Former Kentucky head basketball coach Tubby Smith was honored by having his “jersey” retired in a pre-game ceremony at Rupp Arena. The ceremony took place before the Wildcats game against Smith’s alma mater, High Point, where he now serves as head coach.
Smith became the fourth coach to have his name displayed on a banner in the rafters of Rupp Arena joining Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall and Rick Pitino.
“I’m certainly grateful to have had the opportunity to lead that program,” Smith said. “Some wonderful people there, wonderful fans. You can’t find better people. They have a passion for the game, not just basketball, but for the Wildcats, period.”
Tubby said that being the head coach at Kentucky and being the first African-American head coach at Kentucky was special. He said that it took courage for then-athletic director C. M. Newton to hire him.
In a recent interview, Smith shared a funny story about when Newton offered him the head coaching position at Kentucky. At that time, he was the head basketball coach at the University of Georgia.
“I was scared to death and I was not ready to leave Georgia,” Smith said. “I was like ‘why would I want to leave now.’ I had four sophomores starting and my oldest son was playing for me and my younger son was going to be on the team the next year. When C. M. called I was like, ‘Coach man I’ve got a pretty good gig here,’ and Newton said, ‘Tubby!’ and then Rick Pitino called and said,” Tubby! THIS IS KENTUCKY!” said Smith.
Smith went on to say that Vince Dooley, who was the athletic director at Georgia at that time, said that he would like for him to stay at Georgia, but Kentucky is a basketball school and you need to take this opportunity.
“To this day I am grateful,” said Smith.
He was humbled by the honor.
“We get in this business because we love people,” Smith said. “We want to see young people grow. You are there to serve that university and community, and you always want to leave things in better shape than you found it.”
“It is with great pride, enjoyment and a sense of excitement that we add one more name to the list of people who will see their names in the rafters of Rupp Arena and that’s Orlando ‘Tubby’ Smith,” said Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart.
Current UK coach, John Calipari, also a national champion coach said, “Tubby and I have been friends for years. He is so deserving of this honor. He won big here and he did it with class. Tubby impacted so many people in and around this program and he is loved by the players who played for him and by this fan base. I can’t wait to see his banner raised.”
Smith earned national Coach of the Year and SEC Coach of the Year honors three times each at Kentucky. His career has included stints at Tulsa, Georgia, Minnesota, Texas Tech and Memphis.
Smith coached Kentucky to the 1998 national championship and is one of two head coaches to guide five different programs to the NCAA Division I Tournament (Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota and Texas Tech).
He has been named National Coach of the Year three times (2003, 2005, 2016), conference Coach of the Year six times (1994, 1995, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2016), and was honored with the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award in 2016. In 2000, Smith was an assistant coach on Rudy Tomjanovich’s staff that led the United States to Olympic gold.
The former Panther standout was inducted into the High Point University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2013, Smith was inducted into the University of Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. When asked why he had not already retired, Smith quipped that his wife would not let him because now it is time for him to support the grandchildren.
Lindy’s Sports Coaches Corner: Tubby Smith Jersey Retirement at University of Kentucky
