University of Minnesota Athletics
Tubby Smith Named Head Basketball Coach at University of Minnesota
3/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
University of Minnesota Athletics Director Joel Maturi announced today that Tubby Smith has been named the 16th head basketball coach of the Golden Gophers.
"We're extremely excited to bring a coach of Tubby Smith's caliber to the University of Minnesota," Maturi said. "His record on the court speaks for itself, but more importantly, he is an educator of young men and has unquestioned integrity to lead this program to the highest level."
Smith comes to Minnesota after having spent the past 10 seasons (1997-2007) as the head coach at the University of Kentucky. During his tenure at Kentucky, Smith, 55, led the Wildcats to the 1998 national championship, four “Elite Eight” appearances, five Southeastern Conference titles, five SEC Tournament titles and six “Sweet Sixteen” finishes.
“Tubby Smith will bring a positive, new direction for Gopher men’s basketball,” said University President Robert Bruininks. “His success in winning games and guiding student-athletes to academic success will be good for this program and the entire university.”
In those 10 seasons at Kentucky, Smith compiled a 263-83 record for a .760 winning percentage. He began his coaching career at Tulsa, leading the Golden Hurricane from 1991-95, before taking over as head coach at Georgia for two seasons (1995-97). Over his 16 seasons as a head coach, Smith has an overall record of 387-145 (.727) and has posted 14 consecutive 20-win seasons and 14 straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
Smith entered the 2006-07 season eighth in winning percentage among active head coaches in NCAA Division I men’s basketball. His 365 wins entering this season was also the fifth-best start of any head coach their first 15 years in NCAA Division I basketball. In his 10 seasons at Kentucky, Smith averaged over 26 wins per season.
He is one of only nine coaches, and among only four active (joining Lon Krueger, Rick Pitino and Bill Self), in Division I NCAA Basketball, to take three different programs to the “Sweet Sixteen”. Smith, who has made nine total appearances in the “Sweet Sixteen” in his career, guided Tulsa to two appearances and Georgia to one, along with the six he made with Kentucky.
Smith entered the 2007 NCAA Tournament with the sixth-best tournament record among active coaches. He is currently 29-13 for a .690 winning percentage in the tournament. Smith has made 14 straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament spanning through his 10 years with Kentucky, two seasons at Georgia and his final two seasons at Tulsa.
In the 1997-98 season, Smith took over at Kentucky and became the first head coach since 1961 to win a national championship in his first season with a new program, which earned him National Coach of the Year honors. Smith also collected that hardware in 2003 and 2005 as well. He was also named SEC Coach of the Year in all three of those seasons.
Smith also made history in the 2002-03 season when he led his Kentucky squad to a 16-0 record in SEC regular-season play and guided them to the SEC Tournament Championship. It marked the first time since 1952 that an SEC squad had completed both the conference regular season and tournament without a loss. Overall, Smith was able to compile a 24-7 record in SEC Tournament play, including the five titles he won in the tournament with the Wildcats.
In 2000, Smith also served as an assistant coach on the 2000 U.S. Olympic team that claimed a gold medal in Sydney, Australia. He served as an assistant for Rudy Tomjanovich, alongside Larry Brown and Gene Keady. Smith was named to USA Basketball’s Collegiate Committee in 2005, and has served on a number of national committees for both the NCAA and National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).
Prior to coaching at Kentucky, Smith was Georgia’s head coach where he was 45-19 for a .703 winning percentage. Smith guided the Bulldogs to their first back-to-back 20-win seasons in school history during the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons.
In 1996, Smith brought Georgia to the “Sweet Sixteen”. It was the furthest the Bulldogs had advanced in the NCAA Tournament in 13 years. The next season, after losing eight seniors and all five starters, Smith guided Georgia to a 24-9 overall record and a 10-6 SEC mark.
Smith’s first head coaching stop was Tulsa, where he accumulated a 79-43 (.648) overall record, and guided the Golden Hurricane to two “Sweet Sixteen” appearances. In Smith’s final two seasons at Tulsa, the Golden Hurricane made back-to-back “Sweet Sixteen” appearances and won a pair of Missouri Valley Conference titles.
In 1993-94, Tulsa went 23-8 and claimed NCAA Tournament victories over UCLA and Oklahoma State. The next year, the Golden Hurricane toppled Illinois and Old Dominion in the NCAA Tournament.
Before his first head-coaching job at Tulsa, Smith held assistant coaching positions at Kentucky (1989-91), South Carolina (1986-89) and VCU (1979-86).
Smith was born June 30, 1951, in Scotland, Md. He and his wife, Donna, have three sons, G.G., Saul and Brian.
