Texas Tech interested in Tubby Smith

After being unceremoniously dumped by Minnesota, Tubby Smith is in line for another coaching job. Smith has been mentioned as a candidate for the open Texas Tech job.

According to sources, the school has contacted Smith about the job. Smith has been rumored to meet with the school on Thursday but that could not be confirmed.

Texas Tech already has met with a handful of other coaches about the job, including Oral Roberts' Scott Sutton, Southern Illinois' Barry Hinson, New Mexico State's Marvin Menzies, Indiana assistant Steve McClain and former UTEP and Nebraska coach Doc Sadler, who is in his first season as director of basketball operations at Kansas.

I would have to say Smith might be the favorite for the job, but is he the man to build a program. I'm not sure if Smith could be patient enough to take over a bottom feeder in a BCS conference. Regardless of who takes over the administration at Texas Tech will have to be awfully patient to wait for a turnaround. Texas Tech doesn't get the recruits like some of the other schools in the Big 12 so they should hire a program builder more than a coach. I do think Smith is a fine coach but not a good fit for Texas Tech.

Tuberville's Raise Ruffles Some Feathers At Texas Tech

Teaxas Tech head football coach Tommy Tuberville is getting a $500,000 raise from $1.5 million to $2 million. All fine and dandy except that faculty members at Tech aren't too happy about it. With state funding being cut there was a pay freeze for Texas Tech faculty members. So when Tuberville got his pay bump, they were pretty vocal about it.

"If that was me, I would have turned it down. I would have been embarrassed," said Julian Spallholz, a human sciences professor and Tech faculty senator. 

Well Mr. Spallholz, there was a promise made to Tuberville to get a raise since he was hired for what Tech calls "less than market value". So don't count on Tuberville giving any of that money back anytime soon. This may seem slanted but no one spends big money to come see you teach a class. So if you have a problem bring it up to school president Guy Bailey or athletic director Gerald Myers and I'm sure they'll be more than happy to tell you where you stand in the pecking order.

I know it seems priorities are in the wrong place when it comes to athletics vs. academics, but when these school presidents mingle with others they like to brag about how athletically competitive their school is, not how academically prestigious they are. I hate to say it but they better get used to it.

If Mike Leach was still coaching there they might have a full blown riot, considering he was racking up lots of wins and made the football team nationally relevant. His salary would've been astronomical and I'm sure that would've made the faculty even more upset than they are now.