Tubby Smith on Minnesota: "It may be the first or second toughest job in the Big Ten."

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NoelarBear

NoelarBear

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interesting read. thanks for the interview. tubby loved a good excuse, he found them and shared them often. he got screwed with the royce/trevor year, that team was loaded for a final four run. dude is a good human, but he had a surly personality. he'd get crushed in the transfer portal/nil era.
 

I am not sure I would say it's a tougher job than Northwestern, Nebraska or Rutgers, but this job certainly has it's +/-'s. My hope with Ben is as someone who is from here, grew up here, played here, was an assistant here, he would understand those as well as anyone and really focus on the pluses. Barn is old, but we have a state of art practice facility, there's a lot of local talent coming out of this state and that's not going to slow down anytime soon. The right guy can definitely win here, whether that's Ben or not, well we will find out
 


I hope Ben succeeds and I believe he has the right qualities. But Tubby is not wrong here. This is a really tough job and it puts a rookie coach in a very bad place with a steep uphill climb to success.
Fans have begun to draw the conclusion that it just ain't gonna happen here- thus the apathy and small crowds. Ben gives people who are tuned in a ray of hope with 2 straight nice recruited classes but the average fan doesn't know that.
 


well, now that we are in the age of "legal" cheating with NIL, it comes down to $$$.

if some rich dude decided to create a Gopher Hoops NIL collective and threw in $10-Million or something like that, MN could be a 'better' program in a hurry.

as Carlos Correa would say, if you're shopping at the Dior store, you have to expect to shell out more money.
 


I don't doubt that there's a lot of negative recruiting going on, and you can't hide the truth: school is in session through the cold part of the year, basketball is a winter sport, and the cold snaps here are brutal. This city is a measure colder than Madison, Milwaukee or Ames. The north isn't for everyone.

The other thing that isn't for everyone is the big-city lifestyle. I'm sure many parents would rather have their kids at a smaller-town school. For me, Minneapolis-St. Paul beckoned...but I was born here (grew up in a small town), and I think I returned back like a homing pigeon or a salmon.

I do think there's a corrosive culture of inferiority complex and self loathing in this community, and I don't think it helps anyone trying to sell this place as a destination.
 

bga1 said:
I hope Ben succeeds and I believe he has the right qualities. But Tubby is not wrong here. This is a really tough job and it puts a rookie coach in a very bad place with a steep uphill climb to success.
Fans have begun to draw the conclusion that it just ain't gonna happen here- thus the apathy and small crowds. Ben gives people who are tuned in a ray of hope with 2 straight nice recruited classes but the average fan doesn't know that.
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100%
It's tough and like you said, the average fan doesn't pay much attention to recruiting to know things should get better.
They just see a terrible season last year, looking like an even more terrible one this year and likely a terrible one next year also unless those 2 freshman can carry them.


Sigh...
 



Monson- unproven at this level - was the hot young coach when Gonzaga was a cinderella
Tubby- proven winner but past his prime and low energy
Pitino- 1 year of head coaching experience - young
Ben - No head coaching experience

Not one proven coach in his prime

= 20+ year struggle

Ben is up against it. He can do it if he begins to break through by next year. Next year is the fulcrum year.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
Is this a tough job because we have hired coaches who couldn't get the job done? Edit: Monson obviously in a tough spot due to the self-imposed sanctions, but it has been quite awhile since those were lifted.
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The sanctions were self-inflicted, not self-imposed.
 





bga1 said:
Monson- unproven at this level - was the hot young coach when Gonzaga was a cinderella
Tubby- proven winner but past his prime and low energy
Pitino- 1 year of head coaching experience - young
Ben - No head coaching experience

Not one proven coach in his prime

= 20+ year struggle

Ben is up against it. He can do it if he begins to break through by next year. Next year is the fulcrum year.
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+o4
 


short ornery norwegian said:
well, now that we are in the age of "legal" cheating with NIL, it comes down to $$$.

if some rich dude decided to create a Gopher Hoops NIL collective and threw in $10-Million or something like that, MN could be a 'better' program in a hurry.

as Carlos Correa would say, if you're shopping at the Dior store, you have to expect to shell out more money.
Click to expand...
Agree, there are no bad jobs in basketball anymore, NIL is changing that, If a school like Cal Baptist can be competitive anyone can be.
 

It really shouldn't be one of the toughest jobs. I just don't buy that. I think we've just hired horribly (I'm not counting Ben yet).

We are a state with a ton of local talent.
  • Even if you miss out on the very best, you can add talented local kids every single season.
  • We have realistic expectations. If you put out a competitive team and make a few tourneys, you're good. I strongly believe if our bad years weren't so bad, RP would still be the coach.
  • If you finish over .500 and make the tournament every otherish year, you're Golden.
 


It's a tough gig, but like I said there are plenty pluses. I personally think the Barn is only negative if you view it that way, if you're winning and it's juiced suddenly it's charming, if you lose, doesn't matter what arena you're in, no one is going to come. We have the facilities and we turn out enough high major talent a year to be competitive, doesn't mean we can go pride on ice, but if we get our share and continue to build other pipelines that will take care of itself. Gotta focus on what you do have and the things that we do well, everyone has pros and cons, our major con is lack of booster support which will lead to struggles in the NIL department and funding in general. There just aren't enough dumb rich people willing to throw away tens of millions of dollars on amateur athletic glory for no financial return in these parts
 

Haskins first couple years were terrible. 86-87 I think. He had several recruits (Burton, Coffey, Shik) that got a lot better by the time they were Juniors/Seniors). I think they won 2 games or so Haskins first year and not much better the second. Is there no patience for this kind of build anymore? Maybe this team will follow that path? who knows right now.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
It really shouldn't be one of the toughest jobs. I just don't buy that. I think we've just hired horribly (I'm not counting Ben yet).

We are a state with a ton of local talent.
  • Even if you miss out on the very best, you can add talented local kids every single season.
  • We have realistic expectations. If you put out a competitive team and make a few tourneys, you're good. I strongly believe if our bad years weren't so bad, RP would still be the coach.
  • If you finish over .500 and make the tournament every otherish year, you're Golden.
Click to expand...
Our guy Norwood fired Tubby for going to the tournament every other year.
 



It was stereotyped a bad job for many reasons back in the day.
1. Used to be no facilities.
2. No idea where this is at now, but it was very tough to get players into school compared to other colleges. Tougher standards and requirements.
3. Before the Big Ten Network windfall we were always trying to compete on the cheap.
Coaches had no budgets to get things done, pay assistants etc.
4. Administration was not athletic department friendly and so it was just tough to establish change.
5. Williams Arena and it's negatives
Add Tubby's: The weather, the scandals, all the losing seasons.
Add the no boosters with money.

There were more things like this I've forgotten but I think maybe some of that lingers giving us a
bad reputation. To be successful in coaching you need an AD who is your biggest fan. One who gives you what you need. He has your back. Fights fires behind the scenes. Coyle doesn't seem to check all the boxes but he seems to fully fight for his football and basketball coaches.

Truly believe in 2022 the right coach can win at Minnesota.
 
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Bob_Loblaw said:
"If you finish over .500 (forgot to include in the Big 10) and make the tournament every otherish year, you're Golden."

Tubby never once finished over .500 in the the Big Ten and still got 6 years.
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And I do believe Ben will get the same opportunity.
 


Go4 said:
interesting read. thanks for the interview. tubby loved a good excuse, he found them and shared them often. he got screwed with the royce/trevor year, that team was loaded for a final four run. dude is a good human, but he had a surly personality. he'd get crushed in the transfer portal/nil era.
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High Point is having a much better season so far under GG than they ever did under Tubby for whatever that's worth.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
Our guy Norwood fired Tubby for going to the tournament every other year.
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It was a combination of Norwood wanting his guy and the recruiting being on an obvious down trend. He wasn't fired for that season or his overall results. But it was pretty obvious that a 2nd round NCAA exit was going to be Tubby's peak at MN whether it ended then or 4 years later.
 

howeda7 said:
It was a combination of Norwood wanting his guy and the recruiting being on an obvious down trend. He wasn't fired for that season or his overall results. But it was pretty obvious that a 2nd round NCAA exit was going to be Tubby's peak at MN whether it ended then or 4 years later.
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I'd crawl through broken glass for a 2nd round exit within the next 2 years.
 

The best excuse is the big city is not for everyone lol. The Twin Cities are not big lol. Chicago is not big for that matter. People need to get out more.
 

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