Tubby!

I got in my Dodge Stratus (that’s right, as Will Ferrell said: "I drive a Dodge Stratus") yesterday and started heading to Madison to visit some friends, so I flipped on KFAN to help pass the early part of the trip.

I was listening to Chad Hartman, and the whole discussion revolved around Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith coming to coach at Minnesota.

I called my buddy Big Party and asked him if he had heard anything.  He ran to his room and checked the Web, but couldn’t find anything.  I assumed it must be speculation and kept reading.

My phone rang 15 minutes later.  It was Party, and Tubby had, indeed, left Kentucky to coach the University of Minnesota.

I was shocked.  It became apparent a few days ago that Flip Saunders probably wasn’t going to take the job, and I was worried the Gophers were going to go with a mid-major coach who had made a splash in the NCAA tournament. Nothing against mid-majors or their coaches, but the last time Minnesota did that we ended up with Dan Monson.  I didn’t want to see the same mistake made twice.

However, they blew me (and it seems like everyone else) away with this hire.  I’ve been lukewarm on Joel Maturi during his tenure as A.D., but he really knocked this one out of the ball park.  I can’t believe that Smith’s Wildcats were playing in the tournament on Sunday, and he was announced as the Gophers coach just four days later without so much as a peep in the local or national media until the official word.  Hi-fives to everyone in the Minnesota athletic department involved with the interviews and the negotiations.

I’m also glad that they realized that this basketball situation could be fixed in a hurry with the right hire, unlike football, which will take some time no matter what. It won’t take Tubby long to build a team in Minnesota. I would imagine he’ll be able to start landing the top-notch local recruits, as well as some bigger talents nationally than Gopher fans are used to with his name, reputation and coaching ability.

After I lost the KFAN signal, I found a national sports radio show (I believe it was FOX) and they were talking about the big news as well. Most of the callers they took were Kentucky fans who were both sad to see Tubby go, and their only knock on his was his recruiting.  I’m sorry, but he had an impossible task as a recruiter following Rick Pitino.  At Minnesota, he won’t be expected to land classes full of McDonald’s All-Americans (right away, anyway), he’ll just need to improve on what the program has been getting.

But the bottom line is, the guy can flat out coach. He knows the Xs and Os. He can coach offense. He can coach defense. His teams make adjustments. In the college game, which is way more of a coaches game than the NBA, he will make a big impact here and the Gophers will finally take the court with the amount of preparation and discipline that fans in The Barn crave.

The other thing I love about the hire is the timing. Had this happened four weeks from now, the U wouldn’t receive one-fourth of the national publicity they’ll get for it this weekend. It’s genious to do it during the three-week period  when college basketball is the biggest sport in the world, and this hire will be discussed over and over on sports shows and all the CBS pre- and post-game coverage through next weekend’s Final Four. Not only is Tubby Smith Minnesota’s new coach – now, everyone in the world will know it.

That call from Big Party wasn’t the only one I received during my drive. In fact, my phone never stopped ringing almost the entire trip. Within a half-hour I had received over a half-dozen text messages and even more calls with the news and the excitement surrounding it. 

Between Tubby coming to town, Tim Brewster’s continuing passion and the hockey team in the NCAA tournament this weekend, I can’t remember a more exciting time to be a Gopher fan.

So why did I have to pick this weekend to come to Madison?  Figures.