47 Facts About Tubby Smith

Orlando Henry "Tubby" Smith was born on June 30,1951 and is an American college basketball coach who last coached the men's basketball team at High Point University, his alma mater.

Tubby Smith, who played for his father at the University of Georgia, was formerly the head coach at Loyola, and is currently the head coach at High Point.

Tubby Smith's middle son Saul Smith played for his father at the University of Kentucky and was an assistant coach for his father at Memphis.

Tubby Smith was born in Scotland, Maryland, in Saint Mary's County, the sixth of 17 children born to sharecroppers Guffrie and Parthenia Tubby Smith.

Tubby Smith says he tried to shake the moniker several times, but it stuck incessantly.

Tubby Smith recalls that a 10th-grade teacher who didn't tolerate nicknames was the last person to call him by his given name, Orlando.

Tubby Smith played under three head coaches at High Point, including future boss JD Barnett.

Tubby Smith lettered four times and was an all-conference performer as a senior.

Tubby Smith earned a Bachelor of Science degree in health and physical education while at High Point, and met his future wife, Donna, who was the homecoming queen.

Tubby Smith began as assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth University under his former High Point coach JD Barnett.

Tubby Smith took two important things away from his experience as an assistant coach for the Rams.

Tubby Smith left Virginia Commonwealth in 1986 to join George Felton's staff at the University of South Carolina.

Felton remembered Tubby Smith from having recruited one of his players while Tubby Smith was at Hoke High School.

Later, roles would be reversed, with Tubby Smith bringing Felton in as an assistant coach at Kentucky.

Tubby Smith joined the University of Kentucky under then head coach Rick Pitino, who had the challenge of rebuilding a UK program that had been rocked by NCAA probation and player defections.

On March 29,1995, Tubby Smith accepted the head coaching job at the University of Georgia, becoming the school's first African-American head coach.

Tubby Smith's teams achieved a Sweet 16 finish in the 1996 NCAA tournament and lost in the first round of the 1997 NCAA tournament.

Tubby Smith was introduced as the Wildcats' 20th head coach on May 12,1997, charged with the task of replacing popular coach Rick Pitino, who left to become the head coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics.

Tubby Smith led the Wildcats to six Sweet Sixteen appearances and four Elite Eight appearances in his ten seasons.

Tubby Smith totaled 100 wins quicker than any other Wildcat coach except Hall of Fame member Adolph Rupp and current Wildcat coach John Calipari, reaching the plateau in 130 games.

Tubby Smith was named National Coach of the Year in 2003 and SEC Coach of the Year in 1998,2003, and 2005.

Tubby Smith came under considerable pressure from many UK fans late in his tenure.

Tubby Smith did come just a double overtime loss short of a Final Four appearance in 2005, losing to Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans.

On March 22,2007, Tubby Smith resigned his position of UK head coach to accept the head coach position at the University of Minnesota.

In 2013, Tubby Smith was elected to the UK Athletic Hall of Fame.

Tubby Smith was hired as the new men's head coach of the University of Minnesota on March 22,2007.

Tubby Smith replaced Dan Monson, who resigned from Minnesota on November 30,2006, and Jim Molinari, who served as the interim coach following Monson's resignation.

Coach Tubby Smith joined Minnesota on the heels of several disappointing seasons for the Gophers, who had made the NCAA Tournament only once since Monson's hiring in 1999.

However, in the Big Ten tournament, Tubby Smith guided the team to win three games in three days to advance to Minnesota's first ever appearance in the Big Ten championship game.

In 2008, Tubby Smith had the highest salary of any state employee in Minnesota.

In July 2012, Tubby Smith signed a three-year extension with Minnesota.

However, on March 25,2013, Tubby Smith was relieved of his head coaching duties following a Round of 32 loss in the NCAA Tournament to Florida.

Tubby Smith was replaced by Richard Pitino, whose father Rick had been replaced, coincidentally, by Smith at Kentucky.

Tubby Smith replaced Billy Gillispie, who resigned from Texas Tech on September 20,2012, and Chris Walker, who served as the interim coach following Gillispie's resignation.

Texas Tech had failed to make the NCAA tournament in the 7 years prior to Tubby Smith's hire at the school.

Tubby Smith added Keenan Evans, Justin Gray, Norense Odiase, and Zach Tubby Smith in the offseason in the hopes of improving a depleted Red Raider team.

Tubby Smith was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year for orchestrating the turnaround.

Tubby Smith was fired from the position on March 14,2018.

On March 25,2018, it was first reported by Jeff Goodman of ESPN that Tubby Smith was on the verge of finalizing a contract to become the next head coach at his alma mater, High Point University.

Tubby Smith was officially named head coach on March 27,2018.

Tubby Smith is an active donor at HPU, contributing to the funding of a new arena that is being built expected to be ready for the 2020 season.

Tubby Smith was selected to help coach the United States men's national basketball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Tubby Smith served as an assistant to then-Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich as the Americans captured the gold medal.

Tubby Smith was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa - The National Leadership Honor Society in 2001 at the University of Kentucky.

Tubby Smith serves on the NCAA Committee to study basketball issues, joining Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and former Oregon head coach Ernie Kent.

Tubby Smith serves on the National Association of Basketball Coaches Board of Directors and in June 2000, spoke at a Congressional hearing on the issue of gambling in college sports.

When he coached at Kentucky, Tubby Smith was active in the Lexington community.