EDITOR'S NOTE: In June 2004 I began a new venture as managing editor of both Northfield News and Faribault Daily News. This column originally appeared in the Northfield News on March 24, 2007.
In the last 13 years, I can count on one hand the number of times I've been on the scene of the most reported story in the state. Working at small media outlets you just don't have the occasion to be dropping in on the big, statewide stories all that often because your focus is on the news happening in your backyard. But on Friday I had the opportunity to witness history one more time and it was every bit as surreal as the time I was at the scene of the Paul Wellstone plane crash or the couple of times I've interviewed governors, or the time that I interviewed Nicole Brown Simpson's sister or any of the other few times I've happened to be at the right spot at the right moment. Serendipity smiled on me Friday as I found myself in the McNamara Alumni building on the University of Minnesota campus a mere 50 yards away from where new U of M men's basketball coach Tubby Smith was making it official with his first press conference of his tenure. I was there for a coincidental newspaper seminar that I was signed up for weeks ago, and unbelievably Friday it dropped me into the center of the biggest story in the state. My seminar lunchtime lined up exactly with Smith's press conference, so I jumped across the street and into the famed Williams Arena to see the coaching legend take the reigns of Gopher basketball. It was thrilling. Upon entering the arena, I could see there were a couple of hundred U students and other fans who turned out for the announcement and a stage and podium for Smith and U of M Athletic Director Joel Maturi to speak had been set up on the historic raised wooden basketball floor. All around there was media. I counted no less than 15 television cameramen scurrying around the press conference, taking in everything. And Minnesota's press glitterati were all present too. Within minutes I had spotted Sid Hartman and Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune and several of the big name TV sports anchors. Even reporters from Kentucky, from where Smith is leaving to take the Gopher job, showed up for the press conference. Completing the ambience were a dozen or so U of M cheerleaders and Goldie the U of M's mascot. As silly as it sounds, set amongst the backdrop of the historic "Barn," as the arena is affectionately referred to, the event was enough to give me goosebumps. I couldn't help but feel I was watching history unfold right before my eyes. Regardless of the outcome, Tubby Smith's coming to Minnesota will be memorable. Either he'll turn around a program that hasn't seen much success since the early 1990s, or his legend could be tarnished if he made a poor choice and can't turn the program around. However the history books tell it, I get to say I was there to see it begin. Smith said all the right things in his opening conference; he was gracious to his former university, which he left after an embattled season; he was enthusiastic about his new university; and he praised all that the U of M and Minnesota have to offer. Never one to be sensational, Smith's even-keel manner was refreshing to hear. In this day of overnight sports stars and glamour-oriented sports entertainment, Smith is the antithesis to big money and glitzy sports. Many reporters hounded him about the split from Kentucky, a legendary basketball school, but Smith declined to make any noise about his leaving, saying Friday that it was the right time and that he felt that he was embraced by U of M officials. "We're not running from anything," he said, referring to a reporter's question about the criticism he faced this past season at Kentucky. "We' running to something that's great." At which point the students and other fans who turned out for the conference erupted with applause, cheers and hoots. Smith assured the reporter that it wasn't the criticism over his team's performance this season that made him leave Kentucky. In fact, he said you get used to the criticism when you coach in the national spotlight. "There'll (always) be critics," he said. "There'll be critics here. We will do the best we can." His only hint that there is a little bad blood in his leaving Kentucky was a comment he made late in his press conference. He commented that he's excited to begin anew in Minnesota because the U of M officials here made him feel welcome and wanted. "Everyone wants to be wanted," he said. "I feel like I'm wanted here." Smith's press conference wasn't long; within 30 minutes he was whisked off stage and met by an excited throng wanting to get close to the new coach. I didn't even try to enter the media mob that encircled him as soon as he walked off the stage. I originally wanted get close enough to get a photo of Smith, but in the end it wasn't worth the wait. Overall, it was still quite an event to take in. Looking up into the old rafters of "The Barn" with the Hall of Fame banners of Kevin McHale and Lou Hudson and Michael Thompson hanging on one wall and the NCAA Tournament participant banners on another, and listening to the voice of the legendary coach Tubby Smith as he began his reign as coach of men's basketball ... wow, what an incredible opportunity. I won't forget it anytime soon. Welcome to Minnesota, Tubby Smith. - Devlyn Brooks is managing editor of the Northfield News. He can be reached at dbrooks@northfieldnews.com.
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