CONCERNED FANS FOR
PRESS REACTION TO TUBBY SMITH'S
Mailbag: Character doesn't get coaches extensions 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 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
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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
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Tallahassee.com
Prominent names in line for UK job
Article Last Updated: 03/24/2007 11:29:46 PM MDT
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Founder of 'Concerned Fans' group happy at last
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Jeff Goodman / FOXSports.com
Tubby Smith has been forced out in Lexington.
The race issue: Some see departure as a step back
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
Copyright 2007
SugarHill Communications of Kentucky
All Rights Reserved