A supportive statement this month by Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow for coach Gary Williams may have temporarily sidelined speculation that the Gophers’ Tubby Smith might succeed Williams. Yow didn’t, of course, refer to Smith or other coaches in her statement but did express optimism about the future of Maryland basketball where Williams, who won the 2002 national championship, has more than three years remaining on his contract.
Those concerned about Smith leaving Minnesota have been worried that he will go to Maryland even more than the other schools believed to have interest in him, including Arizona and Alabama. Smith grew up in Maryland where his elderly parents still reside.
Home ties with family and memories, plus coaching the Terps in America’s premier basketball league, the Atlantic Coast Conference, with access to the talent load of prep players on the east coast could tempt many coaches. Then, too, at least some of the Smith family living here doesn’t care for the cold winters and College Park might seem almost tropical compared to Minneapolis.
But hold on. The opinion here is Smith isn’t leaving Minnesota anytime soon. By all indications, he likes the people a lot including those he works for and with. He’s also well paid with guaranteed compensation of $1,775,000, plus an incentive package that can put him over $2 million.
The richer among athletic departments could afford to pay Smith considerably more than he earns here and the Gophers are unlikely to enter a bidding war. However, Smith earns big time compensation at Minnesota and with the imploding economy, including the impact on college athletic department budgets, even the wealthier programs could be more reluctant to spend exorbitant money on coaches’ salaries than in normal times.
Smith is a principled guy and he’s made a commitment to two recruiting classes since arriving at Minnesota. A jump to someplace else so soon would leave a lot of disappointment among players and others.
The coach is excited about the future here with the talent he’s attracting and the program being built. His first two recruiting classes have been ranked among the top 25 in the country. His second season has been a success so far with a 19-5 record following last season’s 20-14.
While his family may not be crazy about the weather and had to learn about a new town and building relationships where there were none before, they’ve got to love the friendly reception Smith has received here. At Kentucky Smith was a punching bag for disgruntled and wacky fans. Here he’s revered, with even the student section waving their arms prior to games in mock worship.
There never will be the pressure and scrutiny with the Gophers that Smith faced at Kentucky. Other big time programs like Arizona could include similar stress, much more so than Minneapolis where there are so many other college and pro sports teams to deflect attention from Gophers basketball.
Smith has a better opportunity to have successful teams in the Big Ten than the ACC where Duke and North Carolina rule year after year. The ACC is crazy good while the Big Ten is so-so, with only one national power program, Michigan State. There’s plenty of room at the top.
So it makes a lot of sense to believe Smith will stay here. And by the way, if he does leave, it doesn’t make much sense that former Gopher player and assistant coach Flip Saunders will succeed him. Seems like if he really wanted to coach at his alma mater, he would have found his way to Dinkytown during the last 10 years when at least twice his name has been linked to the job. Perhaps Saunders will end up coaching the Sacramento Kings where he would be back in the NBA commanding a salary more than double (at least) what the Gophers could pay and also bolstering his league pension.