Big Ten Gains One Coach, Loses Another

On Thursday, Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith bolted for Minnesota, while Iowa head coach Steve Alford departed for New Mexico

After having a weekend to think over the coaching moves done by Tubby Smith and Steve Alford, I am still left in a state of confusion and surprise.

Both coaches suffered from having to fill the shoes of coaching legends, Rick Pitino and Dr. Tom Davis. However, it can be argued that Tubby Smith did fulfill expectations by taking Kentucky to 10 NCAA appearances in his 10-year tenure, while winning a national championship in 1998. Steve Alford on the other hand failed immensely. Alford took Iowa to only three NCAA appearances in eight years, while going 1-4 in those games including the unforgettable 2006 exit to Northwestern State on a miraculous three-point shot as time expired.

Looking at the basketball programs of Kentucky and Iowa there is a great difference in tradition. Kentucky is and will always be a basketball school, while Iowa as emerged in the last five years as a football dominated institution. Therefore, it is fair to say that Tubby Smith simply wanted to part ways as he saw fit.

The Wildcats went 22-12 overall and 9-7 in SEC play this year, while getting knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the second-round to an extremely talented Kansas Jayhawk squad. Yet despite what many would consider a solid, respectable season, it simply does not cut it in Kentucky. The Wildcats storied tradition dates back to the great Adolph Rupp and his four NCAA tournament championships (1948, '49, '51, and '58). However, that was in an era that was white-dominated. Today's college basketball is a distant memory of those days in which African-Americans now dominate.

The true situation with Tubby Smith is that he was never given a fair shot having to fulfill the shoes of Rick Pitino and even the late, great Adolph Rupp. Smith did win a national championship in 1998, but that was Kentucky's last final four appearance and over the last 10 years their recruiting as suffered greatly.

However, it is not the fact that Tubby Smith left Kentucky with four years remaining on his contract that surprises me because he was a lame duck anyway. It is the fact that he left to coach a Gopher program that has had minimal basketball success since the Bobby Jackson era and the 1996-97 season. That was a magical year for Gopher basketball in which they reached the Final Four only to lose ironically to Kentucky. Minnesota finished 31-4 and ranked third in both the final AP and USA Today polls.

Yet today's picture of Gopher basketball is bleak. Minnesota is coming off a dismal 9-22 season, while going 3-13 in a weak Big Ten. Hopefully for Gopher fans the seven-year $12.6 million contract sent Smith's way will change the nature of the program in the coming years.

But being a realist I do not see that happening anytime soon. The Big Ten got a great addition to the conference in a head coach like Tubby Smith, but Minnesota Golden Gopher basketball is a few years away from being a contender.

Iowa on the other hand, was a contender only a season ago in which they finished 25-9 before exiting in only a way the Hawkeyes can.

It was and still is a heart-breaking 64-63 lost to Northwestern State in the first-round of the NCAA tournament. After rolling through the Big Ten tournament, Iowa wound up with a great three seed. Yet, even with all that momentum and a senior-laden team, head coach Steve Alford's legacy was written with that disappointing meltdown. The Hawkeyes were up 16 with less than eight minutes to play before completely falling a part.

With that loss, Steve Alford's best team had fallen victim to the upset special of the NCAA tourney. His NCAA record fell to 1-4 in three appearances. Getting only one first-round victory in three appearances is downright pathetic. Therefore, like Tubby Smith, Alford was a lame duck after going 17-14 overall and 9-7 in the Big Ten this season. Alford had simply made too many enemies within the Iowa community for his ego to continue to stay.

Upon signing on to become the new head coach at New Mexico, Alford cited two reasons as to why he was leaving: a new challenge and a school that put basketball first. Now, when taken together those two reasons make Alford look like a complete moron. Making Iowa a more predominant basketball school is a challenge in itself, and if I'm not mistaken in his eight-year tenure Alford accomplished a whole lot of nothing. Yes, he did have seven-straight winning seasons, but none of those proved to be anything more than a nice regular season followed by a dismal post-season.

In Alford's case, he also had huge shoes to fill in Dr. Tom Davis, but the constant distractions of the Indiana job, off-court issues with Pierre Pierce, no NCAA success, and Alford's inability to fit into the Iowa community doomed him.

As a Hawkeye, all I have to say is good luck in New Mexico Steve, you're going to need it.