Tubby Smith says he felt he stayed too long at Minnesota

[macgopher]

While it may be a natural reflex to compare a current to a past coach, Tubby's firing and Pitino's hiring were two different events. Tubby's firing created an opening for "a" coach, not necessarily "this" coach, so being dissatisfied with Tubby does not indicate that one must be satisfied with Pitino. It's not like breaking up with one person for the purpose of dating a specific other person.

Of course they are two different events. But one event (Tubby's firing) had to happen before the other event (Pitino hiring) could. If Tubby lasts another year or two or another year less do we still have Pitino? I doubt it, it's not like Pitino was just waiting around until Minnesota had the opening.

 

[tinyarch]

As always great post Tiny. How many time have we heard that Gophers offense was not working this year. When will you start bashing Richard for that. Maybe never. You were among those who created the culture of negativity. I can only imagine how many letters you sent to the AD in addition to all of your wonderful posts here.

Conspiracy theory? Ha. You live in a fantasy land if you think I wrote any letters to the AD.

In any case, there are things that I would like to see Pitino improve on. First, I don't like zone defenses and Pitino used that 2-3 zone far too often. He did it for the second reason that I don't like: Pitino has an out-of-balance lineup. He has undersized guards and unskilled centers. We have matchup problems with teams in the B1G because we don't have length and skill at the SF and PF positions. I didn't like how the team was sloppy with the ball. They were hectic in the press and caused some turnovers, but they remained hectic on offense and that led to their own turnovers or guys like Morris and Mathieu making bad decisions on offense. I like Coach Wooden's motto: "Play quick, but play under control."

I gave Tubby four years of grace before I saw his coaching as a less than stellar approach to basketball. You think I always disliked him because it was at year 5 of his tenure that I started posting on the GH. Tubby, seems like a nice guy, but his shortcomings as a coach led to his firing here at Minnesota. Tubby is fully to blame for what transpired.

If, after four years, Pitino still has the same problems that I mentioned above, then I will very likely point out the need for a change. I am not a fan of undisciplined basketball where mistakes are frequent and fundamentals are weak. I'm giving Pitino the grace that he is due. I won't extend it beyond that if he doesn't produce a quality basketball team over the next few years. He has to produce something better than a .500 level squad in the B1G that gets no higher than 6th place. Pitino may...or may not...be the guy who can do that.