Tubby Smith leaves Kentucky for Minnesota!

Tubby's move to Minnessota overshadows Sweet 16 NCAA games

This is only my opinion, but based on how often Rick Pitino changed jobs, I would not be surprised if he took the Kentucky job. He went back to the Knicks again as well. The only reason he went to Louisville was because the Kentucky job was taken at the time he wanted to return to college basketball. It would create a big kerfufle (ha!) in the Commonwealth, but it wouldn't be as shocking as the first time around he did this. Assuming of course the Kentucky AD/Selection Cmte wants Pitino... But let's not forget, Pitino himself has not been able to reproduce the "magic years" of the mid-80s (although some can point to the numerous high profile recruits that went straight to the NBA).

Will Purdue (ESPN Radio basketball analyst) chimed in by mentioning how demanding the Kentucky job is, and how high the expectations are based on past performance.

Dick Vitale makes clueless comments as usual on the coaching carousel and Kentucky. Vitale is probably re-living his firing from the Detroit Pistons once again. The last time I checked these coaches Vitale is screaming about are getting paid over $1 million per year. They are not paid that money just to be good citizens and family men and win 20 games a year, they are paid to win championships!

Pat Forde on ESPN News: On Kentucky: "good for all parties after the initial shock", "Tubby had nine years of diminishing returns", "Billy Donovan on top of the wish list", "Pitino's name will come up but unlikely"... On Iowa: look at the Missouri Valley pipeline (Altman, Lowery)... On Mecha-Cry-Baby (Josh McRoberts): "questionable decision", "wasn't happy at Duke", "wasn't fitting in very well". Doug Gottleib said the same thing.

Wendell Barnhouse of Forth Worth Star-Telegram on ESPN News: "Tubby got fed up of the criticism", "was not winning like Big Blue fans wanted to", "juicy Final Four as far as rumors", "Iowa to go the mid-major route?", "New Mexico president was at Texas Tech when they hired Knight" (I told you so!)

Seth Davis on PTI today: "Shocked but not surprised", "all happened in the last 72 hours", "Kentucky caught on their heels a little bit", "other names mentioned at Minnesota were Chris Lowery, Lon Kruger".

Andy Katz: "I would be shocked if Billy Donovan leaves Florida".

Andy Katz: "Minnesota was going after a big splash, all my leads went to dead ends, they were super-secretive".

Message Board Reaction

This looks like a pushout: Kentucky will honor Tubby's 1.5 million incentive bonus that was due on April 3. The story at ESPN has 450+ user comments already.

Seth Davis story at CNN/SI.

A good collection of links to various web links covering the Tubby Smith story at the KYBasketball blog

Louisville Courier Journal story

Scott's Shots commentary on the coaching change

Seth Greenberg (Virginia Tech coach, and CSTV analyst) commenting on the situation: "Why not go after Pat Riley?" when responding to the possibility of KY going after Billy Donovan. He said that the Florida program was "built in Donovan's image". Why would he leave?

Caller "Keith from Kentucky" on CSTV's Tourney Talk wants Tom Izzo to be the new Kentucky coach... CSTV's Hoops Insider Brian Curtis predicts Tom Crean will be the next Kentucky coach

Oh and yes, this is as shocking as shocking can be, Tubby Smith has accepted the .......... Minnesota job! I kid you not!

ESPN story on Tubby Smith leaving Kentucky for Minnesota for $1.8 million per year. Money talks!

"Sources" cited by ESPN point to the following as potential candidates: Tom Crean, Mark Few, Tom Izzo, John Calipari (and leave Derrick Rose behind), Rick Barnes, Mike Brey (what???), Jay Wright and Billy Gillespie. Billy Donovan's name will probably come up, especially since he delayed signing an extension, but with a possible repeat championship, it's hard to see why Billy Donovan would want to change jobs now that he is doing so well.

So why the Gophers instead of Michigan? Perhaps Michigan wasn't willing to pay top dollar? Perhaps not as much pressure?

I am not sure why Tubby made such a swift move. He could have easily gotten a better job (eg Michigan) or high-profile openings as a result of his move out of Kentucky, or he could also look at various NBA jobs. This is a shocker with capital A baby!. It's unbelieable!

Reaction from Kentucky Fan sites: A Sea of Blue, FireTubby.com

Recapping the Louisville Cardinals season at Yahoo Sports.

Biggest job openings as of right now: Kentucky, Michigan, Iowa, South Florida (only because they are in the Big East), and Utah