MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Texas Tech got off to a great start this past season -- won 11 of its first 12 games, beat Texas on the second day of 2016. But then the Red Raiders suffered losses to Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State to fall to 1-3 in the Big 12. And that's when Tubby Smith opened a random email sent from an upset fan.
Few lines in, Smith said, there was a racial slur.
Like, a bad racial slur.
And Smith responded by ...
"I just deleted it as quickly as I could," Smith said. "I deleted it so I'd never see it again."
To be clear, this story isn't meant to cast Texas Tech, or its fans, in a negative light because, let's be honest, any African-American in a position of power is going to deal with racial slurs via email and/or social media. Don't believe me? Go check our President's mentions sometime. Or just bounce around Facebook. As Smith accurately pointed out, "it's everywhere."
So this isn't about Texas Tech.
Because, frankly, I'm less interested in what the fan wrote than I am in how Smith responded, which is to say how he did not respond at all. He didn't finish reading the email. He didn't report it. He just deleted it and moved on, never really thought much about it again. And in an hour-long conversation I had with the new Memphis coach in the new Memphis coach's office this week, Smith's commitment to staying focused and refusing to react or respond to outside influences, or anything he deems unimportant, was a consistent theme.
It's not that Smith doesn't care what people think or say, exactly.
It's just that he genuinely does not believe it matters.
And that's a quality that'll serve him well at Memphis -- where the passionate fanbase can, and will, break a coach with open ears. To prove this isn't just lip-service on Smith's behalf, consider his first two weeks on the job. Within days of being hired, the father (Keelon Lawson) of Smith's best two inherited players (Dedric and K.J. Lawson) was considering removing his sons from Memphis unless Smith made him one of the Tigers' three on-the-road assistants, sources told CBS Sports. And this was an intense topic of conversation, day after day, throughout the city.
Some insisted Smith should do whatever it takes to keep the Lawsons.
Others suggested he should cut ties completely.
People argued.
It got ugly.
Meantime, Smith swears he barely read or heard any of it, and his position never changed from what he'd already decided to do before he even accepted the Memphis job. Smith was going to offer Keelon Lawson a support staff role, regardless of whether his sons were at Memphis or not. And Keelon could either accept it or not. And Dedric and K.J. could either stay or go. Whatever. There was no negotiation. There was no back-and-forth. Crazy as it sounds, I really do think Tubby Smith spent less time thinking about all of this than most Memphis fans.
Now back to that Texas Tech email.
As you probably know, Smith's Red Raiders eventually turned things around, won six of their final eight Big 12 games and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007. He was the Big 12 Coach of the Year. He was the Sporting News' National Coach of the Year. And, Smith thinks, he eventually got another email from the same guy who sent the first email.
"Unbelievable job. Congratulations."
That's what Smith remembers about the second email. Obviously, he could've responded to that one by referencing the first one and really thrown some stuff back at the guy. That's what most might've done. That's what I would've done. But Smith just hit delete and moved on.
Why?
Because what that guy thought in January or March never mattered to Smith.
That's why.
So he just blocked it out and stayed focused -- during both the good and the bad.
"And that's what I've always done," Smith said. "My wife will say, 'Did you hear this?' And I say, 'No.' And she says, 'You need to know these things!' But it doesn't affect me.' ... And I don't react to it. ... You just can't. It doesn't do you any good. You just can't function like that."
NOTES FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY
I wrote a column recently detailing how coaching careers are routinely altered, both positively and negatively, by the decisions of on-the-fence prospects who could sensibly enter the NBA Draft or stay in school. And USC's Andy Enfield is the latest to experience this up close. Julian Jacobs is going to reportedly sign with an agent and forgo his final year of eligibility even though there's no guarantee he'll be picked at all, which means USC is losing its third-leading scorer. Jacobs averaged 11.6 points, 5.5 assists and 4.9 rebounds last season.
The SEC expanded in 2012-13, and it probably won't surprise you to know that Kentucky has, on average, finished better than everbody else. In fact, the Wildcats' average finish in the league is 1.5. But what might surprise you is that Ole Miss has an average finish of 4.3. And that ranks second in the SEC -- just ahead of Florida (4.5), Georgia (4.8) and LSU (5.0).
COACHING CAROUSEL
It's always interesting to see which fired head coaches immediately jump back into the profession as assistants. Some guys who have already done it this year are Dave Rice, Eric Reveno and Rob Jeter. Rice, UNLV's former coach, is now on Eric Musselman's staff at Nevada. Reveno, Portland's former coach, is now on Josh Pastner's staff at Georgia Tech. And Jeter, Milwaukee's former coach, is now on Marvin Menzies' staff at UNLV.
FINAL THOUGHT: Every year there are a few one-and-done prospects who enter the NBA Draft after so-so freshmen seasons, and people wonder if they're really ready to do it.
I've written about this before -- how it's always the wrong question to ask. Because players can develop as professionals just as well as, and perhaps better than, they can develop in college. And the latest great example is Steven Adams.
Adams played one year at Pitt.
He was just OK.
He averaged 7.2 points and 6.3 rebounds, and when he declared for the NBA Draft all sorts of folks insisted he was making a mistake. But now look. The 7-foot center is averaging 9.6 points and 9.3 rebounds in these NBA playoffs for an Oklahoma City team that's tied with San Antonio in the Western Conference semifinals.
Like other not-ready one-and-doners before him, Andre Drummond and DeAndre Jordan, Adams has gotten better in the NBA. Much better. He didn't need to improve in college to get to the NBA. He just needed to get to the NBA and improve while on payroll and he did. And this is why my opinion on the subject is this: for the most part, the players who are going to make it do, and the ones who aren't don't. And I don't think success or failure is heavily reliant on how long somebody stays in college.
