Word broke a couple days ago that head coach Ben Howland was going to be fired from UCLA men's basketball team following the team's disappointing first-round loss to Minnesota in the NCAA Tournament Friday night. Minnesota fell last night in the 2nd-round to 3-seed Florida and have since fired head coach Tubby Smith as a result. In my opinion, both are bonehead moves.
Let's first look at Ben Howland. The guy has been at UCLA for 10 years, has reached the NCAA Tournament in 7 of those 10 years - going as far as the Final Four twice (2006-2007 and 2007-2008) and the Championship Game once (2005-2006). His Bruins finished 1st in the Pac-12 this year with a 13-5 conference record and 25-9 record overall. His overall record at the school is 118-58 in conference play (.671) and 230-105 overall (.687). Under Howland, UCLA has been crowned the conference regular season champion four times (2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and 2012-2013). The team won the Pac-12 conference tournament twice as well (2005-2006 and 2007-2008). Like I said - bonehead move. Let's also not forget that UCLA was without the services of star guard Jordan Adams for the tournament, who broke his foot in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals against Arizona. Adams was the second leading scorer on the team, averaging 15.3 points per game, and led the team in steals with 73.
Tubby Smith has been the head coach of Minnesota for 6 years, reaching the NCAA Tournament in 3 of those 6 years (the NIT in two others). The furthest his team reached was this year, in reaching the round of 32, before falling to Florida. In his 6 years at Minnesota, the team has gone a combined 46-62 in Big Ten conference play (.426) and 124-81 overall (.605). Before Smith arrived, the Gophers had made the NCAA Tournament just two times in the previous ten years. Before this year, the last NCAA Tournament game win they had was in the 1996-1997 season, which was later wiped out due to academic fraud. If we exclude the academic-fraud years, the last time Minnesota had won a game in the NCAA Tournament was in the 1989-1990 season. Yeah, like I said, another bonehead move.
The 2012-2013 season was certainly an interesting one for Ben Howland and Tubby Smith. For Howland, the guy led his team to a regular season conference crown and got fired as a result. Tubby Smith led his team to its first win in an NCAA Tournament game since 1989-1990 and got fired as a result. If this crazy trend continues, perhaps Roy Williams, Mark Few, and John Calipari should be looking for jobs elsewhere in case they're let go as well...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Howland
http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2012-2013/teamcume.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubby_Smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_men%27s_basketball
Let's first look at Ben Howland. The guy has been at UCLA for 10 years, has reached the NCAA Tournament in 7 of those 10 years - going as far as the Final Four twice (2006-2007 and 2007-2008) and the Championship Game once (2005-2006). His Bruins finished 1st in the Pac-12 this year with a 13-5 conference record and 25-9 record overall. His overall record at the school is 118-58 in conference play (.671) and 230-105 overall (.687). Under Howland, UCLA has been crowned the conference regular season champion four times (2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and 2012-2013). The team won the Pac-12 conference tournament twice as well (2005-2006 and 2007-2008). Like I said - bonehead move. Let's also not forget that UCLA was without the services of star guard Jordan Adams for the tournament, who broke his foot in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals against Arizona. Adams was the second leading scorer on the team, averaging 15.3 points per game, and led the team in steals with 73.
Tubby Smith has been the head coach of Minnesota for 6 years, reaching the NCAA Tournament in 3 of those 6 years (the NIT in two others). The furthest his team reached was this year, in reaching the round of 32, before falling to Florida. In his 6 years at Minnesota, the team has gone a combined 46-62 in Big Ten conference play (.426) and 124-81 overall (.605). Before Smith arrived, the Gophers had made the NCAA Tournament just two times in the previous ten years. Before this year, the last NCAA Tournament game win they had was in the 1996-1997 season, which was later wiped out due to academic fraud. If we exclude the academic-fraud years, the last time Minnesota had won a game in the NCAA Tournament was in the 1989-1990 season. Yeah, like I said, another bonehead move.
The 2012-2013 season was certainly an interesting one for Ben Howland and Tubby Smith. For Howland, the guy led his team to a regular season conference crown and got fired as a result. Tubby Smith led his team to its first win in an NCAA Tournament game since 1989-1990 and got fired as a result. If this crazy trend continues, perhaps Roy Williams, Mark Few, and John Calipari should be looking for jobs elsewhere in case they're let go as well...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Howland
http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2012-2013/teamcume.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubby_Smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_men%27s_basketball
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