PonyFans.com

had a short piece on the SMU coaching vacancy tonight with statements from Turner and B Hop. There was really nothing new but they indicated that Tubbs was the front runner that he is very interested in the job. The other candidate they focused on was Ro but he indicated that after thinking about it for a few days he's not interested in leaving the Mavs. From Hop's statements I think he and the other players are pushing for Tubbs. Hop said they were told the players will have a voice in the selection process.

For those who are curious, the reason Turner was the interviewee was because he was at the Steve Spurrier speech/SMU Forum.

I hope Tubbs is really the frontrunner and that Fox isnt just reading this message board or something. The quickest and surest way to get Dallas more behind this program is to hire Jimmy and let him get to work as soon as possible. Blackman is intriguing, but no one else would be the PR windfall that Tubbs will be. Alot of people around this town will want to see and help Tubbs succeed. Thats from the Dallas Morning News to the key high school coaches. Just watch. No one really cared about Dement succeeding, he was an outsider. Lets hire a local for ONCE and just see what it does for us. I'm betting we won't be disappointed.

If it was on that ridiculous Southwest Sports Report, I'm betting they just took the info from the DMN and ran with it. They present it as if it's big news, but it's nothing we haven't known already. Blackman said he wasn't interested in the DMN article and the Tubbs news broke yesterday. That show never really has any substantial info and I don't think they'll be breaking any stories anytime soon so look for them just to recycle more info that's already public knowledge.

Let's not have a rush to judgement on Tubbs just yet. The guy hasn't even been interviewed and let's face it we need to meet with several quality candidates of which Tubbs may be one. As great as Tubbs would be in the Dallas community, let's remember that North Texas didn't hire him nor did Texas State (?) a few years ago. They knew as much about his recruiting prowess as SMU does. There could have been some extenuating circumstances as to why he didn't get either one of those jobs, but to act as if we should just give the job to him is just silly and irresponsible. I'm for interviewing several candidates and then hiring the one that will be the best coach for SMU whether that is Tubbs or not.

As for being silly and irresponsible, I have said multiple times that there MIGHT be some high profile candidates that if they wanted the job, you would have to choose over Tubbs. But if you are choosing between relative unknowns from far and wide, you are taking a risk no matter what. I think I know what the downside of Tubbs could be, and I personally prefer that to the downside of a Mike Dement clone which is what you are realistically looking at here.

Sometime you people befuddle me. You say hire a local coach. I am sure Duke, Memphis, Texas, NC and a few other schools of that ilk hired local coachs for there vacancies. IMHO we should hire the best person who is interested in the job. If he comes from UK, Memphis, Ok or where ever makes more sense. A person coming out of a winning program of that nature would know what it takes to build a solid program. Keep in mind the shelf has some good talent. It is not bare. If Tubbs is the best person for the job than so be it. We should not hire just because he is local.

As I understand it Jim C has received expression of interest from 15 or more individuals. I am told some of the expressions of interest would suprise us. As he publicly stated he hopes to have a coach in place in about Final 4 time. A partial selection pannel(3 or 4) has been selected with about 5 or 6 more to be added. The SC will have a rep or 2 from the basketball team, prof or 2 and others.

Okay, tell us why Phil Bennett was hired by SMU. Nevermind, I already know, its been stated ad nauseum. Its because he demonstrated he could recruit the area and he already had the relationships with high school coaches to do it. You don't like the word local? Use "area" if it makes you feel better. Jeff Jones would not be the right choice for SMU, nor would all the other no names we are likely to get. I don't see any indication whatsover either that SMU is paying the type of salaries that Memphis, Duke and whoever else you mentioned pay. SMU isn't at the table with Calipari money. If we turn our nose up at a guy like Tubbs, SMU better have a damn good hire to back up all these supposed expressions of interest, etc. We heard this same thing when Cavan got fired. I like Bennett, but lets not kid ourselves about our options.

If we want to get to where Duke and Memphis are we better find a way to up our paycheck to something close to a $1M. If we can't them take a chance on Tubbs or any one else we can get for $350,000 to $500,000.

There will be a million-dollar football coach at SMU long before there's a million-dollar basketball coach. The vast majority of the alums with the fat checkbooks care a great deal more about football than about hoops. Not all, but a majority. If Bennett isn't making a million, then there's no way a hoops coach will get to that level yet.
For what it's worth, I vote for Jimmy Tubbs.

We can re-instate track for $1 mil a year. Wake up you all are dreamin... zzzzzz

Sure trackcan be restarted for $1m. Did it ever occur to anyone that may be why track was cut. Fb Coach is making well in excess of 1/2 Mil and I bet he has incentives that could put near or at $1m or more. So don't rule out a big paycheck for a bb coach. At least it's food for thought

I just don't see us hiring any big-time candidates.. not with the almost lackadasical "commitment" to this basketball program. Truth is, we should have kept Dement on board until we had the money in place for facilities upgrades. Now we might have to SETTLE yet again unless we find a truly UP AND COMING coach. Is Jimmy Tubbs that coach?

MustangTu wrote:Sure trackcan be restarted for $1m. Did it ever occur to anyone that may be why track was cut. Fb Coach is making well in excess of 1/2 Mil and I bet he has incentives that could put near or at $1m or more. So don't rule out a big paycheck for a bb coach. At least it's food for thought

Where do you get those numbers? As a private university, those figures aren't a matter of public record.