Tubby Smith walked out of President M. David Rudd’s office Wednesday morning. A reporter asked if he was still the university of Memphis basketball coach, and he told them he and the university parted ways.
Smith was hired to replace Josh Pastner who left for Georgia Tech at the end of the 2015-16 season. Smith came from Texas Tech where he went 46-50 overall. He went there from Minnesota where he was fired after a season where they went 21-13.
Smith’s overall record at Memphis was 40-26. The team had 13 losses each season. This past season, Memphis’ schedule was not as tough as it was during Smith’s first year at the U of M. Memphis’ most notable win last season was over top-25 South Carolina, who ended their season in the Final Four, and the Tigers went 19-13.
After that season, 11 players left Memphis, and Smith’s top three scorers transferred elsewhere.
This season, Smith brought in 11 new faces, many of whom were junior college transfers. Memphis’ biggest win this season was over No. 23 Houston on Feb. 22. Exactly one week later, Memphis had their worst loss in FedEx Forum against the worst team in the conference: South Florida.
Despite the losses, Memphis surprised many with its 21 wins. The Tigers were predicted to finish ninth in the conference, but they finished fifth and made it to the semi-finals in the conference tournament.
Reportedly, Smith’s losses were not the reason Rudd and Athletic Director Tom Bowen let him go. The decline in attendance, drop in ticket sales and loss of money from boosters were contributing factors to the split.
CBS reported Wednesday the U of M was negotiating a deal with Memphis East High School head coach and former Tiger Penny Hardaway. Hardaway is coaching his team in the state playoffs in Murfreesboro, Tennessee this week. East High is looking for their third straight state title.
Some students are disappointed with the administration’s decision to fire Smith after two seasons.
“I just think it’s odd that they don’t even give Tubby a chance to build a team,” U of M senior Austin Talley said. “(Justin) Fuente (former Memphis football coach) didn’t have a winning season for how many years? You can’t expect a brand new coach to just chalk up wins without building a player base around his vision.”
However, Talley said bringing Hardaway could be good.
“Only positive I could see is that Penny is a well-known Memphian and would have a good reputation with the city,” Talley said. “Also, he was really successful at the prolevel, so maybe he’s got his own personal insights that could be useful to our players.”
Other students think the change could be good for the program.
“I feel like it’s the right decision, especially since they’ll be hiring Penny Hardaway,” mechanical engineering freshman Drew Fabrizius said. “He’s played in the NBA. He knows what it takes to be a high program. It wouldn’t be a bad decision to hire him. He has NBA connections that are going to draw kids in for recruiting purposes, which would bring the talent to win a conference and hopefully the NCAA Tournament.”
Tubby Smith talks to his team from the sideline against Cincinnati. This is Smith's second season as Memphis' head coach
