The Kentucky Kernel

Issue date: 3/26/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Keith Smiley Tubby Smith greets fans and students at the University of Minnesota following a news conference introducing him as the school's new head basketball coach Friday.

Media Credit: Andrew Huggins Tubby Smith gives direction to his players during UK's 70-63 win over LSU. Smith's record at UK during his tenure was 263-83.

MINNEAPOLIS - Tubby Smith must have felt like he was in a different world at some points Friday.

And maybe he was, when comparing the attitudes of college basketball fans in Lexington and Minneapolis.

Days before in Lexington, the former UK head basketball coach was receiving routine criticism over the Cats' second consecutive loss in the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. Many were calling for his job, a familiarity for him during his 10 years at Kentucky.

But a flight 700 miles north put Smith in the open arms of his new school, the University of Minnesota, where front pages preached of him bringing "instant credibility" and a Days Inn placard officially welcomed him to the twin cities.

Fans showed their support, too, by chanting his name at his official introduction as the Golden Gophers new coach. The resume criticized by many fans in the Bluegrass was heralded as the reason for his hire by Minnesota Athletics Director Joel Maturi.

"We needed to hire a proven, successful and high-profile coach," Maturi said. "There are few coaches in America more proven, more successful and more high-profile than Tubby Smith.

"Folks," Maturi said proudly to the crowd at Smith's announcement, "this guy can flat out coach."

UM fans seemed to agree, looking forward to Smith's inaugural season as a Gopher.

"We're really excited," said Dale LaFrenz, 69, a loyal Gopher fan. "We needed something to rev up the state and I think that he's going to do it."

UM finance freshman Steve Huck was so emboldened by Smith's arrival that he sees a strong rebound from the Gopher's 9-22 season, and a decline for Kentucky.

"I feel like we're the next Kentucky and Kentucky is the next us," he said.

The speed of the hire also surprised many.

"I couldn't believe it," said Kyle Boehm, a Spanish freshman at Minnesota. "I didn't expect the university to make a hire that quickly and to this high a caliber."

The quickness of the hire was also a surprise to Maturi, who didn't know he would be getting Smith until Thursday morning.

Maturi had Smith on a list of possible coaches to hire as far back as January. He spoke to the coach and his agent on Wednesday and asked UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart for permission to speak to Smith on Thursday.

"I got the voicemail actually from Mitch Barnhart this morning (Friday)," Maturi said. "I somewhat apologized to him because this happened far more quickly in the end than I ever anticipated."

Smith originally flew up to UM to assess the campus and what it had to offer, but he made the jump to accept the job after it received so much media attention, Maturi said.

"I believe that Tubby realized, 'you know what, it's gotten out there,' " Maturi said.

"I think if he had come up here and not found it as he would have liked to find it, he probably could have gone back, but if you think it would have been difficult on him now, it would have been really difficult on him then," he said. "Plus I think he liked what he did see."

UM fans definitely liked what they saw in Smith.

Maturi said during his first night in Minneapolis, half a dozen people stopped Smith on the street and thanked him for coming to Minneapolis.

"I don't know if he expected that," Maturi said. "I said 'coach, that's just who we are and we're just so proud and happy for you to be here."

Smith was happy, too, saying "I feel the love already," in a significantly lighter atmosphere than his last days at UK. UM fans didn't hide that their expectations were lower than Kentucky's.

"When you play at a program like Kentucky, anything short of the national championship seems like a failure," Boehm said. "But for us, after the type of season we had, we'll take anything in the Big Ten."

And while not close to Smith's criticism, some Gophers said it wasn't necessarily fair.

"It's just a wild high expectation that Kentucky has," LaFrenz said. "And we think it's great to have those sort of expectations … but he's sort of a victim of circumstance."

E-mail srose@kykernel.com

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