2017 Coaching Carousel

[boomdaddy]

What did Eddie Sutton and Tubby Smith do that Adolph Rupp and John Calipari did not do? They started and played their sons, when they should have had a more talented player on the roster at their position on the floor. All four coaches had their sons on their teams. It was Smith's downfall to start his son at UK and not bring in better talent. From that point on, UK was not in the conversation for the top guards and Kentucky became a second tier program as far as reaching the final four.or winning a championship.

Nothing wrong with having your son on the team, but you don't start him over other guys unless he is the most talented and you don't purposely not recruit at his position. Start your son on senior night and let him play half the game, but don't start him for the whole season, if he has less talent, and turn off top talent from coming to your program.

Eddie Sutton was an alcoholic. I saw him staggering around drunk at high noon on campus. Nothing wrong with drinking, but you can't let it take over your life. Had the scandal not happened, Sutton may not have turned to hard drinking in the middle of the day, while he should have been taking care of business.

Tubby Smith stayed way past his welcome and it seemed that the UK administration was afraid to fire him. He did UK a favor by secretly negotiating the new job in December behind everyone's back. The Billy Clyde fiasco was interesting. How was such a mistake possible? Calipari was my choice then. Some fools were clamoring for Billy Donavan and a former booster was swinging on Donavan's jock as well. That way of thinking has always puzzled me. Let's stay withe the Pitino coaching tree mentality or the let's get somebody with ties to the program mentality is the kind of narrow mindedness that should be for good programs, not storied ones.

What happened to the Athletic Director for making such a bad decision on the Billy Clyde hire? Did he get docked any pay? Until the AD was finally able to get some money spent on the neglected football program, I sure as hell did not see where he brought anything to the table. The other non revenue sports are blood suckers from the football and men's basketball cash cows. As much as I liked the Stoops hire, I thought there should have been a buyout clause for him and his staff if they left, especially the top ones, because the University has to pay them if they fire them, why shouldn't the University get compensated it they leave. Calipari was the no brainer choice and Mitch chose Billy Clyde. I guess it all worked out, because he finally came to his senses and hired the best. I heard on a radio show that UK has had a history of hiring great, good, drunk, great, good, drunk., for the basketball hires. When Calipari retires, if history repeats itself, they will hire a guy that will last 3 to 5 years and leave or get fired and then they will follow it up with a drunk, before they hire the next great coach.

[Dwight Schrute]

Big difference in those. Eddie Sutton was a great coach. he was proven before he got here and was proven after he left here. Turns out he wasn't a good fit here.

BCG was proven before he was hired here. He was a bad fit for UK but he worked 24/7 to improve UK. he brought us Patterson, Orton, Liggins, Harrelson, Miller and probably some more I'm forgetting. he changed the careers of Bradley and Crawford. He took over a team that lost the top 6 scorers from a 12 loss team and got into the NCAA tourney with an injured Patterson. We did beat Vandy that year for the first time in about 5 tries and Vandy was ranked in the top 15. We beat UT and we almost beat UT at UT with Patterson out.

I started posting in 2000 that tubby would never get to another final four in his career. Not here, not anywhere else. Here we are 17 years later and I'm still right. And I'm still saying it. he will never get to another final four in his career.

Then the Saul debacle. Does that even need explaining? Or how about his going on PTI and inferring racism?

But just I'm wrong about tubby and his coaching acumen. Let's just say the handful of posters here are right. he showed us all after leaving here. Just look at his job at Minnesota. Never had a winning record in the little 10. Never! Got fired. Let's look at the job at TT. Never had a winning conference record. Never! Let's look at the job at Memphis. Again, not a winning record in that conference. That conference!! And they just got the biggest beatdown in 70 years last Sat. Sure proved somebody wrong since he left here.

And a handful of y'all think it's me. And I'm the lunatic?

I'm not debating Tubby's record since he left UK - but the rest of this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

[Catatonic]

I always thought Tubby's refusal to shake up his staff was his biggest downfall. It's not like he never landed any good talent. He had a way of doing things and was averse to changing it up, but I would argue that he had to work harder trying to coach up the mediocre talent he was getting at the end.

I find the word "lazy" to be very informative about the nature of the Tubby criticism. I'll just leave it at that.

[Matt Dillon]

How did we go from Kim Anderson being fired at Missouri to a discussion of Tubby?

[Joneslab]

How did we go from Kim Anderson being fired at Missouri to a discussion of Tubby?

People were talking about Lorenzo Romar as a replacement for Kim Anderson. I brought up recalling seeing Romar's name as a (one of the many) possible replacement for Tubby back in the day.

[Matt Dillon]

People were talking about Lorenzo Romar as a replacement for Kim Anderson. I brought up recalling seeing Romar's name as a (one of the many) possible replacement for Tubby back in the day.

Thanks, Will.

[justford]

People were talking about Lorenzo Romar as a replacement for Kim Anderson. I brought up recalling seeing Romar's name as a (one of the many) possible replacement for Tubby back in the day.

So this is all your fault

[Joneslab]

So this is all your fault

I think it's been a decent discussion actually.

We've gone over the same ground fifty quadrillion times by now, but some good points are made on both sides.

I wildly disagree with BJD and Matt Colvin, but so what? That's part of why a person comes to these places, to hear what the other side believes.

[catfaninin]

I think it's been a decent discussion actually.

We've gone over the same ground fifty quadrillion times by now, but some good points are made on both sides.

I wildly disagree with BJD and Matt Colvin, but so what? That's part of why a person comes to these places, to hear what the other side believes.

I wouldn't even say I wildly disagree. I think most would agree that a change was good for both sides. And was likely overdue on UK's part. And I would even agree that with a different coach those 10 years could have included more wins. Where I disagree is the assertion that Tubby was the worst coach in history and sent UK back to the stone ages cause that part is simply not true.

[Joneslab]

Where I disagree is the assertion that Tubby was the worst coach in history and sent UK back to the stone ages cause that part is simply not true.

But that's the point that's explicitly being made by the poster.

[catfaninin]

But that's the point that's explicitly being made by the poster.

OK, then I wildly disagree as well. My point was that I don't necessarily think he was a great coach, nor even the best for this job. But he was also not to the extent of those statements.

[Dwight Schrute]

Eddie Sutton nearly caused the program to get the death penalty. Had Billy Gillispie returned for his 3rd season, Patterson, Liggins, Jorts, Miller, all likely would've transferred out.

The assertion that Tubby Smith was as bad as either of these two is dumb.

[teamchemistry15]

I wildly disagree with BJD and Matt Colvin, but so what? That's part of why a person comes to these places, to hear what the other side believes.

Speak for yourself. I don't care what other people have to say. My opinion is the gospel and I am only here to make others believe my opinion.

[Joneslab]

I believe Heshimu Evans is the best player to ever play here.

Also: the earth is flat.

[Blue Heaven]

I believe Heshimu Evans is the best player to ever play here.

Also: the earth is flat.

Must be a Kyrie Irving fan.

I loved Tubby up until the time he was asked by a reporter about selling Kentucky to recruits. He responded with something along the lines of that he doesn't have to sell Kentucky. The name Kentucky sells itself. This was asked at a time when we were losing out on good players. Players who were long and athletic. Players who can shoot and guard and play multiple positions. Yet we were getting guys who fit the old mold of what it was to be a basketball player. We couldn't slide shooting guards over to point guard or power forwards to the center or small spot. We were playing guys like Brandon Stockton, Michael Porter, Woo, Sheray, Shagari. That's when the Tubby style got old. And it was a slow burn. Granted there were some great years with him, but as the years went on, it was obvious a change was definitely in order. I liked Tubby. For a while. I wouldn't go so far as to say he took us back to the Stone Age. The Iron Age was more appropriate.