When the head coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball program said he was going to leave, there were many who were surprised. When, after ten years, head coach Tubby Smith said he was going to take a pay cut, move to a little-known school, and he was doing it all right away, some fans were sad. When Kentucky remained rather tight-lipped about who the new coach would be, and then continued to withhold that info, fans started to become rabid.
Go anywhere in Kentucky, and talk is rampant. Local news is broadcasting Kentucky’s lack of a head coach as the top story, and names are being thrown around like crazy. Rumors fly, Tubby packs, and fans stew. Nine years ago, Tubby Smith was a Lexington hero. This year, many citizens were willing to run him out of town. Now, the Kentucky Wildcats are making a huge change. Where did it all go wrong?
When Tubby Smith brought home the NCAA trophy, everyone loved him. But it’s been a long and rocky road in the past decade for Smith, and no one seems to know quite why. Though Smith’s consistent 20-game winning seasons and NCAA tournament appearances would have been celebrated achievements to most any school in the nation, at the University of Kentucky it’s really no big deal. It’s just what the fans expect. And this year, fans were extraordinarily unforgiving as they waited for a long run in the tournament (the first since Tubby’s debut season).
Some say it’s his recruiting, though he’s graduated a bevy of players to the NBA and put several All-Americans on his squad. Fans have been wondering why the Cats can’t seem to pull out the big victory. Recently, they just got impatient.
Scathing remarks in the media, heated comments from fans, and a growing contingent of fans in favor of a new head coach finally took its toll, and Smith has decided to move on. This decision has left open one of the most highly-coveted jobs in all of college basketball. And everyone is wondering who will wind up in the hot seat.
Speculation is across the board, though nothing final has been stated by the school itself. Some claim that former UK head coach Rick Pitino might even be up for the job, though many UK fans still resent Pitino’s decision to accept the head coach’s position at UK's in-state rival, the University of Louisville. Tom Izzo’s name has also been mentioned in rumors about the job, along with former Wildcat Travis Ford (current head coach of UMASS), and Memphis coach John Calipari.
But it’s one name that’s got everyone buzzing in Lexington, Kentucky. Billy Donovan, head coach of the Florida Gators, is rumored to be one of the top contenders for the job. Many have said that Florida will win it all this year, and the University of Florida itself has said they’ll match any offer Kentucky puts in front of Donovan. But Billy may yet have a soft spot for the school (which is home to the winningest college basketball program in the country), because it was at Kentucky (under Pitino) that Donovan learned the ropes of being an assistant coach. There are some who say Donovan can’t coach his way to the win, but he could still coach his way onto that Big Blue bench.
Who will it be? Only the University of Kentucky will tell, and it’s likely they’ll wait until the NCAA tournament – the Big Dance – is all played out. Until then, the Big Blue Nation is without a leader. That’ll give fans something to complain about.
