On Thursday March 22, 2007 The Minnesota Score broke the story on AM 660/WBHR of Tubby Smith's move from Kentucky to Minnesota to become the new Gopher men's basketball coach. On Friday March 23 Smith was at Williams Arena in Minneapolis where we caught up with him. Here's a portion of that interview:
MS: Tubby, welcome to Minnesota. Do you that this program (University of Minnesota) is a sleeping giant based on what Coach Clem Haskins told you and what you know?
TS: Many coaches and people that know basketball and college basketball understand that there is a lot of potential here. And again, I want to certainly compliment Dan Monson, cause he had a tough job. I've been there. I've had to bring programs through probation when I was with Rick Pitino at Kentucky and even at Tulsa we went through probation. It's a tough thing to do. Coming in now I get to be the guy that can kind of bring some new life and new energy to the program. And I do think that it has unlimited potential here.
MS: Could you talk a little bit about the differences in style in the SEC and what you're going to see in the Big Ten, known more as a far more physical conference?
TS: You look at a team like Florida flying up and down, Tennessee and how they like to push it. Bruce Pearle, Billy Donovan we've got some great coaches in that league. But the Big Ten has unbelievable coaching in Bo Ryan and Izzo at Michigan State, Illinois, Indiana. Everybody says it's a physical conference. But it also I think is a very athletic conference, so our job is to make sure we get those people that can win, not just complete but win and play well against these other teams in the league. I know that is has a reputation of being a very physical conference, but the SEC has been a very tough conference over the years too.
MS: What are the trademarks of a Tubby Smith team, what are the trademarks you hope to bring to the Gophers.
TS: I think our teams have been noted as teams that have a lot of balance. We play as a team. Willing to share the basketball. We're going to defend you for 40, 45 minutes, whatever it takes to win the game. We're a team that wants to be physical. We've got to get physical players that can rebound and that are fundamentally sound. When you look at our teams, I think you've gotta say hey, w're a team that can beat you in many different ways.
