Tubby Smith Officially Hires Pooh Williamson, Discussing Robert Turner

Head basketball coach Tubby Smith made it official yesterday in hiring former TCU assistant coach, Alvin "Pooh" Williamson. I'm really very excited about this as Smith has been in the state of Texas since 2007, coaching at Texas A&M, SMU and TCU. TCU hauled in a very nice class this past year and much of the credit goes to Williamson for the class.

Williamson is a former player of Smith at Tulsa and here's what Smith had to say about Williamson:

"It is a real blessing to have Pooh here," said Smith. "Alvin has been the best thing to happen for us. He was the key to our success from 1991 to 1995 at Tulsa as a leader and as a student-athlete. He is so well respected as a coach. He is one of the best hires I have made in a long time.

"He is a point guard and former player that players relate too and that is so important when you are out there recruiting. He has the ability to be a floor coach, teacher and develop players and that stems from the fact the he was a player who had to work hard and earn everything he has gotten. Pooh enhances every aspect of our program."

I also wanted to drop a bit of information about Smith's first commit Robert Turner, a point guard from New Mexico Junior College. RP talked with Turner's NMJC head coach James Miller about the type of player that Turner is:

Was a sparkplug off the bench for us last year, shot the ball very well from three last year, just a shade under 40 percent from three. This year stepped into the role as a starter, as our main quarterback on the floor, and had a very good year.

Very unselfish kid just wants his team to win. Obviously had a successful career at New Mexico Junior College, we won probably 50 games over the coarse of those two years and he was the main part of that.

Tough, unselfish, ultracompetitive, he works hard every single day and I think he’s a great start for Coach (Tubby) Smith to start building Texas Tech’s program, that’s the kind of kid that you want to have as your first new guy.

And we also get a few quotes from the Augusta Chronicle from Turner (Turner is originally from Georgia) about being excited about helping turn around Texas Tech as a program:

"It’s going to be great," Turner said. "He’s a coach with a lot of experience. He’s a legend. I know he’s going to lead me on the right path."

Smith and Turner join a program that went 11-20 this season, but Turner is hoping he and his new coach will turn it around.

"It’s just getting out there and getting started, to get the program on the right track," he said.

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