"I'm guessing that since even our all time debacle coach won like 69% of his games, that this being in the top 5 for wins and/or percentage in most 5 year periods is pretty commonplace at UK.

We can say Tubby Smith is an ELITE COACH every day and twice on Sunday but he is yet to parlay that into a big multi-year run or even as every UK coach minus Sutton has done for 70 years and build a championship team here.

Guys EACH UK coach (leaving drunk eddie out of the conversation) has led a team he recruited and molded to not just Final Fours but Championships.

So, I can't say we have an elite coach because all of those who have proven to be of such caliber have got it done from the begininng of the process to the end. They have put systems in place, found the players to fit it, and taught them to execute what needs to be done to come out on top, all on a fairly consistent basis and usually with some stretch of domination.

That's even keeping in mind that on the national scale that Joe B. is not regarded as an elite despite a championship and multiple Final Fours.
Rupp and Pitino (no matter what he does from here out) are elite coaches and will be so historicly, if we are honest Tubby is not in their league from a basketball accomplishment standpoint.

Increasingly, I even think it is difficult to say Tubby is proving to be a better coach than Joe Hall, in fact it's not hard to argue Joe B. was more successful here despite a couple of .500 years and staying home from some NCAA's despite that because he had to builld his own best squads, they made a few Final Fours in a similar period of time including getting the brass ring, and even when there were disappointments, more was expected.

That's to say disappointment was exactly that, if we didn't win it was a problem and a failure. Joe B. didn't flinch at the expectations, even if they overcame him.

When I look at the present coaching landscape I'd say it's a hard sale to say Tubby has accomplished more than Knight, K, R Williams, Jim Boehiem, Calhoun, Olsen, Izzo, or Donovan, especially considering his having the luxery of taking over a UK program at the top of the game while others had to actually build a program to get to a position where a championship is a plausible goal.

Those are all current guys and you can argue a few more out there being fairly equal. Plus, there are quite a few guys that have never been given anywhere close to the oppourtunity a school like UK provides and forgetting all of the game's greats no longer coaching.

All of this to say how elite has Tubby really proven to be folks?

He is arguably only our 4th best coach and by all means is pretty good but relying on that winning percentage as the weathervane of being a truly elite coach utterly discounts the program and pretends all schools give an equal chance to compete and dominate.

The undefeated SEC run is Tubby Smith's one SPECIAL accomplishment and he deserves credit for that but that alone is an indicator not proof of his greatness.
Unfortunatly, there have been a slew of disappointments and alarming errors that for a lot of people more than offset that undefeated SEC squad.

Tubby appears to be solid rather than spectacular in the context of what he has to work with and therefore the possibility for an upgrade is very real and the chances of taking a big step back is small because there are plenty of guys that have done at least what Tubby had accomplished before he got here, some that have done more that might be receptive also.

Why take a chance like that?

Because we honestly have nothing to lose other than perhaps missing a tourney or two over a similar period of time.
How much worse overall could the program have been expected to perform since Tubby's system and players took control?
I can almost gurantee no one saw this many 10 loss seasons, this long without a Final Four, or this kind of recruiting difficulty 10 years ago.

I'm left thinking only a poor or at best very average coach would have done much less and that if a truly elite had actually taken over he would have maintained or even taken the program up a notch.

I know people say that can't happen but I see a thought process there that ignores what some of these heavy hitters did by building up programs from comparitively nothing and over their tenures, having equal and greater accomplishments. These are not great figures from the past but men in the game right now, dealing with the same rules and levels of parity.

Tubby is a good coach at an elite program or at least that is what he has proven at this point.
I guess it's believed that his run is coming or that he will display sporadic years of excellence yet to come sprinkled in with the NCAA regularity because piling up regular season wins at UK (#1) and making the NCAA's (#1) are routine, as is winning the SEC which is something we have done more than the other 11 schools combined.

Ordinary is the background, that which stands out is special.

Bluegrassking

Tubby's undefeated SEC run is the most overrated accomplishment in Kentucky history. Outside of Kentucky, the SEC went 3-5 in the NCAA tournament that year. Take away Auburn's 2 unlikely wins as a #10 seed and the SEC is 1-5 with #2 Florida's win over Sam Houston as being the only other victory. Florida was then pummeled by Michigan St. 68-46.

(8) LSU was throttled by (9) Purdue 80-56 in the first round and Alabama lost to an Indiana team that then went on to get trounced by 22 points to Pittsburgh.

Of course we all know after Marquette beat us they got hammered by Kansas.

Face it, folks. The SEC was just terrible that year. 2 of 6 SEC teams lost in the first round and one of those was blown out. 2 more lost in the 2nd round and one of those was blown out. Then Kentucky was blown out. The SEC sucked ass that year.

Crow

Well,

I'm sure for someone that supports Tubby, they'll read this post and just shake their head saying this is another typical Dynasty Defender post.

First let me admit, I make no bones about it - even if UK were to get to a final four this year, I'd still want Tubby gone. My belief is his personal philosophy of basketball and life in general is about the worst fit any coach could have for the program.

That said, we are on par again to have another middling not horrible, not great season that only further divides the fanbase.

A stretch of games against unranked teams has allowed us to put together a nice little win streak and possibly break the top 25 in the short term future. This gives the folks who support Tubby reason to cheer, a chance to live in the moment of saying "I told you so" until we face a motivated opponent. Then they'll retreat with the "you guys couldn't wait for this to happen so you could come on here and slam Tubby" routine

But whats frustrating for me is this is typical Tubby. Do the bare minimum to get by. There is no final four, there is no SEC championship - you do what you have to make sure you get another year of paychecks. And thats exactly what this year is shaping up to. An insurance year that gives him another next year.

I can't enjoy UK Basketball anymore because I despise the man coaching it. I believe I see him for what he is while others see him as some miracle worker for us beating Auburn.

Chris Rock has a skit where he talks about men bragging about paying child support and not being in jail. His response is "Mother****er, you're SUPPOSED to pay child support, you're not SUPPOSED to be in jail". That sums up how I see UK Basketball.

You're SUPPOSED to beat Auburn, You're supposed to be in the top 25. Thats standard fare - thats not excelling, thats not even "good" by UK standards, thats just what you're supposed to do like many of us are supposed to show up for work everyday and stop for schoolbuses.

I have a theory - People slam Pitino for leaving the cupboard bare and slacking on recruiting when he knew he was going pro (whether he left the cupboard bare or not is debatable). I think Tubby did the same thing. The Keith Bogans/Gerald Fitch era was his title team or at least his final four team and I honestly think he was going to bolt shortly after he accomplished something at UK.

Unfortunately for us and him, he hasn't accomplished jack shit except have a bunch of lemmings sing his praises for showing up everyday . He mailed in recruiting thinking someone else would be here and after UK falls out being considered a contender, Tubby's stock as a pro coach goes down like Enron and he comes to the harsh reality that he is in the best gig he is ever going to have.

So he gets serious about recruiting for a year, pulls together his victory team (Morris, Rondo, Bradley, Crawford) but can't do anything with them. To make matters worse, the Kentucky kid Lofton makes him look like a horses ass every 30 point game he drops on an opponent.

I don't know what his state of mind is now, but I'm certain he (Tubby) mentally gave up caring about the state of UK basketball thinking he'd be gone, similar to the complaints about Pitino, but then found himself in a situation where he was stuck and is now realizing he has to actually do something. The money is too good to quit. Get beat up in the press a bit, have some fans get some attention for wanting you gone, have a 20 win season and force the A.D. to say once again, that you have his full support.

Except he ain't the guy to put in the Pitino work ethic, and his staff is full of morons who unfortunately for us and him are also at the best job they'll ever have so we will continually have "good" seasons.

"good" keeps us from ever seeing great because we don't have an A.D. like Florida's Foley who will fire his coach and more importantly, a good friend, Ron Zook because he could settle for "good" seasons in Florida Football.

I believe, contrary to the short term view of many - no UK fan should be optimistic now.

BLUEEDGE