High Point coach Tubby Smith to step down for rest of season; son will take over as coach

High Point University men's basketball coach Tubby Smith has decided to step down for the remainder of the season, the university announced Wednesday. His son and associate head coach G.G. Smith will take over as head coach for the rest of the 2021-22 season and the 2022-23 season.

Smith, 70, decided to step away after contracting COVID-19 for a second time in less than a year and having been away from the basketball program for an extended period, the school said in a news release. He will continue his involvement at HPU through the end of the year assisting with alumni and community engagement, athletics fundraising and more.

"I feel blessed to have had an amazing career leading, coaching and teaching great young men at first-class institutions," Tubby Smith said in a statement. "Working at my alma mater during this stage of my career has been a dream. … I always tell kids about the importance of getting an education, and that is what I got from High Point University — an education on how to make decisions, how to live and conduct myself, and how to help others."

Smith first came to High Point in 1969 as a student and joined the basketball team. He served as team captain as a senior before graduating in 1973.

During his career, Smith coached at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas Tech and Memphis before returning to High Point in 2018. He led Kentucky to a 1998 NCAA championship title and was named SEC Coach of the Year that season. Smith joined Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall and Rick Pitino in December as the fourth coach to have his banner hung from the rafters of Kentucky's Rupp Arena.

Smith has a 45-68 record in three and a half seasons at High Point and a 642-370 career record. He has made 18 NCAA Tournament appearances as a coach. He's one of three head coaches, along with Lon Kruger and Pitino, to take five different teams to the NCAA Tournament.

(Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)

What is Smith's legacy?

Kyle Tucker, Kentucky beat writer: Tubby Smith could flat-out coach. He led five programs — Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota and Texas Tech — to the NCAA Tournament. He got three of those programs to a Sweet 16 and won a national title at Kentucky in 1998.

Off the court? I'll let Wayne Turner, starting point guard on that championship team, speak for so many of Smith's former players.

"He was a father figure to a lot of us, and he changed my entire perspective on life," Turner says. "Honestly, I had never been around a successful Black man before Tubby. It gave me confidence and encouragement that I could also be successful, and he showed me how."

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