College coaching legend rips NCAA rules - 'We're teaching them how to quit'
Memphis men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith ripped a proposed NCAA rule change that would make it easier for college players to transfer from one school to another.
“Kids have a lot options nowadays,” Smith said at a news conference Monday. “With the new NCAA regulations, guys can transfer when they want. I’ve been in this business a long time, never seen anything like it. Eight hundred Division I players transferred last season. Over 800! Come on.
“Teaching them how to quit,” he added. “That’s what we’re doing.”
Tubby Smith had a must-listen rant on college basketball today, citing 800+ transfers last year.
"We're teaching them how to quit."
When Smith said he called his dad wanting to transfer from High Point, he told him to stay there or join the Army.@LocalMemphis pic.twitter.com/ywfJDJbLaZ
— Clayton Collier (@ClaytonJCollier) March 4, 2018
The NCAA is considering new rules for transfer that would allow players to play the year after transferring and not sit out a season, as is the case now.
The NCAA is also looking at eliminating the “permission to contact” rule, which lets schools block players from transferring to certain schools.
The topic hits close to home for Smith, who is in his second year at Memphis after three seasons at Texas Tech. In 2016, he was named Big 12 Coach of the Year and the Sporting News Coach of the Year for leading Tech to the NCAA Tournament.
But then he left for what he thought was greener pastures in Memphis.
In his first year, Memphis went 19-13, but six of his top eight players transferred out after the season, leaving the team depleted. Yet, the team still managed to go 19-12 this year.
new post: Former #gophers coach Tubby Smith, who has on multiple occasions bolted for better jobs after just a few years at a school, went on a hollow rant about basketball players transferring. https://t.co/tg73uQYJl0 pic.twitter.com/nmlwlGp9cQ
— RandBall (@RandBall) March 5, 2018
At the conference, Smith was asked how confident he was that everybody was coming back for the 2018-2019 season, which prompted his rant.
“Things not going well, let’s quit,” Smith said.
Smith recalled his own college days at High Point College, which he attended 1969-1973. He was unhappy there and called his dad for advice.
“There were two blacks in the whole school,” Smith said. “My dad said, ‘Somedbody do something to you?’ I said no. ‘You’re still getting your scholarship, aren’t you? They’re still feeding you? They’re still housing you? You’re still getting your education?'”
“I said, ‘Yes, sir.'”
There is not a better person or coach in our business than Tubby Smith what a honor it would have been to have had a son play for him. I bet he tells the kids the truth.
— Doc Sadler (@coachdocsadler) March 5, 2018
“You can’t come home,” he recalled his father saying. “Your bed’s been taken. But you can join the Army.”
“That was the best thing he ever said to me,” Smith said.
As for the current transferring trend, Smith complained: “Somebody needs to tell them that you made a commitment. Stick to it. But it doesn’t happen that way.”
Smith has had a long coaching career dating back to 1991 that included stops at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas Tech and Memphis. He won the national championship with Kentucky in 1999 and has had only two losing seasons — his first two at Texas Tech.
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