During his Monday morning press conference with reporters, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo was asked about Minnesota’s decision today to fire Tubby Smith as the Golden Gophers head basketball coach. Watch Izzo’s reaction and answer in this video clip. The Michigan State coach takes a sip of water and then takes a long pause before answering. “Tubby’s a good friend of mine,” Izzo said. “So that does hit me a little bit harder.”

Tubby Smith did many good things while head coach at Minnesota. He won some big games, advanced the program to three NCAA tourneys and two NITs in six years on the job. But, the school decided today that all of that wasn’t enough. Smith was fired. Now what for the Golden Gophers, who join Northwestern as Big Ten schools in search of a coach?

Tubby Smith is out at Minnesota. The coach was fired Monday, one day after the Gophers were knocked out of the NCAA tourney. Smith, 61, spent six seasons in Minneapolis, tallying a 124-81 overall mark (.605), including 46-62 (.426) in the Big Ten. The Gophers made three NCAA tourney appearances under Smith, however they only went 1-3. See the Twitter reaction to Smith’s firing in this post.

Minnesota fired Tubby Smith on Monday, cutting ties with the veteran coach one day after the Golden Gophers lost to Florida in the NCAA tournament.

After Minnesota downed No. 20 Wisconsin in overtime on Thursday night (and yes, there were many dunks), Minnesota coach Tubby Smith addressed his team in the locker room and then performed a most wonderful victory dance after announcing, “Today is a wonderful day, fellas. Valentine’s Day!” Watch the short but memorable clip here in this post.

Minnesota’s Tubby Smith notched his 500th career coaching victory in Saturday night’s 71-57 win at Southern Cal. A 22-year coaching veteran, Smith’s also been the head man at Tulsa (79 wins), Georgia (45) and Kentucky (263), where he won the 1998 national title in his first season in Lexington. Smith is 113-65 in five-plus season in Minneapolis, and he owns a career 500-210 clip.