Gwinnett County, Georgia Tuesday April 17, 2007
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Meeks doesn’t blame Smith for leaving UK
04/17/2007
By Corey Clark
Staff Writer
corey.clark@gwinnettdailypost.com
When he signed the scholarship papers in November of his senior year at Norcross, Jodie Meeks thought he understood what University of Kentucky basketball was all about.
He thought he had a pretty strong grasp of just how tightly it gripped the Bluegrass State.
Then came his freshman season.
And now the former Daily Post Player of the Year has a firsthand knowledge of just how passionate and intense the entire fanbase is when it comes to the Wildcat program.
He watched as his head coach, the man who recruited him to Lexington, fell under a media barrage after his team failed to live up to expectations for the second season in a row.
Just days after Meeks and the Wildcats lost to Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, head coach Tubby Smith accepted the vacant job at Minnesota.
“I was kind of surprised,” Meeks said. “But at the same time, he did what was best for him and his family. ... I wasn’t angry at all.”
There was so much pressure, so much scrutiny for Smith in Lexington that he left perhaps the best job in all of college basketball to take over a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team.
That should tell you plenty about the pressure he was feeling.
“I understand (why he left),” Meeks said. “I mean, we hear that stuff firsthand from the fans and everyone. When you’re losing, the fans get mad.
“And like I said, I wasn’t really mad at him. He had to do what’s best for him.”
The season itself was an unmitigated success for Meeks, who came on the last half of the season to be one of Kentucky’s most productive players.
Despite starting just one game, the 6-foot-4 guard averaged 8.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists in just over 22 minutes per game.
He shot 36.4 percent from 3-point range and a team-leading 89.7 percent from the free throw line — which would have been good for No. 1 in the SEC and No. 11 in the country if he would have had enough attempts. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week three times and was chosen to the SEC All-Freshman team after the season.
“I came in last summer just hoping to get an opportunity to play,” said Meeks, who scored in double figures in 12 of the team’s last 15 games. “And I got my opportunity to do what I could do ... and at the end of the season I got picked for a couple of awards, which was nice.”
It was just about the only thing that was enjoyable at the end of the season for the talented guard.
Mere minutes after Smith publicly announced he was leaving for Minnesota, the media came out in swarms.
“Oh yeah, it was crazy,” Meeks said with a laugh. “Thirty minutes later, the TV people were outside our house, wanting to get comments. There were news reporters out there less than 30 minutes after it happened.”
If Meeks thought that was bizarre, he had no idea what was coming next. The entire state of Kentucky, and much of the rest of the nation, began a continuous Billy Donovan watch over the next two weeks.
Rumors began swirling almost immediately after Smith left that Donovan was going to be the next UK head coach. Even during his team’s run to a second straight national title, the Florida head coach was answering repeated inquiries about the Kentucky job.
For his part, Meeks said he and the players weren’t following the search as closely as the rabid fanbase was.
“We really didn’t worry about it,” he said. “We heard about Donovan and what people were saying, but we really didn’t worry about it because we didn’t have any control.”
In the end, Donovan stayed in Gainesville and Kentucky went with Texas A&M head coach Billy Gillespie.
“I knew a little bit about him, watching (Texas A&M guard) Acie Law play last year,” Meeks said. “He plays pretty much the same style we played last year. He lets his players play and he’s real strict on defense, like Coach Smith.”
Which is terrific news for Meeks, who said despite the turmoil of the last month he has really enjoyed his first season in Lexington.
“Oh, I’m really happy,” he said. “Even though Coach Smith is gone and we have a new coach, I’m still happy. And we’ll still be a good, if not better team. And hopefully next season we can contend for an SEC title.”
Which, as Meeks now knows firsthand, is what is expected up in Lexington.
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