Open Letter to Joel Maturi ---

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millions2spare

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OLD POST FROM MARCH 2010-Resurrected! Open Letter to Joel Maturi ---

Joel, I am making this appeal to your common sense and to your stated objective to have a top tier basketball program. Tubby Smith knows what it takes to become a Basketball Power. You have made the correct choice in hiring him and now it is time to release full reign of the basketball operation to his leadership. As you know, he has proven in his past jobs at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, and during his three years at Minnesota that he knows how to win. He is a future hall of fame Coach. If it is truly your desire to be a per-annual basketball power, then it is time to give him absolute control.

Some other Universities perception about Minnesota are that we are not serious about putting together winning programs for major Athletics. Ever wonder why Bo Ryan or Tom Izzo's name rarely are mentioned for other jobs? Unless we change that perception by giving Tubby everything he needs to be successful, his name will continue to surface for every fresh opening in the country. He will get an offer from another program willing to do what it takes
and he will take the offer.

To fund all the minor sports the University is so proud of, obviously, you need to have a successful and profitable basketball and football program. Schools like Kentucky, Florida, Michigan State, Wisconsin have very profitable Athletic Departments. We should make sure we model our athletic department after their success .

Tubby has stated that the program needs a new practice facility to be able to recruit the top players. Let's get the project started- you can make it happen! Also, Joel, you need to trust him to manage player misconduct issues and give him final authority over how these situations are handled in the future. Regarding Academics and class room requirements, I would suggest that we have an audit to make certain that our policies are on par with these other major programs.

Joel, you made a great hire in Tubby Smith. Now it is time to trust him to manage the program.
Your legacy and the course of future of Gopher Basketball depends on what happens with Tubby Smith.

Thank You,

Millions 2 Spare
 

Wow something intelligent insightful and positive from millions 2 spare

+1000
 

millions2spare said:
Joel, I am making this appeal to your common sense and to your stated objective to have a top tier basketball program. Tubby Smith knows what it takes to become a Basketball Power. You have made the correct choice in hiring him and now it is time to release full reign of the basketball operation to his leadership. As you know, he has proven in his past jobs at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, and during his three years at Minnesota that he knows how to win. He is a future hall of fame Coach. If it is truly your desire to be a per-annual basketball power, then it is time to give him absolute control.

Some other Universities perception about Minnesota are that we are not serious about putting together winning programs for major Athletics. Ever wonder why Bo Ryan or Tom Izzo's name rarely are mentioned for other jobs? Unless we change that perception by giving Tubby everything he needs to be successful, his name will continue to surface for every fresh opening in the country. He will get an offer from another program willing to do what it takes
and he will take the offer.

To fund all the minor sports the University is so proud of, obviously, you need to have a successful and profitable basketball and football program. Schools like Kentucky, Florida, Michigan State, Wisconsin have very profitable Athletic Departments. We should make sure we model our athletic department after their success .

Tubby has stated that the program needs a new practice facility to be able to recruit the top players. Let's get the project started- you can make it happen! Also, Joel, you need to trust him to manage player misconduct issues and give him final authority over how these situations are handled in the future. Regarding Academics and class room requirements, I would suggest that we have an audit to make certain that our policies are on par with these other major programs.

Joel, you made a great hire in Tubby Smith. Now it is time to trust him to manage the program.
Your legacy and the course of future of Gopher Basketball depends on what happens with Tubby Smith.

Thank You,

Millions 2 Spare
Click to expand...

Send it to him. Don't post it here. You'll find his e-mail on Gophersports website.
 

millions2spare said:
Also, Joel, you need to trust him to manage player misconduct issues and give him final authority over how these situations are handled in the future. Regarding Academics and class room requirements, I would suggest that we have an audit to make certain that our policies are on par with these other major programs.
Click to expand...

P.S. Joel....give Mark Dienhart a call...he trusted his basketball coach.
 

Couple thoughts:
* Granting absolute control to a U of M basketball coach hasn't worked out so well in the past. I believe Tubby Smith's character is such that we wouldn't head down the path we experienced with Clem, but then I never thought Clem Haskins would turn the U of M into a rogue program either. What's the saying? Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
* Tom Izzo's name has been mentioned often whenever top-flight coaching opportunities come around, whether with the NBA or as recently as last year with Kentucky and Arizona. Different caliber of programs, yes, but his name still pops up. If Tubby were to lead the Gophers to a Final Four or two, it wouldn't be Auburn and Virginia that are whispered about, but perhaps the top-end jobs, if Tubby's age still makes sense for a rebuilding program.
 


Look folks....we have to trust Tubby to run the program....he knows what it takes...I question whether or not the University really wants to have a top tier basketball program....Joel is so proud of his Tier 2 programs that quite honestly, most people are not emotionally involved with and frankly unless you have a kid playing for one of these teams, no-one cares that much about ...

Florida, kentucky,MSU, Wisky....give control of their various programs to the coach......I understand the fear regarding the Clem era.........but...we cannot let fear be our guide.....do we want to be a top tier power or not?
If not, then we should not expect to keep Tubby and expect continued mediocrity in Athletics..
 

m2s...You made your point in the OP. You do not need to continue to justify by responding to other posters. But other than redundantly repeating yourself, your OP is food for thought.
 

Jamie Pollard at Iowa State summed it up:

Dear Matt,

Thank you for your email. Several thoughts for you to ponder.

Although I appreciate your passion and desire to write me, I only wish you had the same passion in helping be part of the solution by joining the Cyclone Club or being a season ticket holder. Our records indicate you have never made a donation, purchased season tickets or even purchased a single game ticket from our department. Unfortunately, athletics is like politics - people have a lot of answers but never many solutions.

For someone who claims to be a Cyclone fan for as long as you can remember, it it amusing to me that you never have supported the program that you so claim to love. Rather than spending time worrying about what Orr, Grayer, Hornacek, and others would think - I think you should be more worried about yourself. Your email is actually rather embarrassing given your lack of action.


Thanks again for your email. I do appreciate it. I also hope you give some thought to my question about joining the Cyclone Club or purchasing season tickets. You can't expect better results if all you are willing to do is sit on the sidelines and write an email to the Athletics Director.


Go Cyclones!
 





The academic requirements are set by the NCAA not the U or Tubby himself. Al Nolen is ineligible per the NCAA. That decision was not made by Maturi or Tubby. Instead of getting his act together in the classroom and making up the necessary work, Nolen was allowed to practice, play, and travel like nothing was wrong. We all knew around Christmas time that he was going to be ineligible, yet he continued to play and travel when his butt should've been locked in study hall. This means Tubby wanted to get everything he could out of Nolen before the hammer came down.
 

Ok, first thing I think of when reading millions of missed layups post is Lou Holtz. This has nothing to do with Tubby. Wasn't Holtz so trusted that he influenced enough people and they decided the Dome was the answer, not Memorial Stadium? Just throwing that out, may or may not be relevant, but I just don't think coaches should have too much power. I'm in no way saying "don't give Tubby what he needs", I'm just saying be careful.
 

Where did the notion come from that Izzo is never mentioned for other jobs. As recently as last year, he was mentioned for NBA jobs and Kentucky. As fans, it's obviously frustrating to have to go through this dance every year, but it comes with the territory when you have a successful coach. Also, it has something to do with longevity with the program. If Tubby had been here five or six years already, his name would still be coming up for other jobs, but not as often.

As for giving Tubby total control of the program, we know how that worked before with Clem and it can't happen again. Those were the rules when Tubby joined and those will continue to be the rules. I doubt if Tubby is asking for that control either. This program will be around long after Tubby ...and Maturi are gone. I would never endorse full control for a coach in any institution, regardless of how highly I thought of the coach.
 



millions2spare said:
Look folks....we have to trust Tubby to run the program....he knows what it takes...I question whether or not the University really wants to have a top tier basketball program....Joel is so proud of his Tier 2 programs that quite honestly, most people are not emotionally involved with and frankly unless you have a kid playing for one of these teams, no-one cares that much about ...

Florida, kentucky,MSU, Wisky....give control of their various programs to the coach......I understand the fear regarding the Clem era.........but...we cannot let fear be our guide.....do we want to be a top tier power or not?
If not, then we should not expect to keep Tubby and expect continued mediocrity in Athletics..
Click to expand...

I think it's quite possible to have a top tier program without ceding total control to the coach. I know that Tubby has a clean record but I've been a fan long enough not to believe it is wise to give that much control to a coach.
 

Art Vandelay said:
The academic requirements are set by the NCAA not the U or Tubby himself. Al Nolen is ineligible per the NCAA. That decision was not made by Maturi or Tubby. Instead of getting his act together in the classroom and making up the necessary work, Nolen was allowed to practice, play, and travel like nothing was wrong. We all knew around Christmas time that he was going to be ineligible, yet he continued to play and travel when his butt should've been locked in study hall. This means Tubby wanted to get everything he could out of Nolen before the hammer came down.
Click to expand...

That is not true. They let Nolen continue to play because they believed they had a legitimate chance for the NCAA to grant him a waiver. If they granted it, he would have been allowed to play the rest of the year.
 

The original post bases his entire argument on two falsehoods.

1) Izzo's name has popped up for numerous jobs in the last several years. MSU folks thought he was gone more than once.

2) Bo Ryan does not have "total control" when it comes to disciplinary action. In fact, it is just the opposite. Wisconsin has a student/faculty-run board that determines punishment/discipline.

But, go ahead and keep blaming Joel Maturi for things that aren't even real. And, once and for all, Tubby suspended Royce. Period.
 

Art Vandelay said:
The academic requirements are set by the NCAA not the U or Tubby himself. Al Nolen is ineligible per the NCAA. That decision was not made by Maturi or Tubby. Instead of getting his act together in the classroom and making up the necessary work, Nolen was allowed to practice, play, and travel like nothing was wrong. We all knew around Christmas time that he was going to be ineligible, yet he continued to play and travel when his butt should've been locked in study hall. This means Tubby wanted to get everything he could out of Nolen before the hammer came down.
Click to expand...

completely irrelevant and missing the point of the letter.

you're horrible at trolling btw.
 

Some good points in the OP. Giving Tubby complete control is never going to happen. However, I do think Maturi needs a kick in the pants to get going on the Practice Facility. I also don't appreciate the 'whoe is us, we can't give Tubby a raise, we have a salary freeze' comments turning up in the paper. Tubby's been here 3 years with no extension. Get him a new contract, a small reasonable raise to go along with it, and get moving on the Practice Facility. He'll have to reason to want to leave then. And any coach who succeeds him would expect the same anyway.
 

"Loss of Institutional Control" is a real issue for the NCAA. You can look it up, Millions.

Supreme irony for my fellow veterans of GopherHole: I now sound like Wren. ..... :eek: Like the broken clock, Wren was right every 720 posts or so.
 

Let me clarify a couple points....Thanks for the comments by the way........regarding control, I am saying more along the lines of letting Tubby set the course and direction and have Maturi and the administration actively support him. It is well known that Tubby wanted Mabwkee to play this year. I think when the real Royce White story comes out, you all might be a bit surprised. Also, the practice facility is a requirement that was promised Tubby. Regarding Academic standards---yes the raw GPA standards,etc are set by the NCAA. However, different schools have various curriculum set in place for student athletes. I want to make sure ours are the same as the other top athletic schools. That is the purpose of the audit.........I do not advocate that Tubby or any coach have HANDS on access to tutors,etc. That IS setting any program up for failure and a major conflict of interest. It is BEST to have coaches be arms length away from that. But the Curricula can be set up at the institutional level.
 

millions2spare said:
Let me clarify a couple points....Thanks for the comments by the way........regarding control, I am saying more along the lines of letting Tubby set the course and direction and have Maturi and the administration actively support him. It is well known that Tubby wanted Mabwkee to play this year. I think when the real Royce White story comes out, you all might be a bit surprised. Also, the practice facility is a requirement that was promised Tubby. Regarding Academic standards---yes the raw GPA standards,etc are set by the NCAA. However, different schools have various curriculum set in place for student athletes. I want to make sure ours are the same as the other top athletic schools. That is the purpose of the audit.........I do not advocate that Tubby or any coach have HANDS on access to tutors,etc. That IS setting any program up for failure and a major conflict of interest. It is BEST to have coaches be arms length away from that. But the Curricula can be set up at the institutional level.
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'real' royce white story? whens that due to come out? i figured we'd had it 6 ways from sunday already
 

millions2spare said:
Regarding Academics and class room requirements, I would suggest that we have an audit to make certain that our policies are on par with these other major programs.
Click to expand...

This is set by the NCAA, not by the University of Minnesota. I am sure they could have stricter standards if they so chose, but the ones that Al Nolen violated were those of the NCAA.
 

millions2spare said:
Let me clarify a couple points....Thanks for the comments by the way........regarding control, I am saying more along the lines of letting Tubby set the course and direction and have Maturi and the administration actively support him. It is well known that Tubby wanted Mabwkee to play this year. I think when the real Royce White story comes out, you all might be a bit surprised. Also, the practice facility is a requirement that was promised Tubby. Regarding Academic standards---yes the raw GPA standards,etc are set by the NCAA. However, different schools have various curriculum set in place for student athletes. I want to make sure ours are the same as the other top athletic schools. That is the purpose of the audit.........I do not advocate that Tubby or any coach have HANDS on access to tutors,etc. That IS setting any program up for failure and a major conflict of interest. It is BEST to have coaches be arms length away from that. But the Curricula can be set up at the institutional level.
Click to expand...

Name one school that has a set curriculum for athletes. Unless that same curriculum is available for the general student body, it can't exist.
 

I'd sure like some independent confirmation of your statements real or implied:
  • It is well known that Tubby wanted Mabwkee to play this year. Unless you've got some attribution one way or another, how do we know that Tubby was willing to play Mbakwe while the trial was pending? I suspect if anyone misled Tubby as to when the charges would be resolved, it was likely Trevor's attorney who indicated around Christmas that the charges may be dropped because the prosecution had lost track of the victim. But that's just speculation.
  • I think when the real Royce White story comes out, you all might be a bit surprised. Maybe ... but, again, without attribution, who knows? You imply that you know "something" but haven't provided any information that would give you more credibility over anyone else who speculates here.
  • Also, the practice facility is a requirement that was promised Tubby. Maturi has been pretty consistent in saying that the baseball stadium is first priority and the basketball practice facility immediately follows. I guess if Maturi were to get a dedicated donation that would advance the practice facility, he'd not look a gift horse in the mouth. But short of that, seems like Tubby knows what the sequence of priorities is and that Maturi has stayed true to his "promise." If you actually know something different and can attribute it, I'm more than willing to change my opinion but nothing substantial has come forward.
 

Rick Mons said:
I'd sure like some independent confirmation of your statements real or implied:
  • It is well known that Tubby wanted Mabwkee to play this year. Unless you've got some attribution one way or another, how do we know that Tubby was willing to play Mbakwe while the trial was pending? I suspect if anyone misled Tubby as to when the charges would be resolved, it was likely Trevor's attorney who indicated around Christmas that the charges may be dropped because the prosecution had lost track of the victim. But that's just speculation.
  • I think when the real Royce White story comes out, you all might be a bit surprised. Maybe ... but, again, without attribution, who knows? You imply that you know "something" but haven't provided any information that would give you more credibility over anyone else who speculates here.
  • Also, the practice facility is a requirement that was promised Tubby. Maturi has been pretty consistent in saying that the baseball stadium is first priority and the basketball practice facility immediately follows. I guess if Maturi were to get a dedicated donation that would advance the practice facility, he'd not look a gift horse in the mouth. But short of that, seems like Tubby knows what the sequence of priorities is and that Maturi has stayed true to his "promise." If you actually know something different and can attribute it, I'm more than willing to change my opinion but nothing substantial has come forward.
Click to expand...

This is the best post regarding this situation in a long time
 

What is this about the "real royce story?"

We all know he shoplifted some stuff and then pushed a guard.

We know he didn't steal the laptop. We know the UofM PD dragged on the case way longer than they should have and then pushed the trespassing deal to save face.

We know he did well in school.

What else is there to know?
 

Joel is so proud of his Tier 2 programs that quite honestly, most people are not emotionally involved with and frankly unless you have a kid playing for one of these teams, no-one cares that much about ...
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What else does the man have to be proud of for heavens sake?
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Ok, first thing I think of when reading millions of missed layups post is Lou Holtz. This has nothing to do with Tubby. Wasn't Holtz so trusted that he influenced enough people and they decided the Dome was the answer, not Memorial Stadium? Just throwing that out, may or may not be relevant, but I just don't think coaches should have too much power. I'm in no way saying "don't give Tubby what he needs", I'm just saying be careful.
Click to expand...

OK, at the risk of being OT can you elaborate on this a bit? I believe Holtz arrived here several years after the Gophers were playing in the Dome. Perhaps there were ongoing discussion about a remodel / rebuild or something? At any rate, I'd like to know just for curiosity sake.
 

M2S I hope you have actually sent Maturi your note. I have as well. I simply stressed that Tubby has earned a raise and extension in line with what he's accomplished, especially since Brewster got one. Further, that I don't understand comments crying poor and claiming we 'can't' possibly give him a raise while we're one of the most profitable programs in America. And finally stressing action on the practice facility and asking if small donations could be directed towards it specfically.

That letter someone posted from the Iowa State AD had a good point. Don't b!itch if you're not willing to make at least a modest effort to put your money where your mouth is. I live too far away to buy season tickets, but I would be happy to make a small contribution if I knew where it was going.
 

maxwellsmart said:
OK, at the risk of being OT can you elaborate on this a bit? I believe Holtz arrived here several years after the Gophers were playing in the Dome. Perhaps there were ongoing discussion about a remodel / rebuild or something? At any rate, I'd like to know just for curiosity sake.
Click to expand...

They were, but it was on a trial basis. Holtz convinced the Regents to make the move permanent b/c he said he could recruit better with the Dome. Then he left the U and we all got the chance to attend games in a traditionless wasteland.
 

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