Current Minnesota coach Tubby Smith is hands-down one of the best coaches in America. Although he’s coming off of a subpar 17-14 season in Minnesota, and missing the postseason for the first time in 16 seasons, Smith personifies class and has been well liked at every coaching stop in his 18 seasons as head coach. He’s known for his at times exhuberant and fiery reactions on the sidelines and of course, when a player disobeys,…the Tubby stare.
He achieved legendary status by becoming just the 5th coach in NCAA history to lead 4 different teams to the NCAA Tournament and of course, winning the national title in 1998 with Kentucky, despite not having a single All American or NBA Lottery pick on the roster. His disappointing 17 win 2010-2011 season snapped his 17 year streak of winning 20 or more games.
Heading into 2011, Tubby and his Gopher squad are again underdogs in the Big Ten, with heavy-weights like Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Michigan favored. While the loss of the sharpshooting Blake Hoffarber will hurt, the Gophers still have a vaunted frontcourt led by Team USA member Trevor Mbakwe, highlight reel dunker Rodney Williams, and big man Ralph Sampson III, who decided to return for his senior season.
Tubby did do well on the recruiting front to reel in a talented 4 man freshman class led by 4 star, Top 100 rated shooting guards Andre Hollins and Joe Coleman. the 6’2 and 200lb Coleman has already shown off his amazing athleticism by winning the dunk contest at Midnight Madness by finishing off a sweet 360 jam to beat the highly favored Rodney Williams who dunked over some odd looking barnyard animals.
But the real showstopper at the Golden Gophers’ 2011 All Star Night was undoubtedly when the now 60 year old Tubby Smith donned a maroon robe, boxing gloves, and John Wall socks to do his best “Rocky” impersonation as he entered the arena. As far as entertsainment value, this ranks right up there when he made an amazing 84 free throws in 2 minutes last season for charity.
Check out Tubby Smith entering Midnight Madness as Rocky:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
