Souhan: The new athletic director should reassess Tubby Smith's tenure as well.

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From Souhan:

"Gophers basketball

The new athletic director should reassess Tubby Smith's tenure as well.

Following an overtime loss to Wisconsin at Williams Arena on Thursday, Smith's team is 5-7 in the Big Ten. With Ohio State coming to The Barn on Tuesday, Smith might be on his way to another season at .500 or below in conference play.

Smith's record in the Big Ten at Minnesota is 32-47, a winning percentage of 40.5. Dan Monson's winning percentage in conference play, including two losing seasons while he was extricating the program from Clem Haskins' reign of cheating, was 39.3. Haskins' winning percentage in the conference was 49.8.

Losing to Wisconsin at home is not problematic in isolation; it is problematic because such losses have become the norm for Smith at Minnesota.

Smith is 11-19 in the Big Ten in the past two seasons.

The Wolves should improve as Rubio matures and the team gains practice time and game experience under Adelman. The Wild is in free-fall. The Gophers hockey team is stumbling, familiarly, toward March.

The most disappointing of the teams is the Gophers basketball squad. Smith's program should be better than this by now."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/139196644.html

Go Gophers!!
 

No matter what the venture, when a new boss comes in he/she has to evaluate all aspects of the work force. Tubby is not exempt from this, nor is his coaching staff. The same holds true for all of the various sports' coaching staffs.
 

Maybe the STRIB could make more $$ if they got rid of stiffs like Souhan
 




Dr.Don said:
No matter what the venture, when a new boss comes in he/she has to evaluate all aspects of the work force. Tubby is not exempt from this, nor is his coaching staff. The same holds true for all of the various sports' coaching staffs.
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You are absolutely correct. However, Tubby has been skating by without any accountability since the day that Maturi hired him. Maturi certainly didn't have the cojones to hold Smith accountable for the lack of success on the court. I'd be shocked if the next AD did it either. They handle Smith like he's a god up there.
 

MRJ said:
You are absolutely correct. However, Tubby has been skating by without any accountability since the day that Maturi hired him. Maturi certainly didn't have the cojones to hold Smith accountable for the lack of success on the court. I'd be shocked if the next AD did it either. They handle Smith like he's a god up there.
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Short of firing him, what other ways do you hold him accountable? Speak to him in a stern tone?
 

minngg said:
No extension without improvement.
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If we're not going to extend him we may as well fire him. It is nearly impossible to recruit 4 year players with a 2 year contract.
 

zambam said:
If we're not going to extend him we may as well fire him. It is nearly impossible to recruit 4 year players with a 2 year contract.
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Agreed. And just make it a very incentive laden contract.
 









MRJ said:
You are absolutely correct. However, Tubby has been skating by without any accountability since the day that Maturi hired him. Maturi certainly didn't have the cojones to hold Smith accountable for the lack of success on the court. I'd be shocked if the next AD did it either. They handle Smith like he's a god up there.
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Do you consider the 1st two seasons unsuccessful? He took a group of absolute dogs & guided them to the tourney. I've never heard anyone say he did a bad job the 1st two years.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Do you consider the 1st two seasons unsuccessful? He took a group of absolute dogs & guided them to the tourney. I've never heard anyone say he did a bad job the 1st two years.
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Absolute dogs? Nolen, Hoff, Joseph, Johnson, Westbrook, Shamala were the nucleus of a very good group of players/shooters. He did a fine job the first two years- but he has not gotten the team past .500 and nearly everybody expected better. We have to wait and see if we can chalk it all up to bad luck or if things get better in the coming year. I hope they do.
 

Who are we going to get instead? Face it, the Gophers have the worst facilities in the B1G. Lets say we get an up and coming coach. Best case we're a stepping stone to a better job. Worst case we end up with another Monson. Tubby isn't a great recruiter, but he does have a nice looking core group of young players. He is unlikely to move somewhere else, MN is his last job. We keep Tubby, he brought us back to back tourney appearances. Meanwhile, we improve the facilities and try and make MN a more desirable place to coach. Hopefully, the successor to Tubby can build something more long term.
 

scher215 said:
Short of firing him, what other ways do you hold him accountable? Speak to him in a stern tone?
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Actually, I think this is an excellent question. Tubby Smith is a motivated and driven person. We're getting his best effort. I don't think an AD has to do any more with him than just be a good boss and support the program. I'm not sure Maturi has been a good boss, and there's probably more than can be done to support the program, such as better marketing (I'm going from what Gopher Lady has written).

In terms of where Tubby and the program are, I see three things that have been the boat anchors:
1. An assistant coaching staff of lesser caliber than he could get if he looked around
2. He hasn't recruited and retained one single, solitary NBA-caliber player in his time here. As has been written, Haskins by comparison brought in a number of NBA players.
3. This is educated speculation, but I think the Kentucky experience damaged Smith or burned him out. We have what's left of him. It's hard to completely recover from burnout, maybe impossible.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Actually, I think this is an excellent question. Tubby Smith is a motivated and driven person. We're getting his best effort. I don't think an AD has to do any more with him than just be a good boss and support the program. I'm not sure Maturi has been a good boss, and there's probably more than can be done to support the program, such as better marketing (I'm going from what Gopher Lady has written).


In terms of where Tubby and the program are, I see three things that have been the boat anchors:
1. An assistant coaching staff of lesser caliber than he could get if he looked around
2. He hasn't recruited and retained one single, solitary NBA-caliber player in his time here. As has been written, Haskins by comparison brought in a number of NBA players.
3. This is educated speculation, but I think the Kentucky experience damaged Smith or burned him out. We have what's left of him. It's hard to completely recover from burnout, maybe impossible.
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Not 1.. I think there are 2 possibly 4 on the current roster. Williams and Mbakwe are NBA caliber players. I think they are still on the team too. I think Andre Hollins might develop into an NBA caliber player. Mo Walker is seen as a big guy who could develop into an NBA player... so really. He hasn't recruited and maintained a single NBA caliber player? Really?
 

notagopherfan said:
Not 1.. I think there are 2 possibly 4 on the current roster. Williams and Mbakwe are NBA caliber players. I think they are still on the team too. I think Andre Hollins might develop into an NBA caliber player. Mo Walker is seen as a big guy who could develop into an NBA player... so really. He hasn't recruited and maintained a single NBA caliber player? Really?
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NBA caliber player generally means like a Jared Sullinger.
 

notagopherfan said:
Not 1.. I think there are 2 possibly 4 on the current roster. Williams and Mbakwe are NBA caliber players. I think they are still on the team too. I think Andre Hollins might develop into an NBA caliber player. Mo Walker is seen as a big guy who could develop into an NBA player... so really. He hasn't recruited and maintained a single NBA caliber player? Really?
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I stand corrected on Mbakwe. He's a sure thing. It's Monday, and my brain isn't all there; sorry. Austin has potential, but it takes a lot to play in the NBA, and I wouldn't bet on seeing him there. Hope I'm wrong, which means that he'll have killer junior and senior seasons.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Actually, I think this is an excellent question. Tubby Smith is a motivated and driven person. We're getting his best effort.


What is your evidence for this statement? His performance tends to indicate the opposite.
And the points YOU make after that statement also point to the exact opposite.
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Whathavewedone said:
What is your evidence for this statement? His performance tends to indicate the opposite.
And the points YOU make after that statement also point to the exact opposite.
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What is your evidence that he is not giving his best effort? Are you saying that when teams struggle it is because the coaches aren't trying hard enough?
 

zambam said:
What is your evidence that he is not giving his best effort? Are you saying that when teams struggle it is because the coaches aren't trying hard enough?
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I'm actually kind of inclined to think Tubby is giving effort. (Which is just all the more damning if he is). But read the post I was replying to. THAT post is pretty self-contradictory. The guy makes the statement, yet then proceeds to post items that point to the opposite conclusion.
 

We need a warm-up period before the pissing contest starts!!!
 

Whathavewedone said:
I'm actually kind of inclined to think Tubby is giving effort. (Which is just all the more damning if he is). But read the post I was replying to. THAT post is pretty self-contradictory. The guy makes the statement, yet then proceeds to post items that point to the opposite conclusion.
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To answer your question, it's just my reading of his personality. And I don't think that personality type is necessarily contradictory to burnout. In fact it's the really driven people who tend to be more susceptible to burnout - for obvious reasons.
 

Bad Gopher said:
To answer your question, it's just my reading of his personality. And I don't think that personality type is necessarily contradictory to burnout. In fact it's the really driven people who tend to be more susceptible to burnout - for obvious reasons.
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I wouldn't dispute that, but if you feel someone is "burnt out", how do you quare that with believing they are giving a good effort? Wouldn't it almost be requisite that to be burnt out you'd have to be letting up in your effort?
 

MotherNight said:
Who are we going to get instead? Face it, the Gophers have the worst facilities in the B1G. Lets say we get an up and coming coach. Best case we're a stepping stone to a better job. Worst case we end up with another Monson. Tubby isn't a great recruiter, but he does have a nice looking core group of young players. He is unlikely to move somewhere else, MN is his last job. We keep Tubby, he brought us back to back tourney appearances. Meanwhile, we improve the facilities and try and make MN a more desirable place to coach. Hopefully, the successor to Tubby can build something more long term.
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Without getting in to the Tubby discussion, I don't understand why a Gopher fan would fear a coach leaving for a "better" job. When has this ever happened with a basketball coach at the University of Minnesota? On top of that, if the University of Minnesota is willing to continue to pay ~$2 million a year, you are talking about a very select number of schools who could match/exceed that salary. It's just extremely unlikely that a coach would leave Minnesota for another school. Look at Dan Monson, he got offered the Washington job (the best job in the state where he had the most success) and decided to stay at Minnesota at a time when he still felt sanctions were holding the program down.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I stand corrected on Mbakwe. He's a sure thing. It's Monday, and my brain isn't all there; sorry. Austin has potential, but it takes a lot to play in the NBA, and I wouldn't bet on seeing him there. Hope I'm wrong, which means that he'll have killer junior and senior seasons.
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Rodney.. he's like the best athlete in the Big 10. He's going to get drafted, don't know if you he'll stick in the NBA but he's going to get drafted. Mbakwe was a first round pick until he got hurt. Like I said, I think Andre, Austin and Mo have shots to develop into NBA caliber players.
 

notagopherfan said:
Rodney.. he's like the best athlete in the Big 10. He's going to get drafted, don't know if you he'll stick in the NBA but he's going to get drafted. Mbakwe was a first round pick until he got hurt. Like I said, I think Andre, Austin and Mo have shots to develop into NBA caliber players.
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Andre? What position would he play in the NBA? Austin? No chance. Mo? He has played 115 minutes in his college career. Trevor is a 2nd round pick and Rodney has slipped to about 90 on the draft sites for this year. Without an outside shot improvement, he won't get drafted either. His stock is dropping fast. Ralph? Don't make me laugh.
 

minngg said:
Andre? What position would he play in the NBA? Austin? No chance. Mo? He has played 115 minutes in his college career. Trevor is a 2nd round pick and Rodney has slipped to about 90 on the draft sites for this year. Without an outside shot improvement, he won't get drafted either. His stock is dropping fast. Ralph? Don't make me laugh.
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Writing guys off as Freshman and Sophomores. Love it.
 

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