Do Gophers’ off-court issues taint program?
By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 11/18/2009
In life it’s not often that you ask for problems; sometimes they just pop up and you have to deal with them. Tubby Smith, in this his third season as head basketball coach at the University of Minnesota, has his hands full starting what is expected to be his best season in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Last year, the Gophers reached the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for the 11th time in school history. It was the 15th time a Smith-coached team achieved that honor in his great coaching career.
Smith is one of the country’s outstanding coaches. He has won a national championship and 431 games, losing 170 for a winning percentage of .719. His 600th career game as a coach was an 87-50 victory over Tennessee Tech November 13 at Williams Arena.
Despite some troublesome issues off the court with three players, Smith has his team off to a fast 2-0 start. Unfortunately, Royce White, Trevor Mbakwe and Devron Bostick, three talented young first-year players expected to help lift the program, have grabbed the headlines and put their careers as Gophers in jeopardy with off-court problems.
White was Minnesota’s 2008 Mr. Basketball. In October he was arrested for shoplifting and assault and has since been linked to a potential burglary investigation. Mbakwe has not been allowed to play until a felony assault charge in Miami, originating before he moved to Minnesota, is resolved. Bostick has been suspended indefinitely for an unknown violation of team rules.
Coach Smith is one of 17 children and understands the value of family support and trust. However, these issues threaten to taint his program as he builds it. I caught up with the man in charge of the Gophers basketball program to shed some light on the players and their issues.
“People can speculate, but they are not in the house,” said Smith. “You may think you know, but you don’t. We appreciate the transparency that any public institution has to have.
“People make bad decisions and poor choices, and sometimes they can ruin themselves and a program. But, I like to think I’m a lot bigger and stronger than that, and that our basketball program is a lot bigger and stronger than that,” Smith continued. “We run our program…the right way, but even the best of people and the best of times are going to have some bumps in the road.”
Smith’s previous success at Tulsa, Georgia and Kentucky all speak to his ability to deal with running strong, successful programs without any perception of turning one’s head to wrongdoing. We asked him if he is frustrated dealing with us, the media, and the swirling shark attack-like approach to presuming guilt before due process.
“You’re doing your job,” Smith said. “…That’s part of the media’s job. I know that, and part of my job is to win basketball games and make decisions that Joel Maturi and people that trust Coach Smith, that he knows what he’s doing. It’s never been adversarial. Certain things you can’t talk about, and certain things I’m not going to talk about, just like in my house if something goes on in my house behind my closed doors.
“I’ve told the players [that] once it gets past the issues we have now, if it’s stealing something, that gets to the legal system [and] there’s not much I can do about it. We can keep things in-house and I can discipline them that way, but otherwise you’re at the mercy of the public.”
And that’s where things are for now in the perception of the public mind, which sometimes has been slanted to expect and believe the worst, to ask for action, cut your ties without due process to run with the headlines. However, under Smith the legal process will have its day, and for now the program moves forward without all three of these talented young men until we know the facts. They won’t be playing any basketball.
Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:20 am, and on WDGY-AM 740 Monday & Saturday mornings at 7:50 am and Fridays at 3:50 pm; he also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). Larry welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com , or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com .
