DISD Coaches Endorsing Tubbs for SMU HC Position

[SMUFan]

There are some great points here. My thoughts:

1.
Copeland is in a very tight spot. If he hires someone other than Tubbs and that new coach doesn't win, Copeland's in trouble. If area coaches are endorsing Tubbs so strongly, I read that to mean "we'll start sending some players your way." If that's what the letter meant, then you have to assume that written between the lines is "if you don't hire him, we'll tell our players to play anywhere but SMU." Not good for the community relations side of things.

2.
I've talked to Tubbs personally over the years. He speaks perfectly clearly - that PR concern is a non-issue. No, he doesn't sound like Prince Charles, but neither do a lot of coaches. And if he communicates well enough to get players to SMU and to get players to play for him and graduate and represent the university with class and .... then I don't care if he speaks by flapping his eyelids. If he can recruit and coach and win, that will be the clearest communication there can be.

3.
The David Robinson idea is an interesting one, but I have no way of knowing how tight he and Wojcik are. Without knowing either man, I would think it's more likely that if they're buddies, Robinson might come to a practice to speak to the players, or maybe even get out on the floor to show some low-post moves, rather than to recruit to a school with which he's not familiar, just as a favor for a friend. I would guess (and of course it's only a guess) that the only way David Robinson would help recruit would be if Wojcik hired him as an assistant. (Hey, wait - THERE's an idea....)

4.
In response to BigEasyPony: I have no doubts that those coaches you mention are fine coaches, and charismatic guys who would go out of their way to build the necessary relationships with coaches for recruiting. Some (like the UT assistant) obviously already know some, if not all, area coaches. However, when a letter like this is involved, indicating that nearly all DISD coaches want to see Tubbs get the job, it sounds as if the HS coaches have put their heads together to help campaign for Tubbs. If that's the case -- whether they admit it or not -- I could envision an informal movement to steer players away from SMU, in response to what they might view as a slap to the collective face of DISD if we hire someone else. They would never admit to sending players elsewhere intentionally, and would always have nice things to say about our school, etc., but bet even the most charismatic of those coaches would have a seriously hard time getting quality local players, at least for a while.

[SMUFan]

That bio says Coach Tubbs has a 16-year-old son. Wonder if he's a player.

He has a nephew who once sought a football scholarship at SMU, but was told he was too skinny. That nephew turned into 300-plus DT Marcus Tubbs, who's a likely first-round pick in April's NFL draft.

I don't know if Coach Tubbs' son plays football, basketball or Tiddly Winks. But based on his cousin Marcus, it sure looks like the genetics are there for some serious athletes.

[LA_Mustang]

I have never seen an endorsement like this. Good or bad, Copeland must have some huge ones if he doesn't hire Tubbs.

[Mike Damone]

So we want him for his recruiting abilities, but had him here for twelve years recruiting and never won anything? Does he bring more to the table than just recruiting? I'm asking because I don't know. There are lots of teams in the Tourney right now that don't have the talent but can run a freaking pick and roll and play defense. After the Dement years, I want a well coached, fundamental basketball team. We've seen the "roll the ball out there and let them play how they want" thing not work.

Can Tubbs coach? I have no reason to believe he can't, just nobody's talked about anything but his recruiting. People will say that you don't really know because they're just assistants, but I'm sure many insiders around the nation know which assistants can coach, and which can sell, and which can do both.

[M Street Stang]

Everyone knows that Tubbs can recruit. What style of offense will he run? What kind of defense did his Kimball teams play? Also, I found the DISD thing a little humerous. Let's face it, there are only two or three decent DISD basketball programs (Kimball, Lincoln, maybe SOC). When is the last time you heard of TJ, White, or Adamson do anything in basketball?

[Hoop Fan]

Tubbs can coach. Don't be fooled, Dement knew Xs and Os too. What Dement could never really do was motivate. Tubbs can, that would be the biggest difference right off. As for recruiting, Tubbs success as an assistant is just a fraction of what he could do as head coach. Dement held back Tubbs recruiting ability in a lot of ways. Tubbs was always natuarally overcoming that fact that he was just an assistant and that the head coach was an outsider and one that wasn't all that gifted in community relations. Tubbs would do several things clearly in my opinion: 1) get better players top to bottom, including a big man 2) motivate the team get the team playing much harder and more consistent for him and 3) Run a more aggressive offensive and defensive scheme. More motion on offense, more man to man on defense. If he does all that, which I think is a slam dunk, how can we go wrong?

[BigEasyPony]

I agree all that seems to be discussed is recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. As important as recruiting is, it is not the only important thing. SMU has had the talent to better than it has, but we often lacked quality coaching.
I think all of us know that without talent even the best coaches can't win.

I think we'll hire a coach who is going to on balance be (1) the best recruiter, (2) the best coach (x's and O's) and (3) the one that best represents SMU. All three are important.

[Mike Damone]

It's funny, as a Cowboys fan, I'm critical of the improvements they've made this off-season. But then I sit back and say to myself, Bill Parcells is making these decisions and he knows better than me and I'll trust whatever he does.

I wish I had that same confidence in Copeland's decisions.

[Hoop Fan]

Big Easy, I don't know if you didnt see it, but I did address those things right above you. Tubbs favors a motion offense and a stifling defense. Sounds like the things we need to me. Also, don't underestimate the importance of motivating players, not just Xs and Os. Thats where it became clear Dement lost impact. Tubbs is a great overall fit and he would recruit players that fit his style. He wont be out begging people to come to SMU, they will come for him. If you dont believe it, I can't help you and I will take no pleasure in saying I told you so later, but this is amounting to an easy decision when the coaches of Lincoln, Kimball, SOC, Hillcrest and no doubt Lancaster and Seagoville if they were DISD told you they wanted to support your coach, a guy who had been employed by you for 12 years. How damn stubborn can we be?

[EastStang]

It's not just Copeland's decision. There is a Committee. I do trust Lamar Hunt, Gerald Ford, Voc Adkins, Copeland, Turner and the other members of the Committee to sort through the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. Certainly, Shumate was a big name who was a flop here. Dement had a great resume as an assistant and couldn't take us to the next level. I agree the best coach will fulfill all aspects of coaching: Game planning, Recruiting, mothering and fathering the players and motivating them, and lastly, representing SMU. You want a coach who can fulfill all those roles well. I'll leave those decisions up to the Committee and support whomever they choose. The DMN Article was pretty clear that these coaches would not hold it against SMU if they chose someone else.

[Hoop Fan]

The DMN Article was pretty clear that these coaches would not hold it against SMU if they chose someone else.

East, I know you are a bright guy and I have respected your opinions for a long time, but how can you believe that there wouldn't be ramifications? Certainly, they are not threatening us or anything like that, but lets not hide from the clear implications here.

[The Falcon]

For evidence that Tubbs can do a whole lot more than recruit - please see my post from yesterday on this board under the heading "Evidence for Tubbs." I did some research in the DMN back into the mid 1980's and found 120 articles related to Coach Tubbs and his abilities. I excerpted five or six of those for the board. Please note the comments by his players and by other coaches. Also note the info in Tubbs' quotes.

Many of the Dallas Area Coaches who signed the letter are either ex-players who played for him or coaches who coached against him. They like this guy and know first hand about his abilities.

The other huge plus is that many of the people including kids and parents in the DISD who follow basketball are pulling for this guy. Dement was not one of their own and they knew that Tubbs was not calling the shots during the 12 years he was here. Tubbs is one of their own and they will be pulling for him. It might even put more people into seats at Moody. He can do more for this program than even some well known head coaches. He does have a proven track record. Kids respond to him. Note Bhops remarks about him.

Can I guarantee Coach Tubbs will put us in the NCAA tournament?
No. But I think he gives us so many things including recruiting power. Defense wins championships and this man is noted for his defensive teams. He also believes in teamwork and balanced scoring. He doesn't want stars who score 30 a game - he wants five guys scoring 10-15 pts per game and who can play 40 minutes of hell defense.

[Mexmustang]

PAMRolex, thank you for the copy of the OK press release.

[BigEasyPony]

You're right, it was an oversight on my part leaving out motivation. It is every bit as important as strategy. Dement was poor at motivating the team and the new coach will have to demonstrate that he has what it takes.

I do disagree that this is becoming an easy decision. When you have the top assistant coaches from UT, Stanford, Kansas, Indiana, Michigan St. et al interested in the job the competition is stiff for this job and I for one am happy about that fact.

[Greenwich Pony]

I'm back, sort of. I'm still righteously pissed about track, but I have supported the Ponies since I was very young, it's hard to break very old habits.

As to Coach Tubbs; we would be idiots not to hire him, and that's even if he doesn't know an X from an O, which I am confident is not the case. He's as close to an SMU guy as is out there right now- he's spent twelve years on the Hilltop. Most of our alumni haven't been there that long. He's wanted by the DISD, which would assist us in recruiting and SMU badly needs to build bridges to the Dallas community. If we don't we're dead. Period. If we do hire him and he flops, at least we could say we tried a local guy and hopefully get the DMN off our backs for once.

I think that Coach Haith is probably an excellent young coach and would be successful here too, on the assumption that SMU finally gets around to doing something about Moody. However, all things being close to equal, we ought to go with Tubbs. If we're going to lose, it might as well be with a guy that sparks community interest and maybe gets some new people onto the SMU bandwagon (there are plenty of seats available), and if we win, we win and everyone is happy.

Finally, he claims (and I believe him) that SMU is his dream job. How many other people can make that claim these days. I'm sure if big money came calling, he's go (wouldn't we all?), but he's more likely to stay for the long term if he's successful. It hopefully would take more to get him off the Hilltop if he's successful.

Hire Tubbs, it is as close to a no lose situation as SMU will see any time soon.