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Ha HA, MINNESOTA!!
Thursday, 22 March 2007 16:43Before I begin, I would just like to thank Stefanie for alerting me to the fact that the University of Minnesota's mascot is the Golden Gopher; ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
minervacat for writing the wonderfully entertaining story "Steal the Thunder from the Sky" in which the Golden Gophers were mentioned and beloved by Jack O'Neill; duchesspariah for celebrating with me; and God, for granting the prayers of all the True Blue UK Wildcat fans.
Tubby Smith, the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's basketball team for the last 9 seasons, has accepted the head coaching position at the University of Minnesota. Orlando "Tubby" Smith was the assistant coach under Rick Pitino, and led the Wildcats to an NCAA basketball championship in 1998. The Comeback Cats beat Utah after a double-digit deficit going into halftime. Most of these players were recruited by former UK head coach Rick Pitino.
This was the last championship title we won while under Tubby's coaching.
We have now spent the longest amount of time the program has ever gone without a Final Four appearance. But now, the winds of change, they are a-blowin, and a breath of life is once more blowing through the Cats fans who have despaired at ever getting rid of Ten Loss Tubby.
Free at last, free at last, thank GOD ALMIGHTY, WE ARE FREE AT LAST!!
Ha ha, Gophers. SUCKERS!! Have fun shelling out $2.5 million a year to a man who hasn't brought the winningest team in the nation to the Final Four in the last 9 years.
I pretty much knew he was leaving after our second-round tournament matchup against Kansas. Tubby's m.o. before that game had been to pace up and down the court, yelling at and encouraging his players. He'd strip off his jacket, yank his tie to half-mast, and run frustrated fingers through his hair, in an effort to will his players to win when we were doing poorly, and to keep them going strong when we were ahead. (It didn't work, usually; during the '06-'07 season, the Cats became masters at the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.)
However, when playing Kansas, Tubby sat sedately in his chair. No pacing, no visible frustration, the jacket stayed on and the hair and tie stayed neat. He was either planning to leave, or commit suicide-by-proxy when legions of UK fans killed him for the disgrace of not even trying to coach his players to victory during the NCAA tournament.
But now, he will stop bringing shame to the Wildcat legacy. And it is shame, have no doubt. UK basketball has one of the proudest traditions of winning, of being a national powerhouse, especially in the Southeastern Conference. And having established this tradition, it is not uncalled for that the fans expect our coaches to continue to uphold our tradition of excellence. The fact that Tubby has not held up his end of the bargain he entered into with the fans at the end of the 2005-2006 season ("We'll never have another season like this one"--13 regular season losses in '05-'06; we lost 12 in the 2006-2007 season. Woo. Big improvement there.) is the reason that UK fans will be celebrating Minnesota's new head coach.
minervacat for writing the wonderfully entertaining story "Steal the Thunder from the Sky" in which the Golden Gophers were mentioned and beloved by Jack O'Neill; duchesspariah for celebrating with me; and God, for granting the prayers of all the True Blue UK Wildcat fans.Tubby Smith, the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's basketball team for the last 9 seasons, has accepted the head coaching position at the University of Minnesota. Orlando "Tubby" Smith was the assistant coach under Rick Pitino, and led the Wildcats to an NCAA basketball championship in 1998. The Comeback Cats beat Utah after a double-digit deficit going into halftime. Most of these players were recruited by former UK head coach Rick Pitino.
This was the last championship title we won while under Tubby's coaching.
We have now spent the longest amount of time the program has ever gone without a Final Four appearance. But now, the winds of change, they are a-blowin, and a breath of life is once more blowing through the Cats fans who have despaired at ever getting rid of Ten Loss Tubby.
Free at last, free at last, thank GOD ALMIGHTY, WE ARE FREE AT LAST!!
Ha ha, Gophers. SUCKERS!! Have fun shelling out $2.5 million a year to a man who hasn't brought the winningest team in the nation to the Final Four in the last 9 years.
I pretty much knew he was leaving after our second-round tournament matchup against Kansas. Tubby's m.o. before that game had been to pace up and down the court, yelling at and encouraging his players. He'd strip off his jacket, yank his tie to half-mast, and run frustrated fingers through his hair, in an effort to will his players to win when we were doing poorly, and to keep them going strong when we were ahead. (It didn't work, usually; during the '06-'07 season, the Cats became masters at the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.)
However, when playing Kansas, Tubby sat sedately in his chair. No pacing, no visible frustration, the jacket stayed on and the hair and tie stayed neat. He was either planning to leave, or commit suicide-by-proxy when legions of UK fans killed him for the disgrace of not even trying to coach his players to victory during the NCAA tournament.
But now, he will stop bringing shame to the Wildcat legacy. And it is shame, have no doubt. UK basketball has one of the proudest traditions of winning, of being a national powerhouse, especially in the Southeastern Conference. And having established this tradition, it is not uncalled for that the fans expect our coaches to continue to uphold our tradition of excellence. The fact that Tubby has not held up his end of the bargain he entered into with the fans at the end of the 2005-2006 season ("We'll never have another season like this one"--13 regular season losses in '05-'06; we lost 12 in the 2006-2007 season. Woo. Big improvement there.) is the reason that UK fans will be celebrating Minnesota's new head coach.
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