Maybe if he'd tried this hard at UK, he wouldn't have had to leave. Oh well, best of luck to him.

How come Tubby didn't bring any of his former staff with him to MN? I think this shows pride got in the way of him being more successful at UK. He knew his staff was underperforming, but was too proud to do what his boss asked him to do...which was upgrade the talent level of his primary recruiter.

he better be good if he is going 2 help "flubby"

Good luck, Tubby. I, for one, hope you do well in Minn., but I'm curious as to who this big time recruiter is. Maybe it's GG Smith. Maybe Donna. But probably Christian Laettner.

Could it be Ashley Judd???????Very close family friend------- It would work for me!!

who wants to go to Minn tho??

According to a recent media story, Tubby is going to hire Vince Taylor who was on the Timberwolve's coaching staff. A big plus for recruiting!

He needs a big time something, because he can't get it done. Good luck , we are just glad you are out of the BLUE GRASS !

Just goes to show he doesn't have a clue about recruiting and apparantly MN knows that so they have to get him all the help possible. I don't care if he hired Billy Donavon and Rick Pitino, I'm just glad he's out of UK now maybe we'll be able to use the talent we have and get more talent in and get back on top again.

How many years will Kentucky give Gillepsie? Will he win a championship? Will he have the success of Tubby in his tenure? I am anxious to see how is treated after some time at the school. This is going to be fun to watch. I am hoping the philosophies and traditions of Adolph ("Hitler", oops I mean) Rupp has not rubbed off on the rest of Kentucky. Good Luck Tubby I hope they schedule you in a couple of years. In my opinion I think the Kentucky fans will give him the benefit of the doubt for one reason!

Tubby took over a program coming off two straight championship games , one national title and three final four appearences in five years and he did win a national title in 98 with a team that Donna could have taken to the final 4. He made it back to the elite 8 in 99 with a team stocked with talent from the Pitino years. Over the next 8 years he lost 10 games 5 times flamed out in the second roud three times and the last 2 years in a row. Could not compete on a consistent basis in the SEC and spent the majority of the time unranked the past 2 years. Gillepsie was handed a program much weaker than Tubby and only time will tell how he does but besting Tubby should not be that difficult. If Gopher fans are only looking to make the NCAA tournament and occ compete for a Big 10 title and no national prominence they got there man. Why should a coach with a national title ring need a prominent recruiter anyways.... maybe if he can't recruit himself

All coaches have recruiters first of all. There is to much talent to see all the kids from around the country. Second, Patino cheats (along with many of the big time programs) so of course he recruits much better than Tubby. I am from that particular area of the country, and I know the underlined racism that takes place there. Kentucky is still not far removed from the 1966 Texas Western mentality. Alot of those people are still walking around wearing Kentucky blue and cheering. It is a shame that a person who goes by the "BOOK" and has an excellent winning percentage and solid graduation rate is not good enough for that program.

The reason they hired a "top Recruiter" ???
Because Tubby, CANNOT RECRUIT anyone but 3 star players,
Believe me, Lived through it, Funny thing is,
Billy G, Replaced tubby, In 3 weeks time, Signed MORE 4-5 star recruits, then tubby did in 10 YEARS.
So, that's great that Minnesota, has seen this, and great for tubby, Maybe the pressure will be less, for he won't be blamed, But, Isn't the players being recruited, coached by the head coach, and not the recruiter?
That's like I get you to come to my team, And then leaving, let someone else coach you. What exactly, can the new recruiter tell the potential players? It's interesting at best.

Hey you guys are forgetting one very important thing here... I attend The University of Minnesota and went to every single home game this past season- so i know... a 3 star recruit would be an amazing upgrade for this team- haha... This last seasons team spent more time turning the ball over and trying to rebound with both feet planted on the ground and their hands at their waists than my little brothers 3rd grade basketball team... Tubby may not have been good enough for Kentucky- but his "average" teams are still heads better than what we are used to here in the Twin Cities... This is a great place for Tubby- We love him already :)

Well. You got me there! Zep. I have to agree with what your saying, not by personal knowledge of how minn has lower recruiting levals then say, ky,
It is a great "get" for minn, But then again, They let jessy ventura run the place too!~

What did you expect? im from ky, My spelling "aint" that great,... lol

I'd like to post a response to the guy who called us racist because we didn't like a caoch who just so happens to be black.
Who are you to call us racists? Have you ever lived here? Have you ever met more than 10 UK fans where you live? I mean hardcore fans. Fans who KNOW what this program is about, what it means to us, what it means to this city, and what it means in the realm of college basketball.
Our fans are the craziest and most passionate, facilities are the nicest/most expensive/impressive, more history and tradition more than any other, ABUNDANT resources...at a school where basketball is basically the only sport, aside from maybe football. All that was given to Tubby (including a program running almost as smoothly as possible), and he STILL manages to lose 10 games or more in his past eight seasons. He STILL managed to lose in the first round FOUR TIMES. He STILL couldn't win a Championship let alone a Final Four with his own players.
OK, so he was black. I don't care what color somebody is. I'm white, and I work in a warehouse where I'm a minority. And ask anyone there if I'm a racist and they will all tell you NO.
No, I care about the color of Tubby's heart, and it was definately BOt true blue. It was blue, but not true blue. If it was, I doubt he would've struggled so. If it was, he would still be here in Lexington...toast of the town.
But no.
He underachieved.
End of story.
He just so happened to be black.

I agree the fans are crazy. Crazy enough to back Adolph "Hitler" Rupp. And crazy enough to get rid of a coach after being on probation, for going by the book. You can recruit the top flight athlete at Kentucky, but look for sanctions to follow soon after the players leave. Good Luck

What a stupid article. Who cares? It is articles like this that caused me to turn away from newspapers and look to the internet for news. Now the internet is becoming like the tabloids!!!

Ha ha, well were in the hell did all this come from? He needed that at Kentucky! It costed him his job there.It goes to show he sure is not a real recruiter! Good luck Goofers!