DMN Article about Tubbs & Tourney

[friarwolf]

Hello, my name is Friarwolf.........I am a Tubbs basher. I am addicted to bashery. Wow, I feel so much better now. I want to thank my dear friends jt and hooper for helping me see the light of day. One day at a time.

Gunga, galoonga....................

[New Yorker]

I absolutely wouldn't have fired Bennett after two seasons. We were HORRIBLE when he got here. And the way Cavan ran his program was the furthest thing from disciplined, organized, and any other trait that is positive on a program.

I guess the first time wasn't really an "investigation" but the whole Hop playing in illegal summer games certainly can carry the word sanction.

And if "quite a few years" is 1, then you're right, we haven't made it past the play-in game in a long time. But, if I remember correctly, just 2 years ago we won a play-in game, and 3 years ago we were in the semi-finals. Those were young teams that did that (granted normally with one very good seniojr) and there is no reason that Tubbs should've lost in the play-in game last year. Especially, not the way we did. I'm just saying that the table was set for him.

Hoop fan - I agree the honeymoon is over - and he may very well not have had one. What do you think he demanded before excepting the job? Nothing. He got screwed on his contract, nor did he demand a new this or that. He was just so happy to come be the coach at SMU that he came without any demands of the administration. All his fault, probably not. The administration should step up too, but he needed to be smarter than that.

And his past is a great fit for SMU. True, true. The reason why - because DISD should be a pipeline to SMU, just like the coaches said. Well, they can't go back now and say well, once you win 20 games a season for 3 straight, then we'll send our kids your way. That's not how works.

But how's he not a good fit for SMU? What kind of image does the region and hopefully someday the nation take in when they see an interview with him associated with SMU. We're supposed to be this highly educated school and his speeches are anything but. He needs to calm down just a bit on the sidelines as well. He makes an absolute fool out of himself during games at times.

It is a hard job, no doubt. And we can't expect immediate results. But I certainly don't think that would should settle for negative pub and underachievement and then listen to excuses as to why these things are happening. But that's just my view of the situation.

[Hoop Fan]

Fri-Guy, that's a perfect 10 on the sarcasm meter. I don't expect to convince you, but let me ask you this. Do you support Bennett right now? Did you support him after his 0-12 in Year 2? If memory serves, I think that was the first and hopefully only time SMU went winless in football in its history.

[Hoop Fan]

But how's he not a good fit for SMU? What kind of image does the region and hopefully someday the nation take in when they see an interview with him associated with SMU. We're supposed to be this highly educated school and his speeches are anything but. He needs to calm down just a bit on the sidelines as well. He makes an absolute fool out of himself during games at times.

you're out of line here. John Cheney from Temple had a raspy voice too. Tubbs may not be the best public speaker around, but he is bright and educated. This says alot about where you are coming from to accuse him of being 'anything but' highly educated.

[New Yorker]

I think you're out of your mind. You've got to really listen what this guy says.

[jtstang]

Hello, my name is Friarwolf.........I am a Tubbs basher.

Damn straight.

And here's a question for you and your Tubbs-bashing buddies. You want to can him, fine, but who's gonna come to SMU that's better than him?

[ClassOf81]

.... Tubbs has been a disappointment in the one thing he was hired for - recruiting....

Really? Are you going to say you don't see the possibility of a great player in Bamba Fall? Or that Brian Morris hasn't exceeded all of your expectations? Dez hasn't been Jason Kidd, but he's run the point .... OK, to this point, and has the potential to be better. The two others this year -- Epps and Williams -- get him an incomplete grade. Williams has been hurt all year, and Epps has played just a little, so frankly I don't know what we have there. Personally, I'd take players of the caliber of Bamba Fall, Brian Morris and Dez Willingham every year. I think we just get too hung up on the fact that they aren't DISD kids -- who cares? If we can go get another Bamba Fall each time, we should set up an office at Oak Hill.

[Hoop Fan]

I absolutely wouldn't have fired Bennett after two seasons. We were HORRIBLE when he got here. And the way Cavan ran his program was the furthest thing from disciplined, organized, and any other trait that is positive on a program.

Thing is, SMU was consistently winning at least 3 or 4 games in Cavans final seasons and in Bennetts first year but then how do you explain the total collapse to 0-12 in Bennetts second year?

If you think about it, its really not that unusual. Coach A is given every chance to fail and is probably kept on too long. His recruiting classes really suffer in the final two years of his tenure. Coach B takes over, has a decent senior class because those guys were recruited while Coach A was still showing hope and promise. Those guys graduate, the players from Coach A's final recruiting classes become the core of your team in year 2 and wham, the honeymoon is over, but you are still fielding a team that you didn't construct for the most part. Sound like a fair and complete way to judge a guy to you?

[Hoop Fan]

I think you're out of your mind. You've got to really listen what this guy says.

really, give us an example. Also, your point about Tubbs behavior on the sidelines is just plain wrong. You must not watch any college basketball other than SMU. For the record, go ahead and tell us how many technical fouls Tubbs has received over the last two years. Let me save you some trouble, I dont think there has been one. I'd like to see him more animated at times.

[friarwolf]

Hooper, thanks, I love getting perfect scores.

Was I happy with Bennett after 0-12? Hell no. Was I happy when we laid an egg this year after Tulsa? Hell no. Am I happy with Bennett's recruiting performance. Hell no. The difference between Bennett and Tubbs? It's a hell of a lot harder to turn a football program around simply due to the sheer numbers. We could get Matthew Stafford in here and not win one more game because someone has to block for him and someone has to catch his passes. Get Darrell Arthur in here and the program immediately wins more games. So should Bennett get a little bit more leeway? In my opinion, yes. And funny how the complaints were pretty much muted when Bennett started delivering quality wins at the end of the season. Now, if we lay an egg next year and win 3 games, then it's time to cut bait.

Same thing with Tubbs. He needs to stop with the excuses that his team is young, that he has injuries, that he needs an extension and start delivering some quality wins - like today. If he does that, then that will quickly shut me up and you know what? I'll be happy to hush.

[friarwolf]

Good lord, jt. (Are you Jimmy Tubbs, by the way?) You think Tubbs is as good as we can do?????? Please...............

Send your resume's to jt. With his standards, you can get a good gig.

[jtstang]

Good lord, jt. (Are you Jimmy Tubbs, by the way?) You think Tubbs is as good as we can do?????? Please...............

Send your resume's to jt. With his standards, you can get a good gig.

Who?

[Hoop Fan]

I understand the numbers analogy but its a little bit of a cop out. Is it any easier for Tubbs to sign Arthur than it is for Bennett to sign Stafford? No. If its so easy why doesn't Bennett have Stafford or even one blue chip like him from the area? The fact is that basketball and football stars do not look at recruiting any differently at all. They all want to go where they think they will get exposure, play with other good players and win. You think Darrell Arthur wakes up and say to himself, gee, there are only 5 players on a basketball team, I'm one player (ie 20% of the team) so I dont care about who else is there or what exposure I'll get at SMU.

Now, once you break through and get a few good players, the turnaround can happen faster and be more permanent in basketball. My point all along has been at least Tubbs has a chance to break through and get us a stud or two to get the ball rolling. Our alternatives do not give us that chance and Dement certainly was not even in the 'game' his final two years - no one recruit of note even considered us in Dements final years, unlike now at least we are on some lists and have chances. Thats probably all we deserve with our sorry facility and sorry support. By the way, give Tubbs a facility anywhere near the quality of Ford Stadium and you might have a valid reason to bash tubbs for not getting blue chips.

[Blunt Pony]

man, did you take a double dose of the 'down on tubbs' pills this morning? wow, you'd think the guy is totally incapable and is in his 10th year of losing here. Dements second year wasnt worth a damn either. You thought this years schedule was weak, check out Dements early schedules I think they were worse. Plus I think Dement happened to have a few more veteran leaders to work with than Tubbs happens to have inherited. Its way too early to be down on the guy that much. This is smu, the roster he took over was in shambles and his recruiting, while not exciting yet, certainly appears to be better than Dements final two classes.

This pretty much sums up why we never improve. Why do we compare ourselves to ourselves. I don't recall anyone saying look back at the glory days of Dement! Dement's tenure was not good and this one is not starting out well. Let's compare ourselves and judge ourselves with other "successful" programs. Just because Dements record sucked his first two years, makes it o.k. for Tubbs' record to suck? I am not bashing Tubbs with this post, just don't try to make his record look o.k. by comparing him to previous unsuccessful SMU coaches.

[EastStang]

I'm not asserting the Tubbs is the next coach K, but look at his record at Duke the first four years. 1981 17-13 with a 6-11 conf. record. 1982 10-17 with a conference record of 4-11. 1983 11-17 with a conference record of 3-12. 1984 24-10 with a conference record of 9-8. It was not until his sixth year that he won a conference title. 37-3 with a 15-2 conference record. As you can see one of the best coaches in the past 25 years started his first two years with a 27-30 record and had a 38-47 record by his third year.

Also, if one player can turn around a program why hasn't consensus high school All-American Bryan Hopkins done that? Basketball is also a team game last time I checked. Sure one player can dominate a game now and then, but night in and night out, unless there is some balance in scoring between back court and front court, its hard to win games consistently. It takes time to grow a program.