Multiple sites say Tubby Smith might be main target

[OldNewby 27]

Ok, friends and neighbors, tell me why Tubby Smith will leave Minnesota and come to Auburn. Please don't mention the money. When somebody is already making close to $2 million a year, a couple hundred k doesn't make much difference. Check out Anderson turning down UGA's offer of 2.1 mill to stay at Mizzou, where he gets a paltry 1.6.

Is there some compelling factor or set of factors that makes Auburn a more desirable situation than Minnesota? Sure, we love Auburn but that doesn't mean Tubby Smith does.

So why is Tubby going to come here?

Because he can.

[OldNewby 27]

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[rtftiger 40]

Ok, friends and neighbors, tell me why Tubby Smith will leave Minnesota and come to Auburn. Please don't mention the money. When somebody is already making close to $2 million a year, a couple hundred k doesn't make much difference. Check out Anderson turning down UGA's offer of 2.1 mill to stay at Mizzou, where he gets a paltry 1.6.

Is there some compelling factor or set of factors that makes Auburn a more desirable situation than Minnesota? Sure, we love Auburn but that doesn't mean Tubby Smith does.

So why is Tubby going to come here?

Program Prestige??? :)

I'm really impressed that we are that far under budget on the arena. Good work.

[cptau 169]

One of the reasons Tubby Smith left UK other than the pressure to win NCAA Championships, was that he could not get UK to agree to hire his son Saul Smith as a "head coach in waiting" Saul Smith is an assistant at Minn now. If we get Tubby, we get Saul. Not saying that it is a bad thing in any way, but it may be one of the conditions.

[WarTiger 3,901]

One of the reasons Tubby Smith left UK other than the pressure to win NCAA Championships, was that he could not get UK to agree to hire his son Saul Smith as a "head coach in waiting" Saul Smith is an assistant at Minn now. If we get Tubby, we get Saul. Not saying that it is a bad thing in any way, but it may be one of the conditions.

didn't realize that. That's a horrible package right there. Saul was probably the worse point guard I've ever seen in the SEC. The only reason he played was because daddy was the coach. Sorry. Don't want either of them.

[rtftiger 40]

One of the reasons Tubby Smith left UK other than the pressure to win NCAA Championships, was that he could not get UK to agree to hire his son Saul Smith as a "head coach in waiting" Saul Smith is an assistant at Minn now. If we get Tubby, we get Saul. Not saying that it is a bad thing in any way, but it may be one of the conditions.

didn't realize that. That's a horrible package right there. Saul was probably the worse point guard I've ever seen in the SEC. The only reason he played was because daddy was the coach. Sorry. Don't want either of them.

I understand the sentiment, but I think that UK won the SEC Championship 3 out of Saul's 4 years. That's not bad. He may have been the weakest link in those teams, but he did play point. I also liked G.G. as a player a bit more than Saul. G.G. was the real leader of one of those Georgia teams.

I haven't heard the "coach in waiting" at UK story. That's pretty interesting.

[TitanTiger 20,482]

I've never heard any such thing and have a hard time believing Tubby would think someone as young as his son was would be able to step in anytime in the remotely near future at a plum job like UK. I think I'm gonna have to have more than hearsay to buy that one.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

Also, how is playing ability an indicator of coaching success? Isaiah Thomas was one of the four best point guards of all-time... and he's an unmitigated disaster as a coach. Rick Pitino was solid at UMass but not good enough to make the NBA. Calipari played small college ball (Clarion University) and nothing more. Bob Knight was a scrub on a great OSU team (that featured Havlicek and Jerry Lucas) and nothing more. Bill Self was All-Big Eight in the 80s, but he never made the NBA either. Roy Williams played on the UNC Junior Varsity team and became the Varsity team's statistician so that he could attend practices.

You'll have to pardon me if I don't think playing success has anything to do with success as a coach. Saul may be a great coach one day. He also may be terrible. Either way, it'll have nothing to do with how good or bad he was running point at UK.

As for Tubby, I doubt we'll get him because of the money. I just doubt very, very seriously that we're going to start shelling out big money on a basketball program that our athletic department has never given a crap about. In the words of Sir Charles, I could be wrong but I doubt it.

[RunInRed 16,409]

I think it's clear we're willing to throw out upwards of $2MM for a top caliber coach. That on top of the new arena, practice facilities, etc, is a clear commitment towards the basketball program.

[TitanTiger 20,482]

Phillip Marshall has been asked this question a few times the last day or so. His reasons Tubby might be interested in Auburn (emphasis mine):

...As difficult as it is for some people to accept, the Auburn basketball program is headed in a different direction than ever before. Come summer, Auburn will have the nicest arena in the Southeastern Conference, complete with all the facilities any coach would want.

The Auburn administration is committed to paying the going rate to get the right coach. That means in the neighborhood of $2 million per year. In terms of facilities and commitment, no SEC school south of Kentucky will have more to offer than Auburn.

The SEC is not as strong as it once was. Turning around Auburn's or any other program might not take as long as it once would have. That's particularly true in the West, which did not sent a single team to the NCAA Tournament this season.

Despite the well-documented hurdles in recruiting at Auburn, it is still located in a very fertile recruiting area. The new arena certainly will help.

Smith apparently has issues at Minnesota, where the athletics director said bluntly that he couldn't afford to give Smith another dime in salary to keep him.

Will it all be enough to lure Smith to Auburn? Would he choose Auburn over other potential opportunities?

It shouldn't be long before we know the answer.

http://auburnundercover.com/news/articles/2010/3/19/why-tubby-smith-would-be-interested-in-auburn

[Mikey 16,600]

Thanks for the responses, there were some good thoughts there.

I'm starting to warm to the Tubby Smith idea. One worrisome thing I saw somewhere was that he'd want to bring all three sons as assistant coaches.

Maybe that's ok, maybe not so great. Anyway, the guy can coach basketball and he'd put a winning team on the floor, I've no doubt about that.

[cptau 169]

Kentucky is probably remembering Tubby more fondly these days. (when not thinking about this year's team and coach)

They wanted him to leave because they felt he:

1. Only won a NCAA Championship with Pitino's players.

2. Never won one again

3. Could not recruit the talent needed

4. Then he quits to go to Minnesota????

Now with Pitino renamed "traitor coach". the two year Gillespie fiasco, and Pitino having sex in restaurants, the Tubby era was really not that bad at all. Plus UK was never on probation with Tubby. Auburn would do very well with Tubby as HC.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

All due respect to Philip Marshall, but I'll throw the BS flag on his first point unless he's just using "nicest" as a short-hand for "newest." Auburn fans don't come to games. That's such a statement of truth that we just decreased the arena size to compensate for the fact that we can't get people to come. The Beard-Eaves was half-full the last time we were GOOD (2003... I was at every game; I was not surrounded by a sellout crowd). So the arena may be NEW and clean and cutting edge, but given the choice between a tiny (by SEC standards), new arena or a bigger, older arena with better crowds (see: Starkville, Gainesville, Nashville, or Knoxville for prime examples)... I'll take the latter. We built a very attractive, quaint arena, but that doesn't cover for the fact that it's small and our crowds suck.

Beard-Eaves capacity: 10,500... had to be reduced from the original 12,500. New arena: 9,600. In the SEC, that is tiny. Ole Miss is smaller (8,700). That's it. That's the list. On top of that, who's to say we're even going to sell this place out?

Look at the attendance figures from last season (when we were a pretty decent team): average attendance 5,108. That's right. In a season where we went 18-4 at home and earned a bye in the SEC tournament, we averaged a half-full arena. In 2003 (a Sweet Sixteen team), we pulled in 7,117 per game. Or 3,000 seats below capacity.

Kentucky capacity: 23,500

Tennessee capacity: 21,700

Arkansas capacity: 19,200

South Carolina capacity: 18,000

Alabama capacity: 15,316

LSU capacity: 14,840

Vandy capacity: 14,168

Florida capacity: 12,000

MSU capacity: 10,500

Georgia capacity: 10,500

Auburn capacity: 9,600

Ole Miss capacity: 8,700

Now it may make sense to decrease the size of our building due to the fact that we cannot sell it out in any situation short of having the number one team in the nation. That's fine. And you can talk about the new arena being pretty or modern or attractive all you want, but it is delusional to say that "in terms of facilities" no one other than Kentucky can compete when you're rocking out the second-smallest stadium in the conference and probably can't sell it out. That would be like Ole Miss trying to say Vaught Hemingway was the best football stadium in the SEC just because they renovated the place. Unless you can put a competitive number of butts in the seats, you're not the best. We may have the most unique place in the conference (like Duke or something), but only crazy Duke fans would argue their facility is better than the ones surrounding it in Chapel Hill and Raleigh.

If we're willing to spend, we may be able to pull in a big name, and the new arena will help because Beard-Eaves was a disaster. But we don't have the best facilities in the SEC even if you take out UK. We don't even have the best facilities in the West (have you seen Bud Walton when Arkansas is decent?). I think we can turn Auburn basketball around, but that's going to be a hard thing to do due to the number of fair weather (or just completely uninterested) Auburn fans there are when it comes to basketball.

[TitanTiger 20,482]

Size does not equal "nice." It will be state of the art, not 'quaint.' And I really don't care if it's 900 seats smaller than MSU or Georgia. It will stomp either of their arenas in terms of quality.

And the facilities also include the practice courts and the overall amenities this new place will provide, not just a wooden floor and chairback seats.

I get that we need to have better attendance no matter where we play but Beard Eaves was a hindrance in recruiting. Auburn Arena and all it includes will be a help. A big help because while it may be smaller than most others, it will be as nice or nicer than any other complex in the SEC.

Auburn is not Duke when it comes to basketball and they have a 9000 seat arena. I can't see building something bigger just to say we did when this size will serve our needs and help create a better overall fan experience and atmosphere.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

All I'm saying is size does matter. There is a cap on how good your arena can be when teams in your division can seat twice as many people. Also, the Hump is a great place to watch basketball. Just because a new place gives ADD fans lots of bells and whistles to distract them doesn't make it a better place to watch basketball. I think UGA's place sucks. I was simply pointing out that every team in the SEC sets its aims higher in terms of attendance.

[TitanTiger 20,482]

All I'm saying is size does matter. There is a cap on how good your arena can be when teams in your division can seat twice as many people. Also, the Hump is a great place to watch basketball. Just because a new place gives ADD fans lots of bells and whistles to distract them doesn't make it a better place to watch basketball. I think UGA's place sucks. I was simply pointing out that every team in the SEC sets its aims higher in terms of attendance.

I still disagree. IF we can get a good coach in here who will work hard, market the program and recruit well, paired with this new arena, 9600 seating capacity is not a hindrance in the least because the people will be there. And I said nothing about ADD bells and whistles. The sightlines and closeness to the court in this facility are amazing and will put the Hump to shame. Even without the niceties, this will be one of the best places to view a basketball game there is. If some success comes, it can also have the best atmosphere to watch a ball game around.

It's in line with MSU and Georgia (900 seats difference really doesn't mean a hill of beans) and it's appropriate for our program. And I'm excited.

[InfernoOrangeSS 321]

All I'm saying is size does matter. There is a cap on how good your arena can be when teams in your division can seat twice as many people. Also, the Hump is a great place to watch basketball. Just because a new place gives ADD fans lots of bells and whistles to distract them doesn't make it a better place to watch basketball. I think UGA's place sucks. I was simply pointing out that every team in the SEC sets its aims higher in terms of attendance.

Arena size matters? You might want to check out the "quaint" arena Duke University has. It is one of the best places for basketball. Hint: it is smaller than ours.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

That's wonderful, but Duke's arena isn't great because of its proximity to the court. It's great because it has some of the best fans in the country. Empty Cameron of its Crazies and it's just a small school's gym. It is NOT in any way on par with the Dean Dome or JPJ (where UVA plays) or the arena in Raleigh (where NC State plays). Those are all very nice arenas at public schools with decent sized student bodies (UNC is a little bigger than Auburn, NC State is the same size, and UVA is smaller), and they're all BIG arenas. They are all better than Cameron Indoor. The Crazies make it a great place to watch a game. Put Auburn fans in that place and it sucks. So yeah, arena size matters.

Think of it in terms that make more sense to Southerners: what if it were a football stadium? Seriously. Does it matter how new your stadium is if it only holds 50K? Nope. It will never be a better place than Jordan-Hare or the Swamp or Neyland because those places are really nice and well-renovated and BIGGER. In sports, crowd noise matters. Therefore, size matters. If a big stadium is a dump, then a smaller stadium may be preferred, but when the big stadium is nice? Give me bigger every time.

So in this case, I'd MUCH MUCH MUCH rather have Auburn Arena compared to Beard-Eaves (a dump). I'm very excited about the arena. I think it'll be great for Auburn for two reasons: (1) it isn't a dump and (2) it's small and few in Auburn care about basketball so there's at least a chance to sell it out.

My point is, there is a ceiling on how great it can be in comparison to arenas that hold LITERALLY twice as many people. Why? Because given a choice between 9,600 raucous fans (the best case scenario for Auburn) or 19,200 raucous fans (the best case scenario for Arkansas) both watching a game in a really nice/clean arena... the 19K win out every time. Plus, I think it's very optimistic to think Auburn is going to sell out even this nice, new, small arena. Right now, we average around 4K less attendance than it holds. Having a smaller place is going to make empty games even more embarrassing. I think it was the right move for Auburn because we just had to face facts that we couldn't pay people to come to basketball games. I'm just saying it's not the second best basketball facility in the SEC.

PS. You shouldn't compare Auburn's gym with Duke's for another reason: Duke is half the size of Auburn. They have a 9K seat arena that holds 75% of their student body and sell it out every game. Auburn's 9.6K seat arena will hold around 40% of its student body and won't sell out. Duke's arena is size-of-school-appropriate. Auburn's is necessitated by bad fans.

[Mikey 16,600]

As has been pointed out numerous times, 9,600 is fully adequate for the Auburn basketball arena. If we can average 7-8,000 fans in a year when we win the SEC, I'll be shocked.

No coach or recruit is going to walk in there, count seats and decide "9,600 ain't enough, I'll go somewhere where the gym seats 11,000."

[mcgufcm 4,096]

You don't have to spend a lot of time counting to figure see a gym half the size of another, and averaging 7K fans is not good. Even Auburn did better than that when we won the SEC in 1998-99 (and better the next year). Having a small arena with 2-3K empty seats is not going to help recruiting.

By the way, I completely agree that an arena under 10K is adequate for Auburn basketball. That's kind of the point. I just think it's silly to say that an arena that small is the second best facility in the SEC. That's all. It's just not true. Perfectly suited for the program? Probably so. But honestly, Vaught-Hemingway is the perfect size for Ole Miss football. No matter how much they update the place it'll never be the second best facility in the conference.

[Mikey98 0]

You don't have to spend a lot of time counting to figure see a gym half the size of another, and averaging 7K fans is not good. Even Auburn did better than that when we won the SEC in 1998-99 (and better the next year). Having a small arena with 2-3K empty seats is not going to help recruiting.

By the way, I completely agree that an arena under 10K is adequate for Auburn basketball. That's kind of the point. I just think it's silly to say that an arena that small is the second best facility in the SEC. That's all. It's just not true. Perfectly suited for the program? Probably so. But honestly, Vaught-Hemingway is the perfect size for Ole Miss football. No matter how much they update the place it'll never be the second best facility in the conference.

OK RWS, you're entitled to your opinion and you've made it.

I also disagree with you and believe that if AU can hire a big time coach, like Tubby, this is a new era for AU basketball. The marketing for our football team has been amazing the last year and I think it can also be done in basketball. The arena size is perfect and I believe with just a little promotional effort can get the student body to fill it night in night out. That 9,600 will be very loud with the low ceiling. Someone like Tubby, would have an immediate impact in recruiting. It can be turned around and quickly in a crappy SEC West.

Let's stop all our negative bashing of the basketball program and get behind the team for a change. Let's have some faith in the administration and that they are committed to a winning AU program with the HUGE investment in arena, facilities, coaching salary, etc...

War Eagle!

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

I grew up going to alot of games at Gallagher Iba Arena at Ok. State (parents good friends would get us tickets and sister eventually went there). Quite a similar school in size, location type, etc to Auburn. So I am a fan of the smaller in your face arena's. Gallagher was smaller than Beard's until the early 2000's when they did some renovation and boosted the seating up to around 13k. It was under 10 before that. In fact they have been in the same building since the 1930's. Plenty of these large SEC arena's that can't hold their own with Gallagher. Llyod Noble over at OU for example was larger, they had a good team, but never could compare to Gallagher. Their advantage was that Billy Tubb's practiced in 90 degree's and had Noble keep that temp. for games.

Facilities to me are alot more than the number of seats that you hold. It involves offices, film rooms, lockers, weight rooms, practice facilities, training/medical facilities etc.

Personally I was against the new building to be honest. Spend the money on a coach and advertising and earn the new arena with victories. Better things the university could of done with 90 million.

Tell you what I think in my opinion is the biggest issue with Auburn basketball.... the fact that this entire semester I have been in a classroom every Mon/Wed/Fri in BEM. Entering through the doors by the ticket office..... and I couldn't tell you if we were playing at home that night or not.

There should be absolutely no way I could walk into that building and not know a game was going to happen. That is a major major major snafu problem of AU basketball.

I look at this way. Auburn basketball has to reinvent itself. The new arena is a start. Hiring a strong high quality coach is a start. Advertising the hell out the arena, the coach, and good lord please the games starting right here on campus is the next phase. So yes the seating chart fits the venue, but that doesn't mean when it comes to fan, coaching, and athletes comfort and perks it can't be one of the better venues in the conference. Then as success grows you expand and renovate accordingly. Don't let the place fall in on itself as they did with BEM.

But the main thing and I will repeat myself..... there is no way a person should be able to enter the building for any reason and not know a game is going to happen there if one is scheduled. The university really needs to push to get the students through the door next season, especially with the new dorms and the number of students that live on campus now. Also especially since they are 20 ft away.

[TNay 0]

Well, it looks like Tubby Smith may be a dead end, but who are we to say that after so many coaches in this state saying one thing and then doing the complete opposite?

From al.com:

Scratch Tubby Smith off Auburn's list? Sure sounds like it.

By Evan Woodbery

March 22, 2010, 7:22AM

Minnesota coach Tubby Smith issued a very firm denial of any interest in any job, including the vacancy at Auburn.

Here's the extremely long and sort of stream-of-consciousness quote from today's Star-Tribune.

"Well, it's sort of [that] in this business, (having your name mentioned for other jobs) beats the alternative, that's how I look at it. It's a distraction, but you have to use it as a positive, and that's what I'll do when I go in to talk to players and recruits: 'Who would you rather be playing for, son? Somebody that's going to get the job done?' ... and I'm not being arrogant or being boastful, I'm just saying.

"There's no truth to it. I'm not a candidate for any other job. I always talk about the joy -- happiness is very temporary, so you have to be, because I'm not happy now because we lost our last games, so I'm preparing for next year as hard as I can prepare.

"I'm going out and I'm selling this program, selling the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, that we've got people here on our team, we've got administration [that] is backing us, we've got things in place, we're preparing to build a new practice facility. That's what I came here to do, and certainly I'm a guy that wants to fulfill my responsibilities to this program. You're right, it can be a distraction if you let it, just like anything else. External distractions, I tell our players a lot, 'Hey fellas, we have to limit or eliminate as much of that static and external distractions [as possible]. If you're ever going to be successful, you're going to have to learn to just dismiss it, fellas, and not pay any attention to it.' "

Denials happen a lot in the coaching biz, obviously, but Smith has now rebutted the Auburn rumors twice since his team was eliminated from the NCAA tournament.

Even if he's not off the list entirely, it might be wise to move him down a few notches.

We'll have more on the search for a new men's basketball coach all this week.

http://blog.al.com/auburnbeat/2010/03/scratch_tubby_smith_off_auburn.html

This search has been interesting to follow to say the least.