2013 College hoops coaching carousel thread

Minnesota did the right thing with Tubby. It wasn't working for either party.

Shaka?

Sorry, UCLA. VCU is working on an contract extension to keep Shaka Smart. Should have an agreement soon

https://twitter.com/SIPeteThamel

 

Tricky part for Minnesota is that they need to win AND be exciting. That sports market has four pro teams plus three revenue teams at the U of M.

On top of this, Minnesota is the only commuter school in the Big Ten currently. That's always been a hard draw for area high school kids. If they want the "real" college experience in the Big Ten, they go to Wisconsin for the same price with the tuition agreement.

 

"Contract extensions" mean nothing, nothing, nothing. You would think grown adults would know that in 2013.

 

What does that mean? Minnesota was as good as it has been since George Dohrmann found out the program was cheating.

 

I'm wondering if Minnesota is making the same mistake now they made when they fired Glen Mason in 2006.

Seven years ago, Minnesota was a "6" but thought they were an "8" in football after Mason's run. What followed? Brewster and Kill. Two coaches who lost to I-AA and non-BCS schools and helped drive the program back into the ground. I think Kill is a decent coach but he winds up in the hospital twice a year.

This often happens when mid-level programs believe they should be with the elites of a conference. Happens to Arkansas every few years in football and men's basketball as well.

Trouble is, when you hit the reset button over and over again, you don't really make progress. You just keep cutting severance checks that should be earmarked for, I dunno, a new basketball practice facility.

 

Looking back, Clem Haskins had two seasons at Minnesota more than slightly better than what Tubby Smith did this year.

 

Last time I checked there were a shitload of dorms on the U of M campus. Not sure where you're getting the "commuter" tag. Unless, of course, you consider Ohio State a commuter school too since it's the other Big 10 school in a big city.

 

In the 70s and 80s, the commuter school thing was true at Minnesota (I know because I was one of them), as huge numbers of students were living at home, but they have made a concerted effort to get students to live on campus and done what they can to make it feel like a college campus. Between that, and the proximity to non-campus attractions in Minneapolis and St. Paul, it's a much more desirable college experience now.

The Glen Mason firing looks worse now than it did at the time because nobody imagined they would make a hire as disastrous as Brewster. There was a clear sense that the program had peaked and was falling - Mason seemed to have become resigned to 7-win seasons and worn himself out trying to keep up with programs with so many more advantages than his, and his recruiting had fallen off greatly (that's part of why Brewster did so bad; the main reason, though, is that he was a horrific coach). Also, the public was absolutely tired of their ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and the bowl game loss against Texas Tech was the last straw.

It actually does feel the same in some ways right now with Tubby, but if they hire the right guy - and Teague is said to know what he's doing, unlike Maturi- this one might work out.

 

Mason looks better with each year but I remember the Tech bowl debacle and nearly losing 10-9 to ND State in his final year. He was... on shaky ground ever since the botched punt vs Wisconsin in 2005.

 

Dan Monson! What glorious times those were.

I'm wrong about Tubby?

You need to look deeper than just relying on the national media and statistics if you want to understand the situation in Minnesota. Here, let me help:

In the end, Norwood Teague made the right call. The only call, truthfully.

He had to swallow hard and pay Tubby Smith his $2.5 million buyout. He had to fire his first coach as Gophers athletic director. The men’s basketball program couldn’t move forward with status quo.

If the buyout provision wasn’t a hang-up, the basketball component made for an easy decision because the program had grown stale under Smith with no signs of improvement on the horizon. If Smith couldn’t finish better than ninth in the Big Ten with his best team in six seasons, what does that say about his coaching?

We could recite a laundry list of reasons why a change is necessary, but Teague’s decision came down to two truths: Smith suffered a crisis of confidence within his fan base and the school was concerned about the program’s future, particularly as it relates to the recruitment of three highly ranked juniors in the Twin Cities — Tyus Jones, Rashad Vaughn and Reid Travis.

Smith brought respectability and national recognition to the school in wake of the Dan Monson mess. But his tenure, as a whole, didn’t measure up to those grand expectations that pulsated throughout Dinkytown on the day of his arrival.

Smith failed to finish above .500 in any Big Ten season. His players displayed little improvement over their careers. His teams nose-dived in February. He routinely criticized players publicly without taking accountability. His half-court offense, substitution patterns and in-game coaching were confounding.

This simply couldn’t go on any longer. Teague had to realize that, too, as he evaluated the program the past few months.

The Big Ten is a basketball powerhouse right now. The league is ridiculously competitive and anchored by some top-tier coaches. Teague is a savvy basketball man who doesn’t want to settle for a mediocre program.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/199959481.html

Pat Reusse last week:

The state of coaching also explains the dilemma faced by Norwood Teague, the Gophers’ athletic director, when it comes to Tubby Smith. Teague doesn’t have the younger, full-of-steam Tubby to take on this extra-challenging Big Ten. He has a Tubby who has overseen teams that became completely unglued in conference play for three consecutive winters.

These Gophers lost 11 of 16, went 8-11 against Big Ten opponents and backed into a No. 11 seed in the NCAA tournament. The backing in could continue on Friday night: The Gophers have stumbled into UCLA — a No. 6 seed flawed by a lack of depth and a recent injury to standout Jordan Adams.

A victory over UCLA would be Smith’s first in the NCAA in his six seasons at Minnesota. There’s a strong sentiment (from here, anyway) that one win won’t be enough for Teague to keep Tubby.

Maybe Florida, the No. 3 in Austin, Texas, could get waylaid by Northwestern (La.) State, giving Tubby’s bunch an easier path to a Sweet 16. That would be a job-saver, but it wouldn’t change what lies ahead for the Gophers in the Big Ten.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/199272901.html

When Haskins was at Minnesota Gopher basketball tickets were the hardest ticket to get in town. That is far, far from the case now.

Be competitive. That's all you have to do at Minnesota other than hockey. Be competitive. Tubby couldn't do that. Nice man from what they say, but the coaching business has a lot of moving parts. There are three high school juniors in Minnesota who Minnesota had no shot at. Should Minnesota get all three? No. Maybe one, maybe none. But at least be able to make a case.

Look at the players who left the program. That happens all the time, kids get run off. Part of the deal. But look who left and what they did after they left.

Is Minnesota a top job? No. But it can be better than what it is right now. Again, be competitive. That's all.

You say Haskins Minnesota record compares to Tubby's? Again, a national media take. Look deeper. Not just the overall numbers.

Coming back to the number of students living on campus, over the last few years there has been a lot of residence hall and apartment construction that has gone on and continues.

 

Bobby Hurley replaces Reggie Witherspoon at Buffalo. First big hire for new AD.

 

Mason was a fuckin' fraud. His entire program was based on whipping up on NAIA Division 7 teams in the preseason and the cripples of the Big Ten.

Against Big Ten teams with records of .500 or better, his career average at Minny was about .300.