, but they count.

As someone else pointed out, they went to 3 NCAA tournaments compared to 1 for Monson.

However, it's not exactly fair to compare them straight up. Monson inherited the toughest situation that any coach at the U has inherited (i'll even include Mason). Sanctions in college basketball can be devastating, and Monson's record is marred by that fact.

I'm not sure if Tubby would have done much better coming off sanctions than Monson.

It's a close call. We're better today than we were when Tubby arrived, but I'm not sure if that had a whole lot to do with Tubby.
 

The Minnesota job is a more desirable job than it was when Tubby took the job. The new coach isn't going to have to build a team from scratch. Maybe it was time for a change, but Tubby wasn't the devil.
 

Monson gets a bit too much credit for his Big Ten wins considering the crapitude of the conference while he was coaching.
 


Really doesn't matter what Monson did or didn't...that isn't the measuring bar any more than Clem or Dutcher. Ultimately it is wins, losses, revenue, perception and how they compare to expectations. And in all categories, Tubby failed to meet expectations and he was fired. I am one that thought one more year is order...but I am also someone that has taken over several companies and fired almost all mgmt as part of the transition so I get understand the want to bring in your own guys. I just hope Teague is the guy he presents himself as...if he is, I think we are in very good shape moving forward.
 

How Tubby will ultimately have changed the program forever is by starting the conversation about facilities. How many even knew how badly behind we were before he made it a point of emphasis? He caught a lot of flak initially when he started demanding the school step in the modern era, and he was accused of making excuses. In the end, it's recognized now that he was right on. Not sure if you can name a building after a fired coach, but I'll always look at the completed facility as his legacy.
 

Monson seemed to start out well. His tenure seemed to unravel with the coming of Kris Humphries. In the end he needed to go because in state recruits were no longer considering the U and he seemed to have lost his players. Tubby started strong as well. He was thrown a huge curve ball by Royce. His team slid badly when Al Nolen got hurt and Devoe flunked out. In the end he had to go because in state recruits were looking elsewhere and he seemed to be losing his players.
 




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