Coach watch: Smith denies interest in UVA job
Now that his season is officially over with Minnesota's opening round loss to Texas in the NCAA Tournament, Tubby Fever continues to spread throughout Wahoo Nation with the posssibility that Golden Gophers top man Tubby Smith could be the new head men's basketball coach at UVA. Yesterday, however, Smith delivered something of a cold compress to treat that fever, as he denied having interest in the UVA job. On Sunday, March 22, Smith told WCCO radio in Minneapolis that he wishes to remain at Minnesota "for a very long time."
4 comments
Hey who would want to coach a team who plays UNC and even Virginia Tech twice, and on top of that is too chicken to play George Mason??
I don't think Tubby would ever and I mean ever not take the job because of UNC, Virginia Tech or any ACC team. Don't forget where he came from, straight from the SEC.... he coached the University of Kentucky to the title the first year that he was there! Tubby is a fantastic coach, unfortualty he got really beat up at Kentucky! And, now he just want's to take it easy! I don't blame the man one bit!
Kentucky won the title in Smith's first year, but can we please stop glorifying him because of that? It's not like he inherited scrubs and turned them into winners.
Here's Kentucky the 5 years before he got there when Rick Pitino was coach:
96-97 - NCAA Runner-up
95-96 - NCAA Champions
94-95 - NCAA Elite Eight
93-94 - NCAA Second Round
92-93 - NCAA Final Four
91-92 - NCAA Elite Eight
In all 5 of those years Kentucky was the SEC season and/or SEC tournament champion. Smith stepped into a program that was loaded with talent and had a long winning tradition. In fact, Kentucky is arguably one of the top 5 or so NCAA Basketball schools. Ever.
Maybe Smith can come to Virginia and win big, but it's ridiculous to claim or even think that he can do so because he won his first year in Kentucky.
In fact, it's ridiculous to claim that Smith performed a miracle in Minnesota! The 5 years before Smith arrived their average finish in the Big 10 was 7.8th place. Smith's two year average finish in the Big 10? 6.5. So his presence moved them up one place in the Big 10 standings.
Then again, perhaps he can pull the same magic at Virginia and lift them from 11th to 10th place. That would be pretty cool.
Maybe money alone won't buy a coach --perhaps UVA should have stuck with the coach they had --sounds like the players think so