Tubby Smith Receives the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award
Texas Tech basketball coach Tubby Smith is the latest recipient of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching award.
It was announced Tuesday at the Los Angeles Athletic Club's annual Wooden Award Tipoff Luncheon.
Started in 1999, the Legends of Coaching honor recognizes coaches who exemplify Coach Wooden's high standards of coaching as well as personal integrity. The recipients are selected based on character, success on the court, graduation rates of student-athletes in their basketball program, coaching philosophy and identification with the goals of the Wooden Award.
Coach Smith will be presented the award at the 2nd annual ESPN College Basketball Awards Show on April 8, 2016.
With stops at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota and Texas Tech Coach Smith has a 538-263 (.672) career record. To cap off the great record, Coach Smith has a National Championship in 1998, had four NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearances, nine NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 trips and 19 seasons of 20-plus victories with 17 NCAA Tournament appearances.
Smith is one of seven active head coaches to collect over 500 wins and a national championship
Smith is a five-time conference honoree (SEC - 3, MVC - 2). In 2002-03, he swept all seven national coach of the year honors recognized by the NCAA – AP, USBWA, Naismith, Basketball Times, The Sports News, NABC and CBS/Chevrolet. He became the first consensus National Coach of the Year since 1975 when Indiana’s Bob Knight accomplished the feat.
If Coach Smith can get Texas Tech into March Madness, he will become just the second coach in history to lead five different programs to the Tournament.
Beyond his NCAA success, Smith has sent 19 players to the NBA. He also has an Olympic Gold Medal as an assistant coach on Rudy Tomjanovich’s Team USA staff in 2000.
Smith and his wife, Donna, have given back more than $2 million to assist underprivileged youth through the Tubby Smith Foundation. His daughter, Trish Smith, is the Vice President of Edelman in Washington, D.C.
Love of sports runs in the family. Smith has three sons all involved in some capacity. Orlando (G.G.) Smith is the head coach at Loyola University in Maryland. Saul Smith serves as the video coordinator at Texas Tech. And Brian Smith is an assistant coach and physical education teacher in Florida.
History of the John R. Wooden Award Legends of Coaching Honorees
1999, Dean Smith, North Carolina
2000, Mike Krzyzewski, Duke
2001, Lute Olson, Arizona
2002, Denny Crum, Louisville
2003, Roy Williams, Kansas
2004, Mike Montgomery, Stanford
2005, Jim Calhoun, Connecticut
2006, Jim Boeheim, Syracuse
2007, Gene Keady, Purdue
2008, Pat Summitt, Tennessee
2009, Rick Barnes, Texas
2010, Billy Donovan, Florida
2011, Tom Izzo, Michigan State
2012, Geno Auriemma, Connecticut
2013, Bill Self, Kansas
2014, Tara VanDerveer, Stanford
2015, Steve Fisher, San Diego State
2016, Tubby Smith, Texas Tech
[Source: Texastech.com]