Barack Obama and Tubby Smith bringing about change

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 2/28/2008

 Last year, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team finished 9-22 for Coach Dan Munson, just an awful season. If you’re honest about what goes on around you, it seems that when some situations hit rock bottom — whether it be sports teams, businesses, or on the political scene — an opportunity suddenly becomes available for a Black man.

 Before Tubby Smith was hired at Kentucky a decade ago, the program was at an all-time low. It had lost its credibility with NCAA violations, and the basketball program was stuck in a losing mode. Before Dennis Green was hired to coach the Vikings in 1992, the team had missed the playoffs two years in a row under Jerry Burns.

 Look at our country today under the George W. Bush administration: Things have never been worse, people are losing their homes, we are at war, and oil has hit $100 a barrel for the first time. President Bush’s approval rating is at and all-time low 28 percent.

 I was talking to Tubby Smith recently and asked him to compare what he is trying to do with the Gophers men’s program with what Illinois Senator Barack Obama is attempting to do. He chuckled and said, “It’s no comparison. When you get to the national scope and get to the leadership of the free world in the United States , that’s an awesome task. I’m just leading a band of young people here...

“We want to wish him and all the candidates success. The preparations are kind of like coaching — they have to go out and recruit every day and sell their programs, sell their message. And certainly Barack Obama has a good platform so far, and [his campaign] seems like it’s picking up steam.”

 And so are the Gophers at 17-9 and 7-7 in the Big Ten with four games left against Purdue , Indiana , Illinois and Ohio State . It won’t be easy, but Smith has a shot at keeping his record streak of 14 straight 20-win seasons and NCAA appearances intact.

 Smith said at one point that he would like to meet all the candidates, because that’s part of the fabric of our society that you’d better be involved with in some form or fashion. “But as a coach at Minnesota , I’m not into endorsing any candidates. I just know that you asked me about Barack Obama.

 “He’s a role model for a lot of people. He’s someone leading the right way, having been in the Senate and now moving up the ladder. And to even be mentioned as a candidate for the presidency of the United States is just a remarkable achievement,” said Smith.

 Fitz notes & quotes

 You will not hear the name of Randy Wittman, Timberwolves head coach, as a potential replacement for Kelvin Sampson at Indiana University . Sampson resigned under fire last week.

 Tubby Smith said, “I’ve known Sampson since 1977, when he was a student teacher at Upchurch Middle School . Indiana is like Kentucky — it’s a program that’s bigger than anything else in the state of Indiana , and I know the things that go along with coaching in a program like that. Expectations are high.”

 Wittman played and graduated at Indiana under the legendary Bobby Knight. I’m being kind when I say Wittman has struggled as an NBA head coach at Cleveland and Minnesota ; his record this year, his second with the Timberwolves, is an awful 24-73. Butch Carter, the former Toronto Raptors head coach and a teammate of Wittman’s at Indiana , said, “Wittman has a problem relating to Blacks.”

New York Giants star Michael Strahan is now dating comedian Eddie Murphy’s ex-wife.

 Bill Belicheck, head coach of the New England Patriots, said Randy Moss is the smartest receiver he’s ever coached. If, as expected, the Vikings release Troy Williamson, drafted number seven in the first round three years ago, they will have nothing to show for giving up Moss, one of the greatest receivers who ever played the game, to the Oakland Raiders in that trade.

Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and biweekly he commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-re corder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.