Tubby named to National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame's 2026 class

[gopherbadgerman]

Tubby Smith holds the record for the highest average recruiting class rankings and highest average individual recruit ratings for the Minnesota Golden Gophers since modern online recruiting databases (like 247Sports and Rivals) began tracking data in the early 2000s. [1, 2]

Recruiting Highlights by Coach

Coach	Era	Recruiting Context & Average Standing
Tubby Smith	2007–2013	Consistently secured classes ranked in the national top 25 to top 40, regular blue-chip talent.
Richard Pitino	2013–2021	Experienced highly volatile classes, historically averaging in the mid-40s to 70s nationally.
Ben Johnson	2021–2025	Suffered from small class sizes and low national baselines, typically finishing outside the top 55.
Niko Medved	2025–Present	Head coach starting in 2025; early high school classes (e.g., 2026 class) average around the mid-20s, but have a limited sample size.

poorly worded on my part. His 2012 was the bad one.

 

[Gold Vision]

Not sure if he counts but Devron Bostick was an all world summer league player who did not hit if off with Tubby.

Yeah. There were others that left too Justin Cobbs and Devoe Joseph for his final year come to mind.

 

[Gold Vision]

Those Tubby recruits were some good guys to watch. Anybody else have the feeling about many of those guys...OH! That guy is going to be really good! And the truth with most of them...they just never really elevated their games.

Development of Rodney Williams and Ralph Sampson come to mind. Nice players, but never reached their full potential.

I don’t think we’ve seen a player like Rodney Williams though since. That dude was off the charts for the thrill factor alone.

 

[matt]

Let’s not forget Trevor Mbakwe!

 

[SelectionSunday]

Don’t forget Zach Lofton, booted before he ever played a game for the Gophers. Though that was under Pitino.

 

[Gold Vision]

Don’t forget Zach Lofton, booted before he ever played a game for the Gophers. Though that was under Pitino.

That was the name I was trying to remember last night. That was quite the drama!

 

[GooningGopher]

Let’s not forget Trevor Mbakwe!

For sure, landing him as a transfer was a big get. One of the top players of his tenure.

 

[jovs]

Not sure if he counts but Devron Bostick was an all world summer league player who did not hit if off with Tubby.

Team was better offensively when Bostick was on the court but something rubbed Tubby the wrong way. He was probably lazy on defense and that wasn't tolerated, I'm sure Tubby had his reasons for not playing him much.

 

[jovs]

Lazy recruiter his last couple years here. But probably said F it when the Admin screwed him over a year or two...

White and Mbwake both probably would have played in 2009-2010 for many schools but Maturi was still holding to the student athlete model. Hard to compete with the NC's, Louisville, Kentucky's of the world. Tubby may have let up a bit or may not have been able to compete for recruits when following totally different rules.