Coach Tubby Smith was named the Head Men's Basketball Coach at Texas Tech University in 2013. Previously, Coach Smith accepted the University of Minnesota Men's Basketball Head Coach position in March of 2007. He was 124-81 in six seasons and won 20 games five times while at Minnesota. He was fired in 2013. He previously was the Head Basketball Coach at the University of Kentucky since 1997. Before Kentucky, he served as head coach at the University of Tulsa and the University of Georgia.

From 1991 to 1995, Smith led Tulsa to a 79-43 record. Rebuilding the basketball program his first two years, he then led the team to two consecutive Missouri Valley Conference regular season titles and two appearances in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in 1994 an 1995. At Georgia, he led the Bulldogs to a 45-19 record in his two years from 1995 to 1997. His teams achieved a Sweet 16 finish in 1996 and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 1997.

In his first season at UK (1998) , he coached the Wildcats to their seventh NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. Coach Smith was the recipient of the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award for 2005.