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 Smith was hired Monday, the school announced late Monday night. Associate athletic director Blayne Beal tweeted that a 2 p.m. press conference was scheduled Tuesday to meet the latest man who is coming from a bigger program to try to revive the basketball program in West Texas.
Interim coach Chris Walker went 11-20 this season and 3-15 in Big 12 play as the program tried to recover from Billy Gillispie's volatile one-year tenure, which ended when he resigned in September.
Smith was fired by Minnesota last week after six seasons, but it didn't take long for him to land on his feet.
He led the Golden Gophers to three NCAA tournaments and this year delivered the program's first tourney win -- over sixth-seeded UCLA -- since 1997. He went 124-81 (.610), winning 20 games five times. But he never finished higher than sixth in the Big Ten, going just 46-62 in conference play, and Minnesota athletic director Norwood Teague decided it was time to go in another direction.
In all, Smith is 511-226 (.693) in 22 seasons and his teams have won 20-plus games 19 times.
Smith got a six-year deal from the Red Raiders and will be the fourth person to lead Texas Tech in as many seasons
The 61-year-old Smith could be just what Texas Tech needs. The AP Coach of the Year in 2003, Smith has a reputation as a program builder who doesn't cut corners. His teams have been clean and doing things the right way could go a long way toward bringing name recognition to the school not historically on the college basketball map and after the past two seasons' difficulties.
The Red Raiders last went to the NCAA tournament in 2007, Bob Knight's final full season in Lubbock. It's been mostly downhill since then.
Two years ago, Texas Tech fans pinned their hopes on Gillispie after he'd turned around two other flagging programs in the state, UTEP and Texas A&M.
Instead, he more resembled the guy who was fired at Kentucky, a hard-driving coach who had a difficult time connecting with the players he inherited. Several players from Gillispie's inaugural and lone season in West Texas left the program and complained to athletic director Kirby Hocutt about how Gillispie treated them.
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There were some secondary NCAA violations for exceeding practice times and it all led to the Red Raiders finishing 8-23 and winning just one Big 12 game in 2011-12, the program's worst season since 1990-91.
Gillispie stepped down in September, citing health reasons after two stays in the hospital. Walker, an assistant at several schools for 17 years, led Texas Tech to an improved season but the Houston native's lack of experience as a head coach likely worked against him.
Smith won a national title and five Southeastern Conference championships with Kentucky before the demanding Wildcat faithful pushed him to leave for Minnesota in 2007. Smith, who was replaced at Kentucky by Gillispie, has also taken Tulsa and Georgia to the round of 16.
Now he'll try to do it one more time at Texas Tech, where he now succeeds Gillispie.
In an odd twist, Smith landed a job before Minnesota was able to replace him. Teague and associate athletic director Mike Ellis have spent the week trying to land a big name, but so far have been unable to convince a handful of them to take the job. Iowa State's Fred Hoiberg and VCU's Shaka Smart parlayed Minnesota's interest into long-term deals to remain at their schools, popular alum Flip Saunders turned down another offer last weekend and another presumed target -- Florida Gulf Coast's Andy Enfield -- went to USC on Monday night.
Teague and Ellis have remained underground during the search, which enters its second week with few clues as to who could wind up with the job. Alabama's Anthony Grant, who worked with Teague and Ellis previously at VCU, Xavier's Chris Mack and Marquette's Buzz Williams have all been mentioned as possible candidates.
[Associated
Press; By BETSY BLANEY and JON KRAWCZYNSKI]
Krawczynski reported
from Minneapolis.
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