Former University of Tulsa head basketball coach Tubby Smith, announced last week he is stepping down as head coach of the High Point University men’s team.

Smith, won a national championship while coaching at Kentucky in 1998, and is being replaced by his son and current associate head coach G.G. Smith for the remainder of this season and next season.

Smith was the Tulsa head coach from 1991 to 1995, and led the Golden Hurricane to a 79–43 record. He worked to rebuild the program his first two years, 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 and 1995. Smith’s 1994 Tulsa team upset UCLA in the tournament’s first round before knocking off Oklahoma State. In 1995, the Golden Hurricane defeated Big Ten team Illinois to open March Madness.

High Point stated in a press release that Smith feels after contracting COVID-19 for a second time in less than a year, and having been away from the program for an extended period, that the timing is right for this change. Smith will remain at High Point to assist with alumni, community engagement, fundraising for athletics and other university priorities.

“I feel blessed to have had an amazing career leading, coaching and teaching great young men at first-class institutions,” said the 70-year-old Smith. “Working at my alma mater during this stage of my career has been a dream. I’m thrilled that G.G. will be taking over as head coach. He will do a super job.”

In Smith’s four seasons at the helm of the Panthers, the team is 45-68, including an 11-15 mark this season. They have never won the Big South Conference title and have failed to reach the NCAA Tournament.

Besides High Point, Tulsa and Kentucky, Smith also served as head coach at Memphis, Texas Tech, Minnesota, and Georgia. He compiled a career overall record of 642-370.

“Tubby Smith is a champion, and High Point University continues to appreciate his contributions to our campus and community,” said High Point President Dr. Nido Qubein. “As a coach, Tubby has impacted the game of basketball in measurable and meaningful ways. Tubby and his wife Donna have also created a legacy of leadership and service along their entire journey, and we are happy that will continue to grow right here at HPU.

Smith’s oldest son, G.G. now takes over as head coach. G.G. played basketball at Cascia Hall while his father coached at TU. When G.G. Smith graduated in 1995, he went to Georgia and played on the team there coached by Tubby.

G.G. Smith began his coaching career as an assistant coach and teacher at Lexington Catholic High School in Lexington, Kentucky. In the fall of 2000, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky for graduate school and joined his father’s staff as a graduate assistant. Completing his master’s degree in sports management in 2002, G.G. Smith became an assistant coach at Tennessee Tech.

From 2004 to 2006, G.G. Smith was an assistant at Armstrong Atlantic State, then at Johns Hopkins for the 2006–07 season. After six seasons as an assistant under Jimmy Patsos, G.G. Smith succeeded Patsos as head coach at Loyola University Maryland in 2013.

On March 8, 2018, G.G. Smith announced that he was resigning from Loyola after five seasons, and he was hired by his father as an assistant at High Point.

Tubby Smith had a great career, and although his time in Tulsa was brief, I remember him as a great guy and someone we in the media enjoyed talking with in a formal interview, as well as just chatting about life. His son, G.G., is remembered as a well-mannered and disciplined young man. I’m sure he’ll do well as the new head coach at High Point.