Tubby Smith...

[olblue.sixpack]

So a guy who is on his 6th D1 coaching stop thinks too many players transfer.

I bet the folks at the UofM think that number 7 can’t come soon enough.

 

[FlotownDawg]

Tubby is so far out of his league it’s not even funny. He’s like a dinosaur in the current basketball world. And definitely a terrible fit at Memphis.

 

[stateu1]

They are paying that clown $3.5 mill. The Penny Hardaway talk really has started to gain some traction. They are 17n stupid if they don't.

 

[tatedog]

Even for an athletic department as incompetent as the one at Memphis, this hire was a mistake of huge proportions. This would have been the equivalent of replacing Polk 2.0 with Wayne Graham.

 

[Drebin]

Tubby has a problem with recruiting and playing the game. That's why he's a poor fit at Memphis, a program built on playing the game. But tubby can still coach his *** off. They have almost no talent but the few times I've seen them they run disciplined offensive sets and aren't out there running isos and playing sandlot ball. He is old school and he's not going to kiss a recruits *** or compromise his system.

The guy is a good coach. He built Texas Tech to where they are now. He's just a duck out of water at Memphis.

 

[thf24]

From ultimately a source within the program, Tubby has very little respect among the players and is barely in control. He had to beg a senior walk-on to come back for his final year because he was afraid he'd lose the team without this guy's leadership and influence.

Memphis is a really tough job that Tubby would have been smart to pass up. It's a small, disadvantaged program in the college sports world that, mostly through luck considering how terribly the athletic department was mismanaged until just a few years ago, managed to have just enough success in recent history to solidify unrealistic expectations among its fanbase. You have to play the game to the letter to last and have success there at present, and Tubby isn't a guy who's going to do that. Conversely, the hire was just as much a mistake on Memphis' part, but couldn't recognize that due to the delusion from top to bottom about their true place in college athletics.

 

[thekimmer]

He’s like a dinosaur in the current basketball world.

Based on age or style? There are a lot of coaches in college basketball around his age that still bring it like, boiheim, MK, williams, huggins.

 

[mstateglfr]

Based on age or style? There are a lot of coaches in college basketball around his age that still bring it like, boiheim, MK, williams, huggins.

All of them for sure play the recruiting game as much as possible, given their schools and locations.

Tubby is the opposite.

 

[Wizard of bulldogery]

:/

 

[Dr. Funke.sixpack]

There is normally enough local talent to produce a top 25 team most years. Pastner mishandled the AAU politics(and the team) at the end. And Tubby refuses to get involved. He will not last.

 

[FQDawg]

The Penny Hardaway talk really has started to gain some traction.

Is this real talk or just fanbase talk from a handful of dumb dumbs?

 

[Charlie Varney]

Memphis is a football school now based on results. They consider themselves big time in basketball, but football is a better program now. They know they are doomed to being a G5 wannabe in football though. They hang on to past dreams of being a national force in basketball, but that ship has sailed.

 

[hatfieldms]

The Penny talk is more than just the fans in Memphis. Parrish and Calkins are both saying they are hearing there is a good chance at it

 

[Seinfeld]

Agree with every word. I don’t know what anyone would be referring to when they say that the players have distanced themselves from him because that is not the perception around Memphis at all. However, he’s just not willing to recruit at the level that needs to happen in order to get top level talent, and that doesn’t sit well with Tiger fans when Memphis tends to have 2-3 such players in its own backyard every year.

Considering the level of competition in the AAC, the facilities, and the high school talent around Memphis, I see absolutely no reason that a decent coach shouldn’t be making the NCAA tournament on an every other year basis at a minimum.

 

[AssEndDawg]

I've seen them they run disciplined offensive sets and aren't out there running isos and playing sandlot ball.

But that isn't Memphis! In the past when the UofM was playing they should have put chain nets on the goals. Sandlot ball is what Memphis is about. Run and gun and just beating people with pure talent. They aren't going to be happy until they have a coach that is pushing the boundaries of what is allowed by the NCAA and bringing the Memphis kids in to play Memphis ball. I don't think it is a real winning strategy, but it is what the people surrounding the program really want. They want a coach that the second you meet him you know he is shady as hell, but you can't prove it!

 

[FlotownDawg]

ESPN article today says Memphis could fire Tubby and hire Penny Hardaway, who would bring in Larry Brown as his top assistant. Talk about shady. Brown hasn't been at a school yet where they didn't go on probation after he left. Penny coaches an AAU team with three ESPN Top 100 players on them, and if he goes to Memphis, they might be in line to get them. Interesting strategy.

 

[memphisbulldog]

Disagree

Memphis is a football school now based on results. They consider themselves big time in basketball, but football is a better program now. They know they are doomed to being a G5 wannabe in football though. They hang on to past dreams of being a national force in basketball, but that ship has sailed.

Memphis has been to the Final Four three times with three different coaches. That is not a fluke. If a coach can keep most of the Memphis area recruits, he can contend for titles. I would not say that ship has sailed if they were to get the right coach.

 

[aTotal360]

The Penny talk is legit. And supposedly Larry Brown may be his assistant. The problem is that Tubby is owed over $9M if they fire him this year.

 

[tatedog]

The Penny talk is legit. And supposedly Larry Brown may be his assistant. The problem is that Tubby is owed over $9M if they fire him this year.

I saw the report on ESPN. I can't wrap my head around why Larry Brown would serve as an assistant to a guy with no head coaching experience past the high school level. Memphis is just such a poorly run athletics department; they can't get out of their own way. Not to mention, didn't Larry Brown just get SMU in some pretty hot water with the NCAA?

 

[hatfieldms]

Word on Memphis radio is the buy out can be stretched over the next 6 years and they are more concerned with the loss of money by keeping him than they are paying the buyout

 

[Dr. Funke.sixpack]

Bingo. Attendance has been worse than ours AND they play in an NBA arena.