Goodbye Tubby, Hello.....??/ Rich Pitino

[toughguy]

I'm happy to see Tubby go. Let's talk about who will be coming in to replace him.

My money is on Flip. Randball tweeted that the new coach has already given a verbal commitment.

[toughguy]

Maybe not.

Dan Barreiro ‏@DanBarreiroKFAN Tweet:

If there is indeed already a verbal agreement in place for replacement, it is NOT Flip Saunders.

I take that as he just talked to him.

[CodyDawg]

Wahooo!!!!! Awesome!

[alleyes]

I'm holding out hope for Flip...

[Scott K]

I heard Flip has also got a call to run the show back with the Wolves

[toughguy]

From StarTrib report:

If the report is true, coaches at the top of the search list would include Shaka Smart and Anthony Grant — both of whom worked for Teague at VCU. Smart is still the coach at VCU, while Grant is the head coach now at Alabama. Brad Stevens, who took Butler to back-to-back NCAA title games, also has a good relationship with Teague. Former Wolves coach Flip Saunders, a U of M alum, would also be a candidate. Minnesota could also look at a top assistant at another school.

While at VCU, Teague and administrator Mike Ellis — who followed Teague to Minnesota — formed Villa 7, a two-day conference designed to put college basketball assistants in contact with athletic directors to help advance their careers.

[SkunkedAgain]

While I'm fine with the move in general, I'm not happy with the supposed $4-6 million price tag that comes along with the buyout(s). Our recruiting class for next year sucks. This program has sucked for a long time. I would have rather sucked for a modest price instead of putting the program into deeper debt and sucking for a higher price!

[nofishfisherman]

From what I've read Tubby's buyout can't exceed $2.5 million based on the wording of his contract.

I am also fine with it in general but I'm wondering how big of a step back we'll see after the transition. Normally recruiting is tough during a coaching transition like this.

[skee0025]

Who needs to win the lottery when you have the U of M athletics as your employer.

[Slabasaurus]

I am also fine with it in general but I'm wondering how big of a step back we'll see after the transition. Normally recruiting is tough during a coaching transition like this.

I think we just saw the last NCAA tournament appearance by the gophers this decade.

Funny thing though I am relatively indifferent about it.

[ozzie]

If they get Shaka Smart we won't have to worry about being out coached and I think our recruiting will gain as I bet we could land one of the 3 if not all 3 of the big names in MN high school basketball right now!

[toughguy]

Slabasaurus,

We need a driver and a winner. Things are gonna change I can feel it.

[Slabasaurus]

Slabasaurus,

We need a driver and a winner. Things are gonna change I can feel it.

haha, well played sir

[Scott M]

ESPN.com

Minnesota has fired coach Tubby Smith, deciding to buy out the remaining four years of his contract a day after the Gophers' ouster Sunday in the NCAA tournament's round of 32 with a loss to Florida.

The Gophers had signed Smith, 61, to a three-year extension through the 2016-17 season in July.

"Tubby has had a long and distinguished career and we feel it's time for a fresh set of eyes for our student-athletes and our program in general," Minnesota athletic director Norwood Teague said in a statement released by the school. "We are grateful to Tubby and his entire staff for their hard work and dedication to this University, our students and the entire Minnesota community. We wish Tubby, Donna and the entire staff well."

Smith was making close to $2 million annually, with a $600,000 base salary plus 5 percent annual raises he had been entitled to since 2008 and supplemental compensation of $1.2 million.

"I want to thank the University of Minnesota and the people of Minnesota for giving me the opportunity to lead the Golden Gopher basketball program for six years," Smith said in the news release. "Our staff did things the right way and will leave knowing that the program is in far better shape than when we arrived. The people of the state of Minnesota embraced Donna and me from the beginning and we will always be grateful."

The former Kentucky coach's contract states if his deal was terminated before April 30, 2016, the university will pay one-half of his base salary and supplemental compensation for each of the remaining seasons on the contract. The total amount cannot exceed $2.5 million.

The 11th-seeded Gophers were 21-13 and 8-10 in the Big Ten after the 78-64 loss to the No. 3 seed Gators.

In 2012, they finished with 23 victories, the most by the program since the 1996-97 Final Four season that was later erased by NCAA punishment, but they needed a run to the NIT championship game to get there.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo was taken aback at the news of Smith's firing, saying the coaches' wives were close.

"It'll be a loss for this league and a loss for college basketball if he doesn't stay in it," Izzo said. "He's got integrity beyond belief and let me tell ya, he's been in some tough situations. I'll close it up by saying it bothers me, saddens me."

[Scott M]

Tubby Smith fired as U of M basketball boach

by Michael Rand, Star Tribune

Tubby Smith has been fired as Gophers men’s basketball coach, U of M Board of Regents Chairwoman Linda Cohen confirmed Monday. Cohen said she received a phone call from U of M President Eric Kaler on Monday telling her of the news. The Gophers athletic office later put out a press release confirming the news.

Smith’s contract comes with a $2.5 million buyout — a number that jumped from $1.5 million after he signed an extension last summer shortly after Norwood Teague took over as Minnesota’s athletic director. He also gets $150,000 for making the round of 32 this year, a $250,000 retirement contribution and three months severance (base plus supplemental salary), which totals about $450,000. That’s a total of $3.35 million.

“I think it’s a national issue. I hope maybe across the country we’ll begin to address it,” Cohen said of the big money in college athletics. “But I think the athletic director will figure all that out and how they’re going to address it.”

Smith led the Gophers to three NCAA tournament appearances in his six seasons on the job as well as the team’s first official NCAA tourney victory since 1990 on Friday against UCLA, but it wasn’t enough to save his job. He had a 124-81 career record at Minnesota, including 46-62 in the Big Ten.

“Tubby has had a long and distinguished career and we feel it’s time for a fresh set of eyes for our student-athletes and our program in general,” Teague said in a statement. “We are grateful to Tubby and his entire staff for their hard work and dedication to this University, our students and the entire Minnesota community. We wish Tubby, Donna and the entire staff well.”

Said Smith in a statement: “I want to thank the University of Minnesota and the people of Minnesota for giving me the opportunity to lead the Golden Gopher basketball program for six years. Our staff did things the right way and will leave knowing that the program is in far better shape than when we arrived. The people of the State of Minnesota embraced Donna and me from the beginning and we will always be grateful.”

Coaches at the top of the search list would include Shaka Smart and Anthony Grant — both of whom worked for Teague at VCU. Smart is still the coach at VCU, while Grant is the head coach now at Alabama. Brad Stevens, who took Butler to back-to-back NCAA title games, also has a good relationship with Teague. Buzz Williams (Marquette), Fred Hoiberg (Iowa State) and Jay Wright (Villanova) are other names to watch. Former Wolves coach Flip Saunders, a U of M alum, would also be a candidate. Minnesota could also look at a top assistant at another school.

While at VCU, Teague and administrator Mike Ellis — who followed Teague to Minnesota — formed Villa 7, a two-day conference designed to put college basketball assistants in contact with athletic directors to help advance their careers.

[Scott M]

Okay, here goes. I was thrilled to hear Tubby was coming back in 2007. I had a friend back in Kentucky that I told I couldn’t believe they were kicking this man to the curb. He came in and in his first season with what I felt was a bare cupboard, the man won 20 games and showed intensity. Players scrapped and worked hard. The program was clean, Tubby and his family embraced this community and for this, regardless of record, we can thank the man for his time in Minnesota.

Expectations were ratcheted up in his second year when he started signing 4 star recruits. The team made a couple NCAA tournaments but couldn’t advance. Little did we know it was more than spinning-of-wheels. After what ended up being halfway through his tenure as MN coach, expectations were high. That’s when Tubby got into trouble. He scared off some tremendous talent, couldn’t make these 3 and 4 star recruits better developmentally, and found his team crushed by injuries. But remember, injuries happen to all teams. When you don’t have the depth to overcome these issues, it reflects poorly on a coach making the kind of money Tubby made and at a Big Ten school.

Tubby always had the X’s and O’s warts… line change substitutions, team inability to execute an inbounds play, poor halfcourt offense, gameplans that don’t seem to capitalize on player strengths, players that look scared to make mistakes, quick exits for players that make mistakes…you get a group of tentative and unaggressive players.

The last 3 years have been really disappointing, for sure the last two and I’m still trying to make sense of this year. The Devoe Joseph and Nolen gets hurt and we have no point guard depth fiasco, the lack of depth when Mbakwe went down last year, and this year’s maddeningly inconsistency. It was frustrating seeing this team lose to some inferior squads and then hear Tubby blame the players. I’d listen to his soundbites and it sounded like mumbled clichés. I could tell that if he lost me as a fan, he certainly had to have had a lost locker room.

I’m glad that Tubby came here. Where Dan Monson righted the ship was in running a clean program. Where Tubby righted the ship was in running a clean program, setting player conduct standards, doing charitable work, embracing the community, but at the end of the day, you need to win. 46-62 in the Big Ten is not getting it done. Even Monson had better years. 6 years is long enough to know what you have. This year was the most maddening, because the man told us all he had the most talented team yet. He got a 6th year for Mbakwe. He had no more excuses. And the team fell apart through the second half of the schedule. It was a recurring theme with his teams, their mental fragility. By the end of the year, I thought the Gophers landed about where they should have been, somewhere between the 16th and 32nd best team in the land. How he coached in the NCAAs didn’t really make a difference (although there were more X’s and O’s problems); it’s the 6 year sample size that betrayed him.

Overall, it’s hard to be an alumnus and a huge Gopher fan and see administrative apathy towards football and basketball. Maturi loved to point to all the non-revenue sports that blossomed over the last 10-15 years at the U and won titles. Men’s and Women’s Hockey, Golf, Dance, Track, a good “northern” baseball team, etc. That’s all fine and good, but honestly, nobody cares. In the 60’s, the Gophers were a great football team. During a few periods, the Gophers had some great basketball teams. But a lot of them were wiped out of the books for various scandals, cheating, etc. That sucks. That Minneapolis can’t have a good football and basketball collegiate team is disappointing. Chicago has the same problem with DePaul, Northwestern, University of Chicago, etc. It’s embarrassing. The city and state have unbelievable resources and plenty of reasons to bring in recruits and good teams. The static about weather and nightlife and facilities and all the other excuses are ridiculous. There are plenty of good football and basketball teams that are in the same latitude as Minneapolis.

Right now I’m pretty disappointed in the administration and AD. Not that they fired Smith, but that it leaked out. That’s classless. They’re on the hook to Tubby, Monson, Mason, and Brewster for buyouts. What does that say about the person that signed all those extensions? What does it say about the state of the program? With all the millions spent in buyouts, we’d be that much closer to basketball practice facilities. It’s looking like an incompetent administration; they can’t figure out a way to sell beer at TCF bank stadium at a profit, think North Carolina is too tough for the Gophers to play in football so they buy the game out, and now they are buying out their 4th coach in about 6-7 years. All I can say is they better have a darn good replacement for Tubby in hand.

[SkunkedAgain]

Yup, so $2.5 million for his buyout, plus the UofM will need to pay the buyout cost for whatever coach we hire - assuming that its a coach that is currently employed. That's how you get into $5-$6 million range just on the buyouts. Plus then we will need to pay the salary for the new coach.

This is an expensive decision that we fans/media forced the UofM to make, yet the University already maxed out its credit card. Terrible mismanagement.

[DTro]

People should not be outraged at losing, they should be outraged at all the money being pssssd away to fund sports.  I bet there are 100 other coaches that would have like to have played competitively in a third round   tournament game 

 

The BB and FB programs here in at the U are just never going to be an every year competitor…it just isn’t going to happen…period.  Not even if you bring in Coach K or Saban.    We need to accept a mediocre team and a once a decade run.  Its all you are going to get.

 

They had a good fit in Tubby and not only did he bring in good players,  he put a competitive team out on the floor every year.

 

They are making the same mistake the football program made when they let Mason go

[SkunkedAgain]

+100

[Rick]

If not accepting mediocrity in our Football and Basketball programs is a mistake then I'm all for not accepting mediocrity just because it's what has been

[CodyDawg]

I am not about to accept mediocrity. Why would we? Other teams can do it, we can too with the right administration and the right coaches. Tubby was not the answer and I laughed out loud at his comment about leaving the program better than when he got it. Really? How? In fact, I see it the other way. he left this program worse off than when he got it. The cupboard isnt completely bare, but it surely isnt brimming with talent. Andre is legit. Austin would be okay off the bench. Elliot can have his moments. There may be some hope for Wally. That is it. That is what he is leaving us with. He never accomplished squat either. 9th in the B1G with "his most talented team". If people are satisfied with that, then hey, they will enjoy the Twins this year too!

[SkunkedAgain]

For me it's not about the talent at this point, or being satisfied or dissatisfied with Smith, it's about the $$. We may want to win, but at the moment the UofM can't afford to do it. Apparently we were all wrong, the buyout will cost $3.35 million just for Tubby, plus you can double that for the buyout we'll need to pay the new coach...plus the $800k for backing out of the UNC football game...plus the $$$ still owed for buying out Monson and Brewster's contracts.

I won't donate to the University if this is how they waste my money. I don't want to lose, but I don't want to pay a premium to keep losing:

Quote:

Smith’s contract comes with a $2.5 million buyout — a number that jumped from $1.5 million after he signed an extension last summer shortly after Norwood Teague took over as Minnesota’s athletic director. He also gets $150,000 for making the round of 32 this year, a $250,000 retirement contribution and three months severance (base plus supplemental salary), which totals about $450,000. That’s a total of $3.35 million.

[rundrave]

I think this more so has to do with the rise of the other big-10 teams contributing to Tubby getting fired. The gophers can't fall further behind in recruiting and performance than they already are.

Also I was listening to the press conference while listening to kfan and Sid Hartman just needs to hang it up. On top of the article he wrote today I wish he would just spare the rest of us and be done.

[Getanet]

Football we might never be a regular force in. We don't have the tradition (at least in the time current recruits have been alive) and the state doesn't produce enough elite football players.

But there's no reason we can't be a very good bball team year in and year out. I was so shocked and excited when we first landed Tubby, but he never met the expectation that came with his resume.

If we get the right coach, we could compete for the Big 10 title and do well in the tourney on a regular basis.

[DTro]

Ok, maybe for the right amount of $ anyone can be a winner. Is that what everyone really wants???

Its shameful.

There is nothing wrong with mediocrity in college and high school sports, leave the business aspect to the professional level and let schools focus on education.