I’m hearing a lot of people calling for Tubby’s resignation. I’m also hearing a lot of folks wanting to see major coaching changes, even if Tubby stays on. Now, there are a lot of folks who know more about Kentucky basketball than I do. But the question to ask here is whether or not a coaching change is going to make a difference in the short term. A coaching change might result in a better season after a few years–when there are new players on the bench.
At the Petition Spot, I stumbled across this comment:
I can’t stand Tubby Smith and neither can anyone in my family. He won’t recruit anyone from Kentucky! His philosophy on this is to take players that are not so good and try to make them better. IT’S NOT WORKING AND IT SHOWS IN EVERY GAME THEY PLAY.
Somebody help me out here. Isn’t the goal of coaching to take players and make them better?
I couldn’t help but notice that Tubby was 0/0 on his three pointers. He had no rebounds, and he never even made it to the foul line. Matter of fact, he never even touched the ball, from what I could tell.
So it had to have something to do with the players on the court, wouldn’t you think?
I haven’t heard anyone talking about the players who are giving 80% in practice. I haven’t heard anything about the bone-headed plays in the paint. I haven’t heard anything about the lack of player self-discipline in terms of practicing the foul shot. I haven’t heard a word about the diet choices of the players. And I haven’t recently heard anything about the social drinking habits of the players.
You know what this reminds me of? That’s right: The Church.
A leadership change in the church doesn’t have the benefit of matriculation that college basketball has. When a church continues to underachieve with new leaders and the same followers, its time to take a look at the discipleship of the congregation.
In a perfect world, the coach puts the play on the chalkboard and the players run it. In an ideal situation, the coach drills the team in the basics, and their skills improve. When everything goes as the coach expects it to, then the team improves and the plan works.
Of course, that’s assuming that the coach knows what he’s talking about…and I think Tubby does know what he’s doing. Is he perfect? Absolutely not.
Neither are the pastoral leader of most of our congregations perfect. But after looking around, I see more similarities between the discipleship of our congregations and the self-discipline of the players on the court. The biggest difference I can see is that at least the players on the basketball court understand that they are the ball handlers…
Too many of the folks in the pews think that they are the Big Blue Nation. In actuality, the disciples are the players. In a perfect analogy, the pastor becomes the player/coach. (For those of you who are old enough to remember, think Lenny Wilkins.) Sitting in the pews is NOT the same as sitting in the grandstand. If the ball isn’t going in the goal, it could be because the coach didn’t teach fundamentals. But it could also be because the player isn’t putting forth the proper effort.
Teams lose when they don’t follow the leader or when the coach is demonstrating poor leadership. Bad decisions on the court, failure to perform to the best of their ability, and lack of personal conditioning comes back on the players. Bad planning, flawed vision, and failure to communicate comes back on the leaders.
Churches go into decline when the members don’t follow the leader, or when the pastoral leader is demonstrating poor leadership. Bad decisions in life, failure to participate in ministry, and a lack of personal discipleship habits comes back to the members. And pastors have the same problems coaches do: Bad planning, flawed vision, and failure to communicate.
At Kentucky, I think that there is room for improvement on the sidelines, but I don’t see any reason to send Tubby packing. I think its time for the Big Blue Nation to expect more of the players…
And its time for more of our church members to get out on the hardwood and show up for the workouts.
On a related note, the petition at Petition Spot is actually closed now. “Too many fraudulent posts, sorry no more defacing of a good man.” Seems that too many folks were attacking the man instead of talking about the job.
I tip my hat to the author of the petition. That was a classy move.
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