Tubby Smith
Orlando Henry "Tubby" Smith (born June 30, 1951) is an American college basketball coach who last coached the men's basketball team at High Point University, his alma mater. Smith previously served in the same role at the University of Tulsa, the University of Georgia, the University of Kentucky, the University of Minnesota, Texas Tech University, and the University of Memphis. With Kentucky, he coached the Wildcats to the 1998 NCAA championship.
| Biographical details | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | June 30, 1951 Scotland, Maryland, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Playing career | |||||||||||||||
| 1969–1973 | High Point | ||||||||||||||
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |||||||||||||||
| 1973–1977 | Great Mills HS | ||||||||||||||
| 1977–1979 | Hoke County HS | ||||||||||||||
| 1979–1986 | VCU (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 1986–1989 | South Carolina (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 1989–1991 | Kentucky (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 1991–1995 | Tulsa | ||||||||||||||
| 1995–1997 | Georgia | ||||||||||||||
| 1997–2007 | Kentucky | ||||||||||||||
| 2007–2013 | Minnesota | ||||||||||||||
| 2013–2016 | Texas Tech | ||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | Memphis | ||||||||||||||
| 2018–2022 | High Point | ||||||||||||||
| Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||
| Overall | 642–369 (college) | ||||||||||||||
| Accomplishments and honors | |||||||||||||||
| Championships | |||||||||||||||
| NCAA Division I tournament (1998) NCAA Division I Regional – Final Four (1998) 5 SEC regular season (1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005) 5 SEC tournament (1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004) 2 MVC regular season (1994, 1995) | |||||||||||||||
| Awards | |||||||||||||||
| AP College Coach of the Year (2003) Naismith College Coach of the Year (2003) NABC Coach of the Year (2003) Henry Iba Award (2003) Jim Phelan Award (2005) 2× MVC Coach of the Year (1994, 1995) 3× SEC Coach of the Year (1998, 2003, 2005) Big 12 Coach of the Year (2016) John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award (2016) Sporting News National Coach of the Year (2016) | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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In his 31 years as a head coach, Smith achieved 26 winning seasons. In 2005, he joined Roy Williams, Nolan Richardson, Denny Crum, and Jim Boeheim as the only head coaches to win 365 games in 15 seasons or fewer. With Texas Tech's invitation to the 2016 NCAA tournament, Smith became only the second coach in history to lead five different teams to the NCAA tournament.
Smith's three sons are following in their father's coaching footsteps. G.G. Smith, who played for his father at the University of Georgia, was formerly the head coach at Loyola (Md), and also formerly head coach at High Point. His middle son Saul Smith played for his father at the University of Kentucky and was an assistant coach for his father at Memphis. Brian, his youngest son, was a point guard at Ole Miss and is the head coach at Saint John Paul II Academy in Boca Raton, Florida.