The St. Paul Pioneer Press published a lengthy and interesting story Saturday on former UK point guard and new Minnesota assistant coach Saul Smith. In it, Tubby says of his son, "Saul was one of the smartest players I ever coached. No one played with more heart in my 10 years at Kentucky."
While I don’t totally agree with a Sea of Blue‘s interesting take that a huge part of Tubby’s leaving UK for Minnesota after last season was so that he could mentor his son, I do think it may have made played a role. (Still believe the Smith-Mitch Barnhart working relationship had more to do with Tubby’s departure.)
I’ve heard a lot of people, UK fans, laughing over Tubby hiring his son as an assistant at Minnesota, etc. Actually, there’s reason to believe Saul can become an excellent coach. He has the background, having grown up around coaching. He has played the game at the highest college level. He is young enough to relate to today’s players. And after going through what he did at Kentucky, his skin has some thickness.
One note on the St. Paul story: It gives the impression that Saul was an attorney. Actually, I think he was considering law school when he interned at an attorney’s office in Lexington.
They both have class, we know that.
Thanks for the link, John.
I guess from my perspective, I never have seen enough proof that there was really all that much friction between Barnhart and Smith (his non-endorsement of Smith during the 2007 season notwithstanding), although I have seen many people allude to it who are in a better position to know than me.
Different strokes, I guess.
I totally agree with you that Saul could wind up being a fine coach at UM. All the best to father and son from this UK fan.
The ONLY reason Saul played at UK was he was the coaches son…. Saul was not a major college player…. The article about Tubby and Saul just shows you how out of touch Tubby really is about players…. Saul will not be a good coach because he was given everything and didn’t earn anything at UK….
Tubby is half-correct on this. Saul played hard while at UK, but he rarely played smart. The play he made repeatedly that most sticks out in my mind is converting the other team’s fast-break layup into a 3-point play with a touch foul. Along with fouling a 3-pt shooter, this is the dumbest move in all of basketball and he did it game after game. If your opponent is cruising for a layup you must either surrender entirely or foul hard enough so he doesn’t convert the shot. Unfortunately, Saul usually chose option 3 — to giftwrap a 3-pt play for the offense. I agree with Clay that he developed thick skin at UK. He’ll continue to need it as long as he’s the coach’s son/assistant. My question is: why hasn’t Tubby landed him a job with another respected coach where he can learn and work without the inevitable charges of nepotism? He already has learned Tubby’s system; it would seem smart to latch onto another established coach both for respect and resume reasons.