University of Minnesota Athletics
New Assistant Basketball Coach Saul Smith Feels Right at Home
5/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Gophersports.com recently sat down with new assistant basketball coach Saul Smith to get his impressions of his new position. The son of head coach Tubby Smith, Saul played at the University of Kentucky and was a point guard on its 1998 NCAA Championship team. Smith was recently an assistant coach at Tennessee Tech.
Smith lettered four years at Kentucky and started at point guard for the Wildcats in each of his final two seasons. He was part of winning three SEC Championships, three SEC Tournament titles and one NCAA national championship. While helping the Wildcats claim the 1998 NCAA title, he also climbed to ninth all-time at UK in career assists (363) and 11th in steals (152).
1. How has your transition been?
“It has been great. Everyone here has been accepting and helpful. I am excited to be here, it has been really good.”
2. How has it been so far working for your dad?
“It has been great working for my dad. I knew what to expect. I worked for him before when I was a graduate assistant at the University of Kentucky. It is just a matter of listening to him and doing whatever he asks. He is a pretty easy boss to work for.”
3. How has recruiting gone so far?
“It is going great. We are out there and every recruit we have been talking to has been receptive. For me it is a big difference in the level of recruiting. I am from the mid-major level and it was a little different when you had to sell a university. You have to sell, sell, sell. Here at the University of Minnesota you still have to sell but kids have a good idea about who Coach Smith is and what the student body is here at the University. This is a good school in a well-known conference, so it is pretty easy getting people to listen when you say “Minnesota Basketball.” People actually pick up the phone and call you back.”
4. What are some of the goals for the summer? Coaching staff wise and player wise?
“I am pretty sure our goals are going to be consistent across this department. Within the team our goals is to get better everyday, athletically and academically. Whenever we have practices or workouts we come together and talk about getting better everyday, not tomorrow, but today. We are living today. We are about working as hard as we can right then to get better. That is our goal for our players. A goal for our staff is to get acclimated and become more in tune with the university and the city.”
5. Talk about what it is like to be in Minnesota and with the Gopher program.
“It is great to be in Minnesota now that the snow is gone. I am really excited to be here. Everyone has been great. The administration, the office, and Coach Maturi have all been welcoming.”
6. What is it going to take to get this program to the next level?
“It is going to take what it takes for everyone to get to the next level, hard work. We are going to have to work hard everyday in practice. Some things are going to have to change like holding every player accountable. The guys are going to have to do better in the classroom. My dad’s philosophy is that academic success and athletic success go hand-in-hand. You cannot succeed on the court unless you are doing well in the classroom. And it shows because last year at the University of Kentucky the team had a [cumulative] GPA of 3.3 and they were successful on the court. It can be done. We have the resources here. We have the faculty and administration behind us and supporting us and there is no reason why our guys cannot be at the top of the Big Ten academic wise and win a Big Ten Title on the basketball court.”
7. Talk about the individual work that you have been doing.
“For me it is seeing how they work because the coaches are not going to be there everyday. So when I am there I want to build relationships. I want to help our guards be leaders on and off the court. You can be a pretty good basketball player but not be a leader because you don’t do the right things off the work. I have just been talking to them about being a good teammate and being a good role model for your teammates. I am young so they listen to me, I hope. I talk to them like a big brother and they respond to that.”
8. What improvements have you seen and what changes are you making in individual players?
“The things that I have seen improve is their overall work ethic has been consistent from day one. The good thing about Coach Smith coming here is that it is instant credibility and they understand that coach knows what he is talking about. They want to work harder and pay attention more and because of their consistent efforts we have seen them improve already. With that their skill level and competitiveness changes. One-on-one becomes personal. It is fun, I love coaching and I love competing.”
9. How has the experience of playing on a national championship team helped you are a coach?
“It has helped me tremendously. With every team you want to win and you want to win titles, but then when it happens and you see the results pay off you realize that this is what it is for. This is a pretty good blueprint of how to do it and we did it that year. Our guys did well in the classroom that year, everything was going the way it should’ve went. The stars were aligned that year. I bring that to this team, the feelings and the story and tell them that this is something that can happen. They listen.”
