New SMU coach wants to recruit Dallas area hard

[NT80]

More local interest big goal for new SMU coach

Tubbs turns to area basketball coaches to help meet objective

09:06 PM CST on Friday, March 26, 2004

By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News

UNIVERSITY PARK – Oklahoma men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson said Jimmy Tubbs is the ambassador to Dallas basketball.

And Tubbs' supporters arrived Friday morning when SMU announced Tubbs as its 15th head coach in school history.

Tubbs, 55, signed a four-year contract. Financial terms were not disclosed. Tubbs replaces Mike Dement, who was fired Feb. 27.

"In my mind and the committee's mind, Jimmy Tubbs became the standard that I judged all the other people against," athletic director Jim Copeland said.

The decision to hire Tubbs could lead to more area recruits playing at SMU, specifically those from the Dallas Independent School District. It's been two seasons since SMU successfully recruited a DISD player.

And Tubbs and the DISD coaches expect that to change.

"You coaches promised me you will help me recruit," Tubbs told several DISD coaches in the audience at a news conference. "You promised me you will help SMU win, and I'm putting you on the spot right now that come next year when I come to your school don't say, 'Well Jimmy he's thinking about Duke. I don't want to hear it."

Tubbs said if he doesn't work hard at recruiting, he doesn't expect any area players to commit to SMU.

It was those strong ties to the area that helped Tubbs during the interview process.

"He was exceptional," search committee member and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt said. "He did an excellent job. There was a general feeling he had a love for SMU and for Dallas. He made a favorable impression on the committee."

SMU officials estimated 300 people showed up for Tubbs' news conference Friday at Moody Coliseum. It was the most attended news conference in recent memory for the announcement of a head coach at SMU.

When Tubbs was finished talking to the media, several high school coaches, such as Kimball's Royce Johnson and South Oak Cliff's James Mays II, left wearing SMU hats. Robert Hughes, the legendary coach of Fort Worth Dunbar, and Goree Johnson, DISD's assistant athletic director, also had SMU hats.

"Recruiting kids out of Dallas got a little tougher today," Sampson said. "No question in my mind that Jimmy was the right choice for SMU. Dallas is his town, and SMU is his school. It's just his time. The DISD coaches look at him and say, he's one of us and he made it."

It was a special moment for Tubbs, who said he was emotional about the hiring process.

"I left here two years ago, and I left crying," said Tubbs, who stressed the Mustangs will play man-to-man defense and use an up-tempo offense. "I came back [Thursday night] smiling. I did not come to date SMU, I came here to marry SMU. You have to understand that. I'm back home."

Tubbs joins the Mustangs after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma. Before that, he spent 12 seasons as an assistant with the Mustangs, earning a reputation as a strong recruiter. Tubbs began his head coaching career at Kimball, where he spent eight seasons and compiled a 232-42 record. He won the Class 5A state title in 1990.

It was that background that enabled him to recruit several area players, such as Jeryl Sasser, Willie Davis and Bryan Hopkins, to SMU.

"We're going to send players here," Mays said. "I think everybody wants to help Jimmy because he will put forth the effort to succeed."

With the strong local connections, the Mustangs expect to find more area players coming through.

"We're going to win and win big here, that's a guarantee," Tubbs said.

[GrayEagle]

Yawn.....I would think that Calvin Watkins should know this. Jimmy Tubbs has been recruiting the Dallas area for SMU for years. The last recruit signed by SMU from Dallas was Bryan Hopkins before Tubbs went to Oklahoma. He has had a presence in this area for years. Maybe, as a head coach, he might be a little better received but I doubt it. He always has been well received. Is this supposed to mean that Jones, Daugherty and McCarter shouldn't talk to a potential recruit? Let him concentrate where he will.

[GreenBat]

If Jimmy Tubbs had done his job as an assistant coach, he would not be the head coach and SMU would be a top 20 basketball program.