CONCERNED FANS FOR

BASKETBALL

 


TUBBY SMITH LEAVES UK

 

PRESS REACTION TO TUBBY SMITH'S
DEPARTURE FROM KENTUCKY

 

Mailbag: Character doesn't get coaches extensions
April 20, 2007

From: Michael

I am not a Tubby Smith hater, but why does it seem all the media that was saying how great of a job he was doing at Kentucky are now writing things like you did talking about how Billy Gillispie is trying to restore Kentucky basketball?

By Gary Parrish
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer

I can't speak for the rest of the media, but I've always been pretty consistent on Smith. Great coach. Poor communicator. Delusional recruiter. If college basketball was strictly about coaching the same way high school basketball is strictly about coaching, Smith might be the guy I'd hire to coach my team. But college basketball is different and so much more. It's about rallying boosters, exciting masses, getting along with media and luring players. Some coaches understand this. But Smith hasn't seemed to in some time, and that's why he was essentially run out of Kentucky.

 

UK basketball fans' high expectations are hardly irrational

April 2, 2007
Wes Blevins
Kentucky Kernel

 

Vaught's Views: Smith could be Coach of the Year
April 1, 2007
Larry Vaught
Danville Advocate

 

Saul Smith to join Tubby
A&M HAS $1.75 MILLION DEAL FOR GILLISPIE

March 31, 2007
STAFF, WIRE REPORTS
Lexington Herald-Leader

 

Coaching Rumor Mill Has Plenty of Grist
March 30, 2007
John Feinstein
Washington Post

 

Can you coach Kentucky? You can try ...
March 30, 2007
Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service

 

A letter to Tubby Smith
March 27, 2007
LAURNIE CAPRONI Sports Writer
The Ledger Independent
Maysville, KY [The Home of Chris Lofton, Deron Feldhaus, Ronnie Lyons, and other great Kentuckians]

 

Billy D would be foolish to take 'Cats job
March 26, 2007
By LOUIS ANASTASIS
Alligator Columnist

 

Donovan should stay right where he is
March 27, 2007
Dick "Hoops" Weiss
Special to FOXSports.com

 

Billy's Dilemma
March 27, 2007
Dan Wetzel
Yahoo Sports

 

Hey, Billy -- the grass is greener in Kentucky
March 27, 2007
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist
Tell Gregg your opinion!

 

Hoop fans byte down on Billy D
March 27, 2007
By Peter Kerasotis
Florida Today

 

Jim Rome Show
March 23, 2007
Audio Clips re: Tubby Smith Leaving UK, Donovan to UK

Audio Clip 1

Audio Clip 2

Audio Clip 3

Audio Clip 4

Audio Clip 5

Audio Clip 6

Audio Clip 7

Audio Clip 8

Audio Clip 9

 

Good Reasons Why Billy Will Stay At Florida

Posted Mar 25, 2007
By Franz Beard
GatorCountry.com Managing Editor

Smith lets Kentucky critics have their day
March 24, 2007
Randy Beard
Tallahassee.com

 

Prominent names in line for UK job
Article Last Updated: 03/24/2007 11:29:46 PM MDT
By John Henderson
Denver Post College Basketball Beat Reporter


Ol' Kentucky home beckons Donovan
March 25, 2007
By Peter Kerasotis
Florida Today

 

Founder of 'Concerned Fans' group happy at last
March 24, 2007
By Linda B. Blackford
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

 

COMMENTARY

Get a grip: We're more than college basketball
March 24, 2007
By Cheryl Truman
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

 

Tubby blew it with Wildcats; what chance do Gophers have?
March 22, 2007
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist
Tell Gregg your opinion!

 

Tubby bolts from the Blue
Coach of 10 years takes University of Minnesota job

By Jerry Tipton
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

 

Class act can't be blamed for unpleasant ending
By John Clay
HERALD-LEADER SPORTS COLUMNIST

 

Smith agrees to 7-year deal worth $1.8M annually
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

 

Tubby out at Kentucky, headed to Minnesota
Jeff Goodman / FOXSports.com

Tubby Smith has been forced out in Lexington.

 

The race issue: Some see departure as a step back

By Delano R. Massey

HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER    [Note that this article appeared at the provided link within hours after Tubby Smith's departure.  At 11 am, 3-23-07, the article is no longer available.  Therefore, I am rerproducing the entire column here for the historical record.]

Race has been an issue ever since Orlando "Tubby" Smith's name surfaced as a candidate to take the helm as head coach of the University of Kentucky's men's basketball program.

It was an issue, in part, because Smith was the university's first black head basketball coach. And Smith's hiring was perceived by many as a breakthrough for a basketball program that has had a murky past in terms of race relations, including a long-standing debate about whether former UK head coach Adolph Rupp was a racist who resisted integration.

With Smith's departure, the issue of race bubbled to the surface again. It's a point of contention for many.

Harry Sykes, the first African-American elected to the city of Lexington council, said Smith's departure "reopens" a wound that was starting to close. Great strides were made when the university hired Smith. Then, a year later, Smith won a championship.

"So that kind of quieted some of the people who thought the university was making a mistake by bringing him," Sykes said.

But the Wildcats haven't been back to the Final Four since. Sykes said the fans, in their growing hunger for another championship, failed to recognize Smith's previous success Ð or show him the appreciation he deserved.

"There will be many black people who will say they're glad to see Tubby get a decent offer from elsewhere," he said. "It looks like people outside of Kentucky had a greater appreciation for his ability."

The Rev. Louis Coleman, head of the Louisville-based Justice Resource Center, said "UK doesn't have the greatest practices in the world when it comes to true diversity." Coleman said his group will meet with the UK administration following Smith's departure.

Smith's resignation "is a reflection on the fans, more so than it is on the administration," Coleman said. "You have some fans that have the wrong motives. They weren't booing (because of) a win or lose situation, but because of a human being's color. Whoever they get, they won't get a better coach than Tubby Smith."

But others say race was not really an issue Ð or at least they would like to think it wasn't.

"The racial element was there, but it wasn't with the administration. There are some racist fans, but they would have no more impact on it than any other person," said S.T. Roach, famed coach of Dunbar High School's segregated basketball teams. "I think it's wins and losses really, that's my opinion."

William H. Turner, former UK vice president and sociology professor, said he did not want to speculate on whether race is a factor.

"I know he understood this is a very visible position, that this episode is part of the job," he said of Smith. Turner added that, in UK's search for Tubby's successor, "one would assume they're going to give a comprehensive look at other black coaches of his stature so that color wouldn't be an issue."

Submitted by Richard Cheeks

 

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