Last Tuesday the Golden Gophers fired their 6th year head coach Tubby Smith, which was a hell of a surprise in my eyes. The team was fresh off a 3rd round loss to Florida in the NCAA Tourney. Which wasn’t much of a disappointment barring their recent history.
During Smith’s tenure he has led Minnesota to 3 NCAA Tourney’s and 1 NIT. Which isn’t bad at all for a program who was under academic probation and before that was never a powerhouse in the Big Ten. I know the Gophers have had solid teams but during my recent memory they have never been a team that was supposed to be a threat for the conference title.
Smith sported a 124-81 record during his 6 year tenure with a 46-62 record in the Big Ten. During the 6 seasons he won 20 games 5 times. It baffles me that they would fire a man who is a proven winner in turning around a program with low expectations in the best basketball conference in the NCAA. Even if you don’t agree they have the best conference you have to respect its a top three on the hardwood and for Smith to make this team respectable in this conference its a travesty for him to be fired after a successful season. Did the AD forget who the Gophers were and are?
Smith should be hired by a team who needs an upgrade but honestly this is Minnesota’s loss. Who do you think is going to replace Tubby? Nobody is jumping for joy to come to Minnesota. Does the AD think they can swing Shaka Smart or Brad Stevens? If so we all know he’s poppin’ molly and we need to get this man drug tested ASAP. If I was a Gopher fan I would be sweating because this was a dumb and rash decision that may take a long time to recover from. It must be something in the water up there because Norwood Teague has lost his damn mind.
