It's March, so it must be time for the annual Tubby Smith coaching rumors to pop up. Obviously none of the rumors that he would leave Minnesota for various schools in the past have come to fruition, so please treat this mostly as entertainment.
The latest school mentioned in connection with the Gophers coach? Tulsa. Yes, the place where Tubby got his head coaching start from 1991-1995.
Smith was not mentioned in this story from the Tulsa rivals.com site in connection with the school's coaching search, but national Rivals writer Eric Bossi tweeted this last night:
"Also an interesting one is Tulsa apparently targeting former coach Tubby Smith. Just rumors folks."
Conference USA is obviously not the Big Ten. But we will point out that Tulsa does have the kind of basketball facility Tubby covets -- The Reynolds Center:
The home to men's basketball is the 8,300-seat Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tulsa opened the venue on December 29, 1998 with a 79-51 victory over Cleveland State. ... The 138,000-square foot building also houses a full-court practice gymnasium, as well as facilities for strength and conditioning and sports medicine. The Golden Hurricane locker room area consists of a team room with state-of-the-art video, big screen television and pool table, as well as three large flat screen television monitors in the dressing room area.
Sinbad and Bob Newhart have performed there, if that sweetens the pot.
Seriously speaking, it sounds like a wild rumor. Smith is still coaching this season -- with the Gophers playing tonight for a berth in the NIT Final Four -- and he has two years left on his contract beyond this season (albeit without an extension and with a new AD poised to take over soon).
