Is Tubby Smith a Hall of Fame coach?

Will Tubby Smith be inducted into the Hall of Fame

  • Yes - absolutely, stupid question

    Votes: 24 35.8%

  • No - he will not

    Votes: 15 22.4%

  • Maybe - if he bombs at TT, he's out, if he turns them around, he's in

    Votes: 28 41.8%
  • Total voters
    67
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GopherJake

GopherJake

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We've heard it hundreds, if not thousands of times - Hall of Fame Coach Tubby Smith. Is he deserving?
 

GopherJake said:
We've heard it hundreds, if not thousands of times - Hall of Fame Coach Tubby Smith. Is he deserving?
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I'd have to say yes. While it isn't as clear cut as one may have thought based on how his career started. I think he has still done enough to make the hall of fame.

Rick Pitino I would call a clear cut choice, Tubby is a bit more cloudy. However, I think he does deserve to make it.
 


Won an NCAA tourney game at four different schools, got to at least the second round of the tourney every year he was at Kentucky. it didn't go the way we all hoped it would at the U, but I would say Tubby did enough at Tulsa, Georgia and Kentucky to get in. Plus at the very least he left to program in much better shape for Pitino than what he inherited
 

Such decisions are subjective and therefore I think he'll be in.

However, Texas Tech is going to be an absolute disaster. OOFTA.
 


i don't see him making it unless he makes TT relevant. if he has 2-3 really bad seasons (which is why i see him not getting in) its really going to hurt his legacy in my opinion b/c of the struggles here at times followed by the struggles there. makes him look as though it was the talent he inherited at kentucky and not his coaching skills. however if he makes TT relevant again, he's definitely in.
 


I voted maybe... from a longevity standpoint, he is in. If he does well @ TT, he is a no brainer.
 

The dude has had such a pronounced career arc it's hard to get a fix on exactly what he is and how good he is. You can make a case that, for about a decade, there was no more effective and accomplished coach in the nation. But the arc declines severely in his later seasons at Kentucky, and it's clear that, for whatever reasons, he was simply not the same coach by that time as he was at Tulsa, Georgia and early UK. Honestly, I don't know if I've ever seen anything like it. Even Friend of Tubby was left scratching his head on the lack of a breakthrough at Minnesota.
 



How many coaches with 1 national championship (also just the one final four appearance) are in the hall of fame?

I don't know, but I'd guess that when you sit down and look at the numbers and compare them to others in the HOF, he will not measure up. But as others have said he's been referred to as a "hall of fame coach" for so long now and his peers and national media like him, so he might just get voted in.

At one point he may have been a great college coach, but after he climbed to the top of the mountain from Tulsa to GA to Kentucky, things got challenging again and he no longer had the hunger or desire to claw his way back to the top. Happens to many people in many fields.
 

Bad Gopher said:
You can make a case that, for about a decade, there was no more effective and accomplished coach in the nation. But the arc declines severely in his later seasons at Kentucky, and it's clear that, for whatever reasons, he was simply not the same coach by that time as he was at Tulsa, Georgia and early UK.
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Tubby Smith coached for 10 seasons at Kentucky.

First 5 years: 132-43 (.754) overall, 59-21 (.738) SEC, 1 national title, 1 other Elite Eight, 3 SEC regular season titles
Second 5 years: 131-40 (.766) overall, 61-19 (.763) SEC, 2 Elite Eights, 2 SEC regular season titles

Other than winning the national championship in his 1st season, he was basically the same coach the first half of his Kentucky tenure as he was for the second half. He actually won at a higher rate overall and in the SEC in the second half. But that's not what those pushing their agenda would have you believe.
 

WanderingGopher said:
How many coaches with 1 national championship (also just the one final four appearance) are in the hall of fame?
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Coaches with 1 national championship and only 1 Final Four in the HOF
Everett Dean
Bud Foster
Don Haskins
Howard Hobson
Everett Shelton


Tubby Smith has a better winning percentage than all of them and more wins than all except Haskins.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Coaches with 1 national championship and only 1 Final Four in the HOF
Everett Dean
Bud Foster
Don Haskins
Howard Hobson
Everett Shelton


Tubby Smith has a better winning percentage than all of them and more wins than all except Haskins.
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Also, John Chaney never even went to the Final four and he is in. There might be others.
 




dpodoll68 said:
Tubby Smith coached for 10 seasons at Kentucky.

First 5 years: 132-43 (.754) overall, 59-21 (.738) SEC, 1 national title, 1 other Elite Eight, 3 SEC regular season titles
Second 5 years: 131-40 (.766) overall, 61-19 (.763) SEC, 2 Elite Eights, 2 SEC regular season titles

Other than winning the national championship in his 1st season, he was basically the same coach the first half of his Kentucky tenure as he was for the second half. He actually won at a higher rate overall and in the SEC in the second half. But that's not what those pushing their agenda would have you believe.
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I said it was a career arc, not a career gabled roof. The curve drops off severely his last two years at UK. It's impossible to know if he would have recovered if he'd stayed, but he probably wasn't going to have the option of staying. Burnout can develop suddenly. There's no shame in running out of gas; high achievers do it all the time. It's clear that he continues to look for a gear he used to have but doesn't anymore.
 

Hall of Fame coach? Not sure. Hall of Fame human being? Absolutely.
 



"But as others have said he's been referred to as a "hall of fame coach" for so long now and his peers and national media like him, so he might just get voted in."

+1 I think his numbers match up just enough with some others in the HoF, but his tenure here was not up to par for his career. IMO he banked enough credits before coming to MN to get in.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

I didn't realize there was a separate "National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame," not simply the 'regular' basketball Hall of Fame (Naismith) in Springfield.

The NCB "Hall of Fame" was created in 2006 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). The NABC inducts members (coaches, players, contributors) to the Hall of Fame. Lo and behold, Tubby Smith is on the board of NABC and was NABC President a few years back. So you've got to like his chances. :)

Also, it seems that the NABC inducted about 50 or 60 coaches among its initial inductees in 2006, and several per year after that. That's a lot of "hall of fame" college basketball coaches.
 


Bad Gopher said:
I said it was a career arc, not a career gabled roof. The curve drops off severely his last two years at UK. It's impossible to know if he would have recovered if he'd stayed, but he probably wasn't going to have the option of staying. Burnout can develop suddenly. There's no shame in running out of gas; high achievers do it all the time. It's clear that he continues to look for a gear he used to have but doesn't anymore.
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He was on his way to win big at UK again. He had brought in Jodi Meeks and Jasper. JM was a great player. Unfortunately, as many would say, Tubby is the unluckiest coach in this business. Jasper was injured and that's how Tubby's last season ended. He was a 6.5 PG that was a matchup problem for anybody. Tubby got screwed by refs against Izzo, otherwise, he would been in another FF. His team at the U would have made history if TM and RW played in that season. Tubby is a great coach. Even people at UK have let it go. Tubby raised the bar here but will never get such a credit.
 


However disappointing his run here turned out to be, Tubby had a Hall of Fame spot locked up before ever coming to Minnesota.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Which bar? The bar that Monson set or the one set by the guy that cheated for a decade?
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Whether anyone likes it or not, the bar was set by Musselman, Dutcher and Haskins. It's easy to dismiss Musselman's success, but neither Dutcher nor Haskins cheated to get players here, and they both proved you can put together a national title contender at Minnesota. That's the bar.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Whether anyone likes it or not, the bar was set by Musselman, Dutcher and Haskins. It's easy to dismiss Musselman's success, but neither Dutcher nor Haskins cheated to get players here, and they both proved you can put together a national title contender at Minnesota. That's the bar.
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If you consider Elite Eight (as a 6 seed) to be a national title contender, sure. I think most wouldn't.
 

For the record, I would probably say "yes" he will be a half of fame coach. His national championship will always (unfairly) have an asterisk beside it because it was year one of his tenure at Kentucky. That's a different debate though.

As for his tenure at Minnesota, I think it was a disappointment. If any of us would have been told that he would win one tournament game in six years the day he was hired, it would have been classified as a disappointment. He wasn't brought in just to "raise the bar" and frankly he wasn't paid at that level either.
 

dpodoll68 said:
If you consider Elite Eight (as a 6 seed) to be a national title contender, sure. I think most wouldn't.
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I'm referring to 1982, when Minnesota was a #2 seed and ended the regular season as the #7 team nationally in the AP poll and #6 in the UPI.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I'm referring to 1982, when Minnesota was a #2 seed and ended the regular season as the #7 team nationally in the AP poll and #6 in the UPI.
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Fair enough for Dutcher, but you said that "they both proved you can put together a national title contender at Minnesota". Haskins never put together a national title contender.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Fair enough for Dutcher, but you said that they "both" proved you could put together a national title contender. Haskins never put together a national title contender.
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He damn sure did.

Like I mentioned, there are people who don't like to recognize where the bar is at.
 

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