Tubby wants to come back to UGA "this much." (Image: Star-Tribune)*The basketball coaching search rumor mill has really started to heat up. Here are some highlights:
- Michael Wilbon has high praise for Anthony Grant of VCU. He's hoping he lands at UVA if they can't get Tubby. Like I said yesterday, he's not my favorite candidate. But we could do a heap worse.
- The Tuscaloosa News reports that Bama is set to call Anthony Grant. Although, the Mobile Press-Register doesn't expect any real sense of urgency from Bama until Mike Anderson of Missouri exits the Tournament.
- Tubby, Tubby, Tubby. Everyone is talking about what Tubby will do next. Some at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune think Tubby may be drawn to warmer weather while others at the paper think he'll stay. The Charlottesville paper absolutely hearts him.
The comment originated from "he didn't recruit anyone in Athens." It's true that his first team that went to the Sweet 16 was made up almost entirely of an exceptional Hugh Durham recruiting class. But his second team earned a #3 seed in the tourney with mostly his own players making key contributions. When he left UGA on May 12, it was well after the Spring Signing period, when he landed Jumaine Jones as his first signature rock star recruit. Although some how Ron Jirsa (who couldn't draw flies as a head coach) managed to get credit for signing Jumaine in the eyes of some Dawg fans.
Said differently....Tubby recruits good enough to win a pile of games. I don't think we'll get him because of the difficulty of going back to where you've been before. It's like getting back together with your ex-wife. But I sure would be giddy to have him.
PWD
*I wish that were the caption.
23 comments:
Not to ask a dumb question, but why, if we're all so against getting the General in here, are we looking forward to the possibilty of Tubby coming back? The whole point I thought was we wanted a young up-and-comer who will build our program and recruit the ATL well. Why go after Tubby, who we know can be bought out from under us, when we can get a young emerging superstar? Just wondering...
Tubby is 10 years Knight's junior.
Knight was last won the Big 10 or made the Elite 8 in 1993. Since then he had 2 Sweet 16s. That's about it.
Since then Tubby has gone to the Sweet 16 or better *ten* times including four Elite 8 appearances and a national title.
Knight is an excellent teacher of the game, but it's been 15 years since he was able to land enough talent to consistently accomplish what Tubby has been doing year in and year out since his last 2 years at Tulsa.
Black...
BTW -- Yeah...ideally Tubby would be 5 years younger.
I would love nothing more than to have Tubby back. The man never should have left (although I put that more on Dooley than Tubby himself). Go Dawgs!
I don't know if I'd say ex-wife.
VD was AA when Tubby left and clearly (albeit slowly) things are moving in the right direction in terms of making men's hoops a priority.
I'd love to have him back.
My only concern is that we don't go after someone who is only hot right now. There are lots of guys who I would consider safe (that is with a record or resume of fairly consistent success ) like Miller, Capel, etc. (and to a lesser degree Grant)
I just don't want us to go after somebody based on one strong tourney showing (Cleveland State comes to mind).
Come on Damon. Make us proud.
I would just say that while I agree Tubby's a good coach, why be that girl that goes back to the cheating husband? I mean, nothing against Tubby (who wouldn't go to UK?), but why not get someone who young and willing to stay here and build our program from the ground (i.e., now) up? I want someone who'll be our Jim Levitt for BBall.
Tubby can stay in Minnesota, and Knight can stay where ever the heck he is. We don't need either one of them. Look forward, not back.
Tubby,Tubby, Tubby. I do not care if he adopts a 5'10" 240# white kid, that is blind in one eye and can't see out of the other, and wants his new son to be point guard. Bring Tubby back!
If not, I think I would take Grant, then Davis over Capel.
Tubby has been there done that and I don't believe he would have any reason to come here just to be pulled somewhere else. For goodness sake, he is coaching in Minnesota of all places.
Say what? You want Mike Davis over Jeff Capel? I am at loss for words and don't even know where to begin.
I'd be floored - and pissed - if we even talked to Tubby.
Tubby Smith... been there, done that. Time to move on and find someone at a mid-major looking to make a name for himself and do for Georgia what Jimmy Valvano was about to do for NC State.
I am tired of the talk about someone else's retreads. How about someone new and fresh. How about surprising the Dawg Nation the same way Joel Eaves surprised us by hiring Vince Dooley. I think that worked out well!
You can't go home again. It never works.
I don't want a coach named Tubby. It gives off a not-taken-seriously vibe, to me.
We didn't need to pay a search firm to come up with the name of Tubby Smith.
i'm not a big tubby-for-coach advocate, but i'm not sure i understand the argument that it wouldn't work just because he coached uga for two seasons more than a decade ago. my recollection is that his short stint left little or no ill will because most everyone appreciated what he'd done and completely understood that he couldn't refuse the uk job.
i agree that the general message, though, should be to look forward, but, other than that, i don't get the reluctance about a coach returning to a previous gig. what am i not getting?
"We didn't need to pay a search firm to come up with the name of Tubby Smith."
Search firm is not for coming up with the names, dude. It's for keeping it quiet if people turn us down so the job profile is not diminished.
The job profile is UGA basketball. How are you going to diminish that? Dude.
It would be diminished as such:
Coach A publicly withdraws his name for consideration for whatever PR reason.
Coach B does not want to be second choice so he opts for a lesser job that "wants him more". Ego is always a factor with a high profile, high pressure job.
Glen Mason craps on UGA, no one leaves a D1 school to be second choice at UGA, we go to D1-a for coach. This may not be the best example, but the point is, if we want to Big Splash hire the public perception will have to be "This was the only coach we were interested in!"
As already explained on these pages herein... thanks for the synopsis, Mike.
Thanks, Mike.
Can Vince coach basketball ?
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