ESPN Blog: NC State tailor-made for Tubby(Updated Tubby entry – 3:15 pm)

Updated at 3:15 pm:

Apparently Eamonn Brennan of College Basketball Nation Blog hasn’t gotten the memo from the national talking heads yet. He thinks one of the best coaches of the last 20 years might actually be a realistic target for NC State:

Smith is clearly frustrated, and with good reason; 2010-11 is the second-straight promising Gophers season derailed by injuries and personnel woes, from Nolen to starting guard Devoe Joseph, who surprised Minnesota with a midseason transfer in January. But do his quotes say something larger about his desire to leave Minneapolis this offseason? There are always rumblings around Smith — he was one of many candidates rumored to be in the picture at Oregon last summer — and the impending job openings at Georgia Tech and NC State would seem tailor-made for him if he decided to leave.

What’s more, no less reliable a source than our own Doug Gottlieb is already hearing the rumor-mill murmurs about Smith’s potential departure:

The hottest chatter in coaching news is the speculation that Tubby Smith will be on the move this offseason. Three different head coaches told me the coaching fraternity is abuzz over whether Georgia Tech will buy out Paul Hewitt (reportedly in excess of $5 million dollars) and land Smith.

We have plenty of time to await that news. In the meantime, one thing is clear: Smith isn’t happy. The extent of that unhappiness — whether it’s reserved to this year’s team, or involves his program and situation at large — will be one of the more intriguing stories in what should be an otherwise quiet rumor mill this spring.

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Monday Morning’s initial entry:

Below is the latest report on Tubby Smith’s status beyond this season at Minnesota. Smith has been discussed behind the scenes by the authors of Statefansnation as one of the top, realistic potential hires for NC State. He has previously been tied to Debbie Yow as a replacement for Gary Williams two years ago. Also, he and his family have strong reasons to get back to the south with family in Maryland, Virginia, and Florida. Tubby played college basketball at High Point University where he also met his wife. One of his first coaching jobs was a high school job in Hoke County, NC.

Finishing his career at Minnesota makes very little sense for his family(at least to us) and Minnesota is nowhere near building the practice facility that was promised to him when he took the job. The funding isn’t even close to in place yet. Smith turns 60 years old this year. He probably has 5-8 years left in his career and he needs to make the jump sooner rather than later as his age will become more of a factor in landing his last high-major opportunity.

One source has indicated that one of the openings he would be interested in going into the season was NC State.

Sources have told ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb that Tubby Smith will leave Minnesota after this season.

There’s some speculation over whether Georgia Tech will buy out the remainder of Paul Hewitt’s contract and land Smith.

The Gophers are 17-11 overall and 6-10 in the Big Ten.

Via Doug Gottlieb/ESPN.com

10-11 Basketball Debbie Yow General NC State NCS Basketball

131 Responses to ESPN Blog: NC State tailor-made for Tubby(Updated Tubby entry – 3:15 pm)

  1. codebrown 03/01/2011 at 11:09 AM #

    Let’s not forget that he already had experience recruiting in GA.

    Honestly, I don’t recall what the situation was. But to me, if Tubby took a job at a Big 10 football school with relatively little success (1997 being the last good year for them) prior to him, that’s not a vote of confidence for his desire to compete at this stage of his career. I could be wrong.

  2. nycfan 03/01/2011 at 1:11 PM #

    Interesting article on Rick Barnes feeling some heat at Tejas … http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/sports/ncaabasketball/02texas.html?_r=1

    Maybe he is now more open to a change of venue if he feels under appreciated at Texas?

    Some good info on his ups and downs, but the following quote, while probably just good ole defensiveness, makes you wonder about his current state of mind about the Texas job … but also whether he has the stomach for a rebuilding effort at this point.

    **********from above linked nytimes.com article***************
    With a talented Texas roster in a late-season tailspin for the second straight season, questions about Barnes’s shaky history of coaching once he arrives in the N.C.A.A. tournament are being revived.

    “I would have cared 10 years ago,” he said of critics questioning his 19-18 N.C.A.A. tournament record. “This is not the most important thing in my life. It’s what I do, but it’s not the most important thing in my life.”
    **************************************************************

  3. wolfman1959 03/01/2011 at 3:34 PM #

    JEOH2 Says:
    February 28th, 2011 at 11:56 am
    Ive said it before and Ill say it again…

    The opportunity to hire a coach with the pedigree of Tubby Smith comes once in a lifetime…

    The opportunity to hire a mid-major coach w/ potential comes once every year

    Agree. IF we could land Tubby Smith , I think we should go after him full bore !! I think he would like the challenge of coaching/recruiting against Coach K and Ole Roy “My ego won’t fit in a blimp hangar” Williams !!!

  4. Pack1998 03/01/2011 at 8:13 PM #

    ^well said, you can hire a mid-major up and comer any year. Almost all of those mid-major guys would give there right arm to be as successful as Tubby.

  5. packalum44 03/02/2011 at 11:02 AM #

    ^ Just don’t whine when GA Tech hangs a pair of national championship banners if they hire the next Donnovan.

  6. hball57 03/03/2011 at 1:26 PM #

    I read the info about Tubby Smith and the only negative to me is we will be hiring another coach in 5-8 years. That also might be the time when Duke and UNC are hiring another Coach and that concerns me.

    From all the names thrown out the most intriguing to me is Scott Drew. What he has done at Baylor is real impressive and he has the chance to be here long term.

    I think there are a lot of Mid Major Coaches that would be good. The hardest part for Mid Major Coaches is the recruiting angle – they have to recruit players they are not used to dealing with, and many have a long learning curve. So I would like one with some High Level recruiting in their background, like Anthony Grant or Shaka Smart.

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