As a Memphis State alum who has always bled orange (except when MSU hoops was good back in my day and we never played UT), I can say that UofM screwed the pooch in an unforgettable way by bringing in Tubby...when we could have rescued Bruce Pearl from Auburn purgatory.
Bruce would OWN the city of Memphis right now if we had brought him in to recruit and develop all that native talent. He would have Memphis in the Show every year with a good chance of making the Final Four.
Nothing against Tubby, but this looks like a retirement job for him.
I prefer to let Tubby have a chance. He's made lemonade out of lemons in quite a few places. He's been in Memphis one year and coached a team that wasn't his.....and in a city where the expectations are about as
reasonable as in Knoxville.
Just to be clear, I think Tubby's record speaks for itself, and I think the "retirement" line is utter BS. Winners don't look for a place to retire, he isn't going to punk his son like that and leave him with a bad reputation, and Tubby certainly doesn't need the money.
Here's the other thing about Memphis fans -- most think that if the city is on lock-down recruiting-wise, we will win national championships. Not true, and never will be. Forget NYC, LA, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and all the other major cities.... even the metropolitan cities like L'ville and St. Louis have just as much or more talent than Memphis. Sure, a few once in a life time players came from Memphis (Penny, Elliot Perry), but the difference makers (Derek Rose, CDR, Tyreke Evans, Barton) did not come from Memphis. I live in Memphis and have a lot of 901 pride, but I also realize that you have to recruit nationally, and Tubby has national connections and a lot of respect to go along with it.
@ Tulsa:
Two consecutive Missouri Valley Conference regular season titles and two appearances in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in 1994 and 1995. Smith's 1994 Tulsa team upset UCLA in the tourney's first round before knocking off Oklahoma State. In '95, the Golden Hurricane defeated Big Ten team Illinois to open March Madness.
@ Georgia:
In two seasons, he led the Bulldogs to a 45–19 record, including the first back-to-back seasons of 20 wins or more in school history. His teams achieved a Sweet 16 finish in the 1996 NCAA Tournament and lost in the first round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs defeated Clemson to open the '96 tournament before upsetting the top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers.
@ Kentucky:
In his first season at UK, he coached the Wildcats to their seventh NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, including a come-from-behind victory against Duke in the Elite Eight. His 1998 national championship is unique in modern times, as being the only team in over twenty years to win without a first-team All-American or future NBA lottery pick.
@ Minnesota:
In Smith's first season, the team improved from 8–22 in 2006–07 to 20–14 in 2007–08, and reached the Big Ten Tournament semifinals after defeating second-seeded Indiana. In the 2008–09 season, Smith led Minnesota to a record of 22–11 and a bid to the NCAA tournament, where the team was eliminated in the opening round. In the 2009–10 season, Smith's team struggled throughout the year with off court issues and close losses. However, in the Big Ten Tournament, Smith guided the team to win three games in three days to advance to Minnesota's first ever appearance in the Big Ten championship game. Though it lost that game, the team's run vaulted it into the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year, where it again lost in the first round.
@ Texas Tech:
On March 13, 2016, the Red Raiders were selected to participate in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Smith was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year for orchestrating the turnaround. On March 8, Smith was named as the Sporting News Coach of the Year for his rebuilding effort.
:hi:
