LUBBOCK, Texas – Two days after being selected Big 12 Coach of the Year, Texas Tech men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith was named Sporting News National Coach of the Year announced Tuesday by the publication.
For Smith, it marks his eighth National Coach of the Year award. He was the consensus National Coach of the Year in 2003 while at Kentucky and was the first to sweep the national coaching awards since 1975 when Indiana’s Bob Knight accomplished the feat.
Smith is the second Texas Tech basketball coach to secure a National Coach of the Year honor. Marsha Sharp was the 1993 National Coach of the Year when the Lady Raiders won the NCAA Championship.
Smith has led the Red Raiders to a 19-11 record and a 9-9 Big 12 mark facing the nation’s toughest schedule in the nation’s No. 1 RPI rated conference. The last time Texas Tech collected nine Big 12 wins and .500 conference finish was in 2006-07. The Red Raiders captured three straight Top 25 victories against then No. 14 Iowa State, No. 21 Baylor and No. 3 Oklahoma in mid-February for the first time in program history.
Smith has the Red Raiders on the verge of being the first team in Big 12 history to be chosen 10th or lower in the conference preseason poll and then earn a NCAA Tournament bid.
Texas Tech squares off with TCU during Wednesday’s opening round of the Big 12 Tournament. Tipoff is slated for approximately 8 p.m. CT from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, and the game will be televised by ESPNU in addition to being available on www.WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.