Coming into the 2015-2016 season, Texas Tech's Men's Basketball was picked to finish anywhere from 10th to 8th. Texas Tech didn't shatter those expectations, but they did beat them to finish 7th in the conference. Texas Tech went on a 6-2 tear to end the season that culminated with the defeat of 3 top 25 ranked teams in a row, including a win over then-#3 Oklahoma at home.The stats don't tell the whole story, however.

#Big12MBB: The Coach of the Year, @TexasTechMBB's @CoachTubbySmith, guided TTU to its highest win total in 5 years. pic.twitter.com/DldARt9A7Z

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 6, 2026

Thanks to his revitalization of the Texas Tech Men's Basketball program, Tubby Smith is your 2015-2016 Big XII Coach of the Year. Yes, Tubby Smith had a couple of bad losses. Yes, the Red Raiders were very mercurial. But Tubby has been the light in the hopeless place, the glue that has kept this team together, and the strategist that orchestrated 3 huge upsets in a row. It was the only time in the history of Texas Tech basketball that we've beaten 3 top 25 ranked teams in a row.

In the end, I don't have to defend Tubby Smith, because Tubby Smith's track record speaks for itself. He took a perennial conference doormat and turned them into the most dangerous team in the nation for a time. He gave us a reason to have hope in our basketball program for more than our regularly scheduled one upset a year. Tubby Smith just did what Bill Snyder does in football every single year, and that's the reason why he is being honored. There are those out there who are trying to take away from this honor, those who will attempt to devalue what the Red Raiders and Tubby worked so hard for. To those people, I just have one thing to say:

DEAL WITH IT, TURBONERDS.