Norwood Teague's "stones"

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EG#9

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I think this is a hugely under reported story. Lost in the firing of Tubby Smith, is that Norwood Teague fired Tubby Smith. We had a coach who had a big name nationally, was a minority (I think this still matters somewhat as evidenced by the question at the presser), and who had won an NCAA tournament game ~12 hours prior to his dismissal. We had an athletic director who was less than 12 months removed from the relative obscurity of VCU and who was replacing an athletic director who handed out extensions like candy on Halloween. The University that this new A.D. was presiding over had a long history, Brewster excluded, of giving coaches more time in the name of "Minnesota Nice".

Regardless of what you think of Teague's decision, it took huge stones to fire Tubby Smith. As a poster who felt it was time for Tubby to go, I realized how difficult of a decision that it would be for an athletic director to make, especially one who is new and unproven at his current school. The contrast to Joel Maturi, or just the U's general way of doing business, was astounding. Teague acted decisively and then handled the press conference like a pro despite some embarrassing questions from Sid and others. Instead of worrying about what Mike Wilbon would say on PTI, Teague made what he thought was the best decision for his program. I don't think a lot of AD's make the move on Tubby that Teague made yesterday...and it impresses me that he had the confidence in himself and his staff to make it.
 

Hmmm - I agree it is a gutsy decision, but I would surmise (i.e. no source) that it isn't quite as gutsy as it initially would appear. I would believe Norwood had a plan in the works for a while. You don't dump a coach of Tubby's stature and simply count on your ability to find a great replacement especially with a $2.5 million buyout in play and critical observers ready to pounce. Plus, this isn't happening in a vacuum. Norwood is involving President Kaler and the Regents to make sure there is "buy-in". My guess is they wouldn't be thrilled to have an athletic director make that sizeable a payout and then look for a coach on the come. You do your homework, lay a foundation, and act quickly to make sure nothing causes a hiccup in the plan. (Hiccups like other offers, second thoughts, not following through on commitments)

To me, this is why Norwood said we should look at the payout as an "investment". If he didn't have solid plan in place, it would a gamble, not an investment.
 


Agree. This has been an under represented aspect of the story. I will admit I was up in the air on what to do with Tubby. From a shear expectations standpoint, he deserved to go. But the buyout cost was bothering me enough to consider standing pat with him to get out from under that money (given how much buyout $$ was already being paid annually).

But I appreciate that we now have an AD, who has the strength of his convictions and belief in his own plan, even if that means making unpopular personnel and financial decisions. Whether his decision to fire Tubby will work out for the program long term remains to be seen. But Kaler and the U didn't hire Teague to be another Maturi, with search committees and pleading for advice. I'll certainly give Teague a wide berth and a long rope to execute his plan and vision.
 

I think people merely don't want to give him credit for 'having stones' until they know for certain that they don't want to ultimately bash him for selecting the new hire.
 


EG#9 said:
I think this is a hugely under reported story. Lost in the firing of Tubby Smith, is that Norwood Teague fired Tubby Smith. We had a coach who had a big name nationally, was a minority (I think this still matters somewhat as evidenced by the question at the presser), and who had won an NCAA tournament game ~12 hours prior to his dismissal. We had an athletic director who was less than 12 months removed from the relative obscurity of VCU and who was replacing an athletic director who handed out extensions like candy on Halloween. The University that this new A.D. was presiding over had a long history, Brewster excluded, of giving coaches more time in the name of "Minnesota Nice".

Regardless of what you think of Teague's decision, it took huge stones to fire Tubby Smith. As a poster who felt it was time for Tubby to go, I realized how difficult of a decision that it would be for an athletic director to make, especially one who is new and unproven at his current school. The contrast to Joel Maturi, or just the U's general way of doing business, was astounding. Teague acted decisively and then handled the press conference like a pro despite some embarrassing questions from Sid and others. Instead of worrying about what Mike Wilbon would say on PTI, Teague made what he thought was the best decision for his program. I don't think a lot of AD's make the move on Tubby that Teague made yesterday...and it impresses me that he had the confidence in himself and his staff to make it.
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I agree, Teague has most certainly a decent set of stones! If we get Shaka, or some other name coach, and have to severly overpay to do so (assumption), it really is a big gamble. Teague seems to be squeezing all the money he can out of the donors to make as big a splash as possible. Its a game changer for us.. but as we all know, nothing in life is certain. If Shaka/new coach produces Tubby like results (50% tourney) and middle of hte pack Big Ten results, the heat will be tremendous on this coach and Teague. It also could create envy from other U coaches, etc. That said, its the price of poker and I am willing to take that gamble. Hopefully it pays off in spades..but if it doesn't, it could be a train wreck. Good thing we will have a tasty and eventful thread on the GopherHole to cover said wreck!
 

The disaster scenario is that he had a "verbal" with a big-named coach and then that big-named coach changed his mind, or his wife did for him.

It's like breaking up with your pretty good looking girlfriend on the promise that the lead cheerleader will go to prom with you only to find out that your sitting on the curb outside the Holiday station on prom night drinking a Red Bull trying to figure out why you're dateless.
 

WhoFellDownTheGopherHole? said:
I think people merely don't want to give him credit for 'having stones' until they know for certain that they don't want to ultimately bash him for selecting the new hire.
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Or the credit they are giving for the stones to fire Tubby is equal to the credit he received for buying out UNC and replacing with a road game and are waiting for the hire to break that tie.
 

Cojones would be firing Tubby immediately after the tourney with no plan. We have no idea what's going on behind the scenes. So much drama.
 



I posted elsewhere that Teague has big dreams, he will succeed here and move on or fail and disappear. He won't bumble the athletic department into oblivion like the former A.D.
 

EG#9 said:
I think this is a hugely under reported story. Lost in the firing of Tubby Smith, is that Norwood Teague fired Tubby Smith. We had a coach who had a big name nationally, was a minority (I think this still matters somewhat as evidenced by the question at the presser), and who had won an NCAA tournament game ~12 hours prior to his dismissal. We had an athletic director who was less than 12 months removed from the relative obscurity of VCU and who was replacing an athletic director who handed out extensions like candy on Halloween. The University that this new A.D. was presiding over had a long history, Brewster excluded, of giving coaches more time in the name of "Minnesota Nice".

Regardless of what you think of Teague's decision, it took huge stones to fire Tubby Smith. As a poster who felt it was time for Tubby to go, I realized how difficult of a decision that it would be for an athletic director to make, especially one who is new and unproven at his current school. The contrast to Joel Maturi, or just the U's general way of doing business, was astounding. Teague acted decisively and then handled the press conference like a pro despite some embarrassing questions from Sid and others. Instead of worrying about what Mike Wilbon would say on PTI, Teague made what he thought was the best decision for his program. I don't think a lot of AD's make the move on Tubby that Teague made yesterday...and it impresses me that he had the confidence in himself and his staff to make it.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. Even with Sid taking potshots at him, Teague came off as confident in his decision while also politely letting everyone know who was in charge on this one. Kind of a "I fired this guy because he wasn't getting the job done and if you media folks don't like it, too bad" approach if you will. Not only would Maturi not have fired him, he would have thrown him a big public party for simply winning an NCAA Tournament game. Like you said, the contrast and approach between our two most recent ADs couldn't be more night and day.
 

Winnipegopher said:
I posted elsewhere that Teague has big dreams, he will succeed here and move on or fail and disappear. He won't bumble the athletic department into oblivion like the former A.D.
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So, we may have a statue of him one day or will be trying to bring the athletic department out of the ruble with him no where in sight. The more this goes on the more worried I get. Plan A seems to be going to Plan B. Maybe Plan B is good. IDK do you?
 

Scoreboard said:
So, we may have a statue of him one day or will be trying to bring the athletic department out of the ruble with him no where in sight. The more this goes on the more worried I get. Plan A seems to be going to Plan B. Maybe Plan B is good. IDK do you?
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Gone on? Tubby was fired Monday, it is now Wednesday. If Teague gets his perfect hire, they wouldn't announce until Thursday or Friday. As hard as it is to do, everyone needs to relax.
 




No brains or heart is right. As far as I am concerned Teague is on the hot seat. If he hires anyone but Flip I'd be disappointed.
 

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