After decade on hot seat, Smith leaves on own terms

	Tubby Smith reached 100 wins faster than any other coach at Kentucky except for Hall of Famer Adolph Rupp. John Biever/SI

By William F. Reed, Special to SI.com

Tubby Smith left the University of Kentucky basketball coaching job the same way he came in -- with class and dignity, on his own terms. He knew the time had come. He knew it was in the best interests of both himself and the program. He had lost the confidence and goodwill of fans and donors, but he wasn't going to compromise his principles just to keep the job. So he took, of all things, the Minnesota job recently vacated by Don Monson.

No coach has ever left Kentucky to take a college job at a university with far less tradition and success. Adolph Rupp was forced into retirement in 1972, as was his successor, Joe B. Hall, in 1985. Hall's successor, Eddie Sutton, lasted only four seasons before being fired in disgrace due to widespread NCAA rules violations. Rick Pitino, who replaced Sutton, restored the glory of the Rupp years before leaving to coach the Boston Celtics in 1997.

Smith won the 1998 NCAA championship his first season, but his detractors pointed out repeatedly that the players all had been recruited by Pitino. Indeed, recruiting proved to be Smith's downfall. He never made another Final Four, mostly because he proved to be only a so-so recruiter.

On Smith's watch, UK's talent level slowly, but steadily, slipped until, the last two seasons, it was obvious the Cats had fallen behind traditional rivals such as North Carolina, Florida, and Kansas. In 10 seasons, Smith never recruited a consensus first-team All-America. His most celebrated players were Tayshaun Prince and Keith Bogans. In eight years, Pitino recruited 11 players who were drafted by the NBA; in 10 years, Smith recruited only three (Prince, Bogans, and Rajon Rondo).

Several of Smith high-profile recruits, not to mention the fans, never embraced "Tubby Ball." He emphasized his "ball-line defense" so much that at times he looked as if he had forgotten to teach offense. So egotistical recruits such as Bogans, Michael Bradley, Ramel Bradley, Rashaad Carruth, Joe Crawford, Randolph Morris, and Rondo seemed to spend more time pouting than playing.

Between Wayne Turner (Class of '99) and Cliff Hawkins (Class of '04), Smith's starting point guard was one of his sons, Saul, and it developed into an unhappy situation that probably marked the end of the honeymoon between Tubby and UK's fans. Saul was a good, hard-working kid, but he simply came up short in the talent department. Yet Tubby played him, at least partly because he had nobody else who could play the position, and the results left a sour taste in the mouths of all concerned.

In 2004, Smith made a recruiting gaffe that turned out to be disastrous. That spring Kentucky's "Mr. Basketball" was Chris Lofton of Mason County, who had led his Mason County High team to the state title as a junior and a runner-up finish as a senior. He was dying to come to Kentucky. However, Smith saw him only as a shooter who was too short or too slow or too something to play for the Wildcats. So he passed on the player who this season was the Southeastern Conference's Most Valuable Player and a consensus first-team All-American.

The irony is that Lofton would have been a perfect player for Smith to coach. Like Chuck Hayes, Erik Daniels, Kelenna Azubuike and others, Lofton is an unselfish player who's smart enough to play within himself. He might not have scored as many points under Smith as he has at Tennessee, but he would have bought into Tubby's system and given UK the outside threat that they've never gotten from Bradley and Crawford, who Smith took instead of Lofton.