Trevor Mbakwe’s reported arrest earlier this week for allegedly violating a harassment restraining order is yet another disappointment in the Tubby Smith era of coaching Gophers basketball.
Is it time for Smith, athletic director Joel Maturi and other University officials to review this program, announce their findings to the public and make recommended changes? Since being hired by the University in 2007 Smith’s program has been involved with a series of problems.
Even assembling the staff led to a problem. Jimmy Williams charged that the University misled him about being hired as an assistant coach and he filed a lawsuit that was settled in his favor last year.
Mbakwe was recruited here out of junior college but soon found himself facing a felony battery charge by a Florida woman. The charge was settled without a trial last summer with Mbakwe agreeing to perform community service, but he didn’t play last season while awaiting resolution of his legal matter. Mbakwe didn’t admit guilt in the case.
Another prize recruit, freshman Royce White, also didn’t play a minute last season because of legal problems including an incident at the Mall of America. White transferred to Iowa State last summer.
The Mbakwe incident this week follows news last week that junior Devoe Joseph was leaving the program. He had been suspended for undisclosed reasons earlier in the season. Smith has been criticized for not offering an explanation about the transfer.
Following last season another experienced player, Paul Carter, left the program and is playing for Illinois-Chicago. The stated reason he transferred was to be near his ill sister but were there other reasons?
There are too many problems occurring too frequently with this program, but interestingly the University has been negotiating a contract extension with Smith and looking at building an expensive new practice facility. Today those don’t seem like priorities. Not for a program with a series of off court problems and one that has produced about a .500 record in Big Ten games during the last three-plus seasons.
The 1-3 Gophers have a much anticipated game tomorrow night at home against 4-0 Purdue. The fans supporting the Gophers program were excited about the game until the latest problem came to Dinkytown. Even before tipoff you can be sure a lot of them won’t be happy.