Tubby Smith had what he thought was his retirement job. Then Memphis came calling, and the future Hall-of-Famer simply couldn’t say no
by Dick Weiss
The American Athletic Conference has successfully built its football brand by hiring bright young coordinators like Tom Herman, Philip Montgomery, Chad Morris, Scott Frost, Scottie Montgomery and Bob Diaco, who were rising stars in the profession.
Men's basketball is taking a different approach, hiring established coaches with proven credentials at the NBA or NCAA level in an effort to rejuvenate their programs.
UCF hired Johnny Dawkins, the former Duke All-American and NBA veteran guard who was an assistant at his alma mater and a head coach at Stanford. Tulane hired longtime NBA coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. A year earlier, Houston hired Kelvin Sampson, who coached Oklahoma to an NCAA Final Four in 2002 and worked as an NBA assistant. When Tulsa joined The American in 2014-15, the Golden Hurricane went with Frank Haith, who was the national coach of the year at Missouri in 2012
But the most intriguing new name in The American is new Memphis coach Tubby Smith, the 65-year old who has been a Division I head coach since 1991 and has a distinguished reputation. Smith won a national championship at Kentucky, has coached five different programs -- Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota and Texas Tech -- to 18 NCAA appearances, 30 NCAA tournament wins and has won seven conference titles. In In his 25-plus years as a head coach, Smith has had 19 seasons of 20 or more wins and has won six major national Coach of the Year awards.
Forget about age. It's only a number. Just ask Hall of Famers Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, Rick Pitino of Louisville and Roy Williams of North Carolina, who are all over 60.
Memphis has already tried the leap-of-faith approach with a young prodigy Josh Pastner, who was John Calipari's assistant on Memphis' 2008 NCAA tournament finalist. Pastner had a knack for recruiting great talent and coached the Tigers to four straight NCAA tournaments from 2010 through 2013. But the Tigers’ rabid fan base wanted more top-25 wins, and after Pastner left to take over at Georgia Tech, suddenly one of the top head coaching jobs in the nation was available.
The Tigers have the potential to light up Beale Street quickly.
Smith is a proven winner and a future Hall of Famer. He is a father figure who resonates with families in the South who watched him lead Kentucky to the national championship after he became the first African-American coach in school history.
When Smith was coaching at Minnesota, he convinced top-100 prospect Andre Hollins and Austin Hollins -- the son of NBA coach Lionel Hollins -- from the Memphis area to sign with the Gophers because their families wanted both to develop under someone they viewed as a coaching icon. “We won a lot of games with those guys,” Smith said. “We went to three NCAA tournaments and two NITs.” Minnesota improved from 8–22 in 2006–07 to 20–14 in 2007–08, and reached the Big Ten Tournament semifinals after defeating second-seeded Indiana. The next year, Smith led Minnesota to a record of 22–11 and a bid to the NCAA tournament.
When he was at Texas Tech, he turned the program around in just three years, coaching the Red Raiders, who had won three conference games in 2015, to a 19-12 season, a 9-9 league record and an NCAA tournament bid with young stars and undervalued senior leaders who overachieved in the best possible ways. Smith was selected as the Big 12 Coach of the Year and was named National Coach of the Year by Sporting News.
Smith won at both of those schools without a practice facility and without an abundance of talent in Minneapolis or Lubbock. In Memphis, he will have a new multi-million dollar facility as well as wealth of talent within a 30-mile radius.
Smith thought that Texas Tech might be the last stop in his storied career and he was as surprised as anyone when Memphis contacted his attorney. “I was out in LA to receive the John Wooden Award. That Saturday night, we were out there celebrating, because the award was Friday night, and my youngest son Brian says, 'Dad, they're tweeting about you going to Memphis.' I said, 'Really? Nobody said anything about that to me.'
“Plus, we’ve got a great team coming back. I'm happy here at Texas Tech. We got the thing turned around. I'm not ready to make another move.
“Then, Sunday goes by, I get back to Lubbock. Monday. I meet with our AD Kirby Hocutt, who had come out to LA to play golf with us, about contract extensions and the things we have to do. Then, Tuesday afternoon, I go home for lunch and all of a sudden, the phone starts ringing and it's my lawyer. He said, ‘Tubby, the Memphis people called, would you consider Memphis?'
“The next thing you know, Wednesday I visit and Thursday I sign. The only thing that concerned me is I didn't go back and say goodbye to the players, because I knew if I did I couldn't leave.
“I think the reason I've been able to stay in this profession is because if I leave a program to take another job, we always leave it in better shape than it was. When I take a job, I expect to retire there. Six times, I've been able to get a better opportunity financially.”
Smith was immediately attracted to the Memphis job, for obvious reasons. The Tigers have been to the Final Four three times - in 1973, 1985 and 2008. The city itself is a basketball hotbed. The Tigers have tradition fueled by local kids. Nationally ranked Memphis teams coached by Gene Bartow, Dana Kirk and Larry Finch were all built with local stars like Finch, Larry Kenon, Keith Lee, Elliot Perry, Penny Hardaway and Lorenzen Wright. Calipari transformed Memphis into a national program, signing future lottery picks like Dejuan Wagner, Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans.
Even though Memphis has not been to a Sweet 16 since 2009, there is hope that Smith can reenergize the program.
“The sky's the limit,” he said. “But there are no pie-in-the-sky expectations. If you have a lot of expectations, it can turn into a roller coaster ride. I expect to win this year. I expect us to be a postseason team. I expect us to compete for championships.”
The turnaround may take time. Based on the past history of Smith's teams, his most difficult rebuild took three years. That's how long it took before Smith took his Tulsa team to the Sweet 16 and that's how long it took for Smith to get Texas Tech up and running again.
“It will take that long to know the names and know the landscape,” he admitted. “The beauty of coaching at the University of Memphis is you have the talent a lot of good athletes, a lot of good basketball players who are well-coached. There are a lot of excellent high school coaches and a lot of good travel team coaches. It's going to make a difference. It means we won't have to travel far.”
Smith inherited two blue chippers -- 6-9 sophomore forward Dedric Lawson and his younger brother K.J., a 6-7 sophomore forward. Dedric was a McDonald's All-America who reclassified up to graduate a year early and enroll with his brother. He averaged 15.6 points and 9.3 rebounds last year on his way to American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year honors. He is The American’s 2016 preseason Player of the Year, along with Troy Caupain of Cincinnati. K.J. averaged 8.3 points and 3.5 rebounds for the Tigers. They are the only two of the top six scorers returning on a team that has been saddled with player defections in the last few years.
Dedric toyed with the idea of declaring for the NBA draft as a freshman, but changed his mind after participating in the NBA combine in Chicago. “I went up there and he was really struggling,” Smith said. “He's a kid who can do so many things. He reminds me of Tayshaun Prince. He can pass the ball, rebound. I think he'll be a first round pick this year. He might even be a lottery pick if he can overcome coaching.”
Lawson, who now weighs 236 pounds, has put on 10 pounds of muscle and strength in the offseason. He has tried to lower his body fat and has attempted to limit his trips to Ching's Hot Wings, though as Lawson laments, “It's right up the street.
“Our trainer has been doing great with me on a nutrition plan (while) cutting back on sweets, cutting back on a lot of fried foods and I’m eating a lot of seafood, things that will help my body.”
Junior Markel Crawford is also back along with sophomore guard Craig Randall and former walk-on Jack McDowell.
But for the most part, Smith had to scramble to fill roster spots. He took two fifth years -- 6-11 forward Chad Rykhoek from Baylor, who was never able to play for the Bears because of a series of injuries; and guard Christian Kessee, who averaged 14.6 points last season at Coppin State. Both could be starters. Smith also signed guard Keon Clergeot from Winter Haven, Fla., and 6-11 center Karim Azab, a member of the FIBA U18 gold medal-winning Egyptian National team who played for Hales Franciscan HS in Chicago. He already has a commitment for next year from Victor Enoh from Green forest Christian Academy in Decatur, Ga., a 6-8 power forward with a 7-3 wing span.
Out of respect for Smith, the coaches voted the Tigers fifth in this season's preseason American Athletic Conference poll.
This is only the beginning. Smith had 70 high school coaches in to watch a practice recently and witness his attention to detail and preparation.
“I think we can get involved with most players,” Smith said. “We're on TV all the time, we play in a great arena. We’ve just got to keep the kids from Memphis home, both in high school and college