Tubby on being fired at U: “They wanted a younger guy. That’s what it was."

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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I'm not in to posting tons of Tubby stuff unless it directly relates to the U. He hasn't talked about getting fired here much outside of a single interview with Sid a few weeks after he was fired, but he addresses it with the Star Telegram:

If Tubby Smith should not have been forced out at Kentucky in ’07, he never should have had to leave Minnesota in ’13. He signed a three-year extension at Minnesota in July 2012, and by March of the following year — after reaching the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament — he was out. A new administration hired 31-year-old Richard Pitino, son of Rick.

“For the first time in 22 years, you get fired for winning an NCAA tourney game — that’s fine,” Smith said. “They wanted a younger guy. That’s what it was. I mean, they couldn’t say that — it would have been a lawsuit waiting to happen. But it’s fine.”

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/01/30/5528078/texas-tech-hits-on-a-winner-with.html?rh=1

Go Gophers!!
 

And so I just deleted my rant before posting it...no point. I will just say this, "Good Luck Tubby!" and move on.
 

Cannot wait to read this thread tomorrow...
/dudesettinguplawnchairgif
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no tubby, we wanted the following:

more player development
a coach that showed passion on the sidelines more than once every few games
a staff that has a reputation for recruiting hard
a coach that drew up out of bounds plays other than chucking the ball to half court
a coach that was willing to switch up defenses
a coach who's teams got better as seasons went on
a coach who didn't lose players to transfer only to see them flourish in new systems
a coach who talked about what the u has, not what the u lacks

pitino may not have all of these, but he's already shown to have a lot
 





A total fraud.

A special thanks to Go4 for pointing out some of shortcomings.
 





Come on, Tubby. Most of us here are reasonably appreciative of what you did here. It just didn't work out. Some of it (Davoe's joint, Al's foot) wasn't your fault. Much of it was. It is what it is. Don't ruin it by spewing this BS.
 

Some great responses to GH's tweet

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole">@GopherHole</a> Or someone who could develop players and create an inbounds play?</p>— Sami Kleiner (@skleina30) <a href="https://twitter.com/skleina30/statuses/429089338354192384">January 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole">@GopherHole</a> Bitter, party of one.</p>— Bob Sansevere (@bobsansevere) <a href="https://twitter.com/bobsansevere/statuses/429089652746645505">January 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole">@GopherHole</a> or someone who could keep players.</p>— louw (@jim_louw) <a href="https://twitter.com/jim_louw/statuses/429089663757070337">January 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole">@GopherHole</a> I guess Flip Saunders technically is younger, buuut...</p>— Mike Hautamaki (@hauts81) <a href="https://twitter.com/hauts81/statuses/429091062989078528">January 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole">@GopherHole</a> victim mentality. Love it.</p>— Bitterman (@jiltfast) <a href="https://twitter.com/jiltfast/statuses/429091145033850883">January 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole">@GopherHole</a> Bitter, party of one.</p>— Bob Sansevere (@bobsansevere) <a href="https://twitter.com/bobsansevere/statuses/429089652746645505">January 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole">@GopherHole</a> Haha. John Beilein is only two years younger than Tubby and I'd take him.</p>— Erik (@88Birder) <a href="https://twitter.com/88Birder/statuses/429091878613417984">January 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole">@GopherHole</a> No , we wanted a better coach !</p>— Jim Vathing (@jimsigurd) <a href="https://twitter.com/jimsigurd/statuses/429092920243654656">January 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/bobsansevere">@bobsansevere</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole">@GopherHole</a> No kidding-Tubby should be happy he got all that money from the U. Just went through the motions his last 3 years.</p>— Patrick Kleiner (@Kleino57) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kleino57/statuses/429093196669276160">January 31, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 





Defamation.

Character revealed. Again.

Those at Texas Tech will soon understand if they don't already. In the top 10% of the nation's slowest adjusted tempo teams due to an exceptionally slow offense. Yes, his up-tempo, Run N Gun brand of basketball has already arrived in Lubbock.

Probably felt good for Tubby to lash out. Hoping for 12 wins this year and your best player is a senior. Gonna be UGLY down there.
 


Is this an Onion article or for real? I'd love to dig this article out in a few years.

I've seen a few comments like this out of Dallas before, though. I seriously don't think they pay much attention to basketball there, and the Tubby "name brand" built in his early years at Kentucky is all they pay attention to. 99% of focus in TX is on football.
 

WanderingGopher said:
I seriously don't think they pay much attention to basketball there, and the Tubby "name brand" built in his early years at Kentucky is all they pay attention to. 99% of focus in TX is on football.
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Similar to when they hired Bobby.
 

Don't get me wrong, I still think the U could have handled the firing much better...and not have let it leak out. He deserved that, he ran a clean program, and is a HOF coach...which is why I can see why he's bitter. It also would have made a lot more sense to fire him the previous year, but we don't even need to get into that. I also really don't think it was an age thing, it was a passion thing. If we offered the job to Flip Saunders (who is only a few years younger than Tubby) that doesn't scream "ageism."

But honestly, it's all these reasons that Go4 outlined, and more...like winning a few games in February, didn't do hockey substitutions...I could go on and on, but he's a good man, and I wish him well. Even if he doesn't do well, he's going to come out of this with millions and millions, the guy was smart about that.

Go4 said:
no tubby, we wanted the following:

more player development
a coach that showed passion on the sidelines more than once every few games
a staff that has a reputation for recruiting hard
a coach that drew up out of bounds plays other than chucking the ball to half court
a coach that was willing to switch up defenses
a coach who's teams got better as seasons went on
a coach who didn't lose players to transfer only to see them flourish in new systems
a coach who talked about what the u has, not what the u lacks

pitino may not have all of these, but he's already shown to have a lot
Click to expand...
 



We needed a coach who gave a $h!t about beating teams we had no business losing to, gave credit where it was due for the team's success, and placed blame where it was due when the team stunk up the place. If John Wooden still has a desire to coach and wanted to come here and change this program, I think Gopher fans would be more than happy with that. Tubby should be thrilled that he can utilize that "I just want to collect a paycheck" attitude at a school that focuses 99% of its energy on football.
 

Right at this moment, his replacement has a higher career Big Ten conference winning percentage than he had. It was taking a risk in order to do better than we had been doing. THAT's what it was.
 

Ignoring major character issues (like arrests or other off the court problems), I think there are two things that fanbases will almost never forgive coaches for:
1) Mid-season collapses where a team stumbles down the standings
2) Late game collapses where a team loses games that should have been in the bag

Tubby had problems with both of those. There is no way we should have lost that Illinois game in the BTT the last year (and there were many others where his late game prevent offense squandered a lead which should have been bullet proof). However, when you take a team that was at one point ranked number 8 in the country, and then fail to get one of the top 8 seeds in your own confernece tournament by the end of the year, people are going to be upset.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Ignoring major character issues (like arrests or other off the court problems), I think there are two things that fanbases will almost never forgive coaches for:
1) Mid-season collapses where a team stumbles down the standings
2) Late game collapses where a team loses games that should have been in the bag

Tubby had problems with both of those. There is no way we should have lost that Illinois game in the BTT the last year (and there were many others where his late game prevent offense squandered a lead which should have been bullet proof). However, when you take a team that was at one point ranked number 8 in the country, and then fail to get one of the top 8 seeds in your own confernece tournament by the end of the year, people are going to be upset.
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100% dead on. His teams quit on him at times, because there was no plan! When you offense is passing the ball around for 30 secs and jacking up and off balance 3, something isn't right. The game has passed Tubby by...its changed and he hasn't.
 


If the Gophers finish above .500 in the Big Ten and make it to the NCAA tourney this season, I think GH should line up an interview with Tim Brando.
 

SelectionSunday said:
If the Gophers finish above .500 in the Big Ten and make it to the NCAA tourney this season, I think GH should line up an interview with Tim Brando.
Click to expand...

Hahahaha

Really though, that article look like something you would have read here in 2008 when we were dissing Kentucky.

"Tech wants a guy who will stick, and Smith wants a place that will appreciate competitive basketball and a 20-win season. Tech has not won 20 games in a season since 2006-07, and an NCAA Tournament game since 2005. If Tubby Smith somehow manages to win with this roster this season, build the man a statue."

Trust me, if you get there (20 wins), and then plateau, that will get old, just like it did here. No one wants to just stagnate like that, especially if the basketball isn't the most aesthetically pleasing. It's human nature, at first it's fun, you have visions of the future, what it might bring. But when that potential never gets realized and you just sit where you were pretty much your first year, that's no good. I'm not saying marking down 20 wins a year is a bad thing, but you'd like to get rewarded with a "special" year here and there, you know, maybe a +.500 conference record every so often, things like that. I don't need, nor expect to be a perennial 25+ win program (though I think it's possible here), but give me something in a few years to remember fondly, like a deep tourney run, or a 30 win year once or something.
 


I was happy when he was hired.
I was happy he was the U coach during his tenure.
I was happy when the U hired Rich.
 

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