Tubby Smith to Texas Tech: Legendary Coach Will Resurrect Red Raiders' Program

Tubby Smith is reportedly the new head coach of the Texas Tech men's basketball program—a brilliant hire for the Red Raiders going forward. 

The AP first reported the news, via SportsCenter:

The Red Raiders have missed out on participating in the NCAA tournament the past six years running, and it's been nine years since this program advanced past the second round. 

Bob Knight, Pat Knight, Billy Gillispie and Chris Walker compiled a combined record of 117-142 from the start of the 2005-06 season until the end of this past season.

The program was nearly dead.

The arrival of Smith, however, will spark a resurrection and will usher in a new era of excellence in the years to come. 

In Smith's illustrious 22-year career as a head coach in the NCAA, he's won nearly double the amount of games that he's lost and has won a national championship. His career record of 511-226 makes him the No. 50-ranked coach in NCAA history in terms of all-time wins. 

Minnesota—the program that recently fired Smith—entered the 2013 NCAA tournament as a No. 11 seed in the South Region. It lost a nail-biter in the third round to third-seeded Florida after it defeated sixth-seeded UCLA in the second round. 

Smith took over at Minnesota when the program was in the dumps. The season before he arrived, the Golden Gophers won just nine games and hadn't gotten out of the first round in the NCAA tournament in 15 seasons. 

Smith's record in his six seasons with Minnesota was 124-81. 

His teams have won conference championships 14 times, have made it to 17 NCAA tournaments and have never once finished a season with a sub-.500 winning percentage.

Players will want to play for Tubby, and the program will begin to attract more talent. Simply put, Smith is a winner, and the Red Raiders will instantly become a winning program with Smith at the helm. 

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