Just for Dooby

[BUS]

Tubbs for Coach

Tubbs for Coach

Rah Rah

Question.....
Georgetown hired the Huge BLack guy coach and then they took off. Did not that coach come from an area high school? John Thompson yeah, that the guy. I may be wrong but I thought that he coached at a local high school and then when he got the GW job he got some good recruits. Oh yes, he could coach too.

[DickerJames]

Two words. GERRY FAUST

Serriously, a high school coach should not and thankfully is not on our radar screen. As for Tubbs, I don't know if he's the right guy or not, but Dooby's point was that it would be nice if the topic stayed on one thread instead of 10.

[Dooby]

I am not a Tubbs hater. If he's hired, I will be there waiving my Pony pom-poms like the other folks there. I am jus tired of the people on Tubbs' Christmas card list starting threads to say what a great guy he is.

[BUS]

Just messin around Guy. Relax. SMU will get a good coach and we will both be waving our Red And Blue. ( I have never met Mr. Tubbs ) no Christmas Card@$%&@%*

But the question: How did John Thompson get to Georgetown?

[EastStang]

Believe it or not, I think I can answer that one. Georgetown was a perennial cellar dweller in what later became the Big East and was made up of similar sized catholic leaning schools like St. Johns, Villanova, Georgetown, and some other schools. Georgetown was not considered a plum job and no name coach wanted it. Legend has it that Morgan Wooton from DeMatha was offered the job and turned it down. So, the athletic director at Georgetown was a Jesuit priest who know the head priest at a school in DC called St. Anthony's. St. Anthony's won lots of games in the catholic school league in DC (it was and arguably still is the best high school conference in DC). The coach at St. Anthony's was a young former Boston Celtic named John Thompson, a local kid. Georgetown hired him and it caused a real stir (particularly in the black community in DC) back then because toney white schools did not hire black coaches. I remember my senior year in high school we were playing in a tournament in February and this very tall black man walked into the Gym (again a rare sight at my school) and everyone said that's the new Coach at Georgetown. As a player at the host school, I welcomed him and ushered him into the hospitality room because he wanted to meet a couple of players that interested him from other schools.

[The Falcon]

Thanks for sharing that. Personal, real life insights are always interesting. I enjoy reading your posts.

[Greenwich Pony]

Frankly, if we had 100 Tubbs posts on this site, I'd be happy, not because I am particularly fond of Mr. Tubbs, but because at least he's generating some interest and passion in a program that hasn't had it in quite some time.

As to Mr. Tubbs candidacy, I think this: If he is on par with the other candidates' X's and O's, hire him. He's a local guy, and we need to rebuild our relationship with the Dallas community. He apparently does have the interest of DISD and local high schools. If he succeeds, we look like geniuses. If he fails, then we cannot be faulted (I know the DMN will find a way), we took the local guy. As to him being too much like Dement, well, he's an adult. I had a really nice guy as a boss who was a modestly successful attorney. He has a very laid-back style. When I finally went out on my own, I think I'm a nice guy, but I have a very difference sense of style and organization. I saw what my boss did right, did what I thought was wrong and brought my own ideas to the party; some have worked well, some haven't. I'm sure Tubbs will do the same thing.

As to being PR savvy, Dement wasn't. Copleand isn't. In fact, I think for a school of SMU's caliber, our PR front is terrible. We have a community college website, our news bureau kicks out stories every month or so when they feel like it, and while the people in our media office are very nice and personible, they aren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, which I think is particularly embarassing, since we have a corporate communications major and software design program. But I digress. I have a few SMU and Dallas rants bubbling up that I haven't figured out where to post them yet. In any case, Tubbs can't be any less PR savvy than we are right now.

And that will be great if we get the coaching and recruiting angle down, but we still must do something about Moody, or we'll hit another wall. While I love Moody, the seating is tight, we need practice courts, and frankly, I'm slowly turning towards replacing it. Why not start from scratch, seat 9,000 like the present arena, but with better seating options and more flexibility for other functions, and practice facilities for our basketball and volleyball programs. If we could raise the money for a moribund football program, why can't we raise money for a new arena that can be more of an asset to the university?

Considering the length of this post, I would like to take the opportunity to remind everyone that never in my life have I attended North Texas...