Smith Named Basketball Coach at Tulsa
Orlando (Tubby) Smith was named basketball coach at Tulsa Thursday and promised an up-tempo style he learned as an assistant to Rick Pitino at Kentucky.
Smith’s appointment was announced about five hours after Nolan Richardson said the Tulsa job was not appealing enough for him to come back from Arkansas, where he has coached since leaving Tulsa in 1985.
Smith, 39, replaces J.D. Barnett, who was fired two weeks ago when university officials listed dwindling fan support among the reasons for letting him go.
After playing for Barnett at High Point College in North Carolina, Smith was an assistant to him for six years at Virginia Commonwealth.
Smith was an assistant coach under George Felton at South Carolina for three years before he left in 1989 to join Pitino at Kentucky.
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