Minnesota fires coach Tubby Smith

MINNEAPOLIS -- 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.

Athletics director Norwood Teague announced the decision Monday and said it was time for a "fresh set of eyes" on the program.

Smith was 124-81 (.610) in six seasons at Minnesota, helping to bring the program back to respectability and ramping up expectations for a team hit hard by an academic cheating scandal.

Smith won 20 games five times. But he went just 46-62 in Big Ten play and never finished higher than sixth in the conference. The Gophers made three NCAA tournament appearances under Smith. They beat UCLA this year before losing on Sunday.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9096499/minnesota-gophers-dismiss-tubby-smith-day-ncaa-tourney-ouster