“My goal was to assemble
one of, if not the best, staff in the country and I believe that goal has been
reached,” Minnesota head men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith said. “I have close
professional and personal ties to each coach on this staff, and with familiarity
brings understanding, of the way we want to run this program. They understand
what it will take to bring the Gopher program to the top of college
basketball.”
ASSISTANT COACH
BIOS
Ron Jirsa, Associate Head Coach
This is Jirsa’s fourth stop with
Coach Smith in his 24-year collegiate coaching career. Smith and Jirsa first
began their working relationship at Virginia Commonwealth, where both served
under coach J.D. Barnett during the 1984-85 season. The Rams finished 26-6 that
season, winning the Sun Belt Conference title and playing in the NCAA
Tournament. They reunited when Smith hired Jirsa as an assistant at Tulsa before
the 1991-92 season. Three years later, Jirsa was named Associate Head Coach of
the Golden Hurricane.
Jirsa, 45, accompanied
Smith to Georgia when he took over the Bulldog program in 1995. For two years,
he served as Associate Head Coach for Smith at Georgia before serving as head
coach from 1997-99. His Bulldog squads posted a combined 35-30 record. During
his time in Athens, the Bulldogs put together back-to-back recruiting classes
that were rated among the top-five in the nation by several recruiting analysts.
Jirsa’s teams also made two NIT appearances. In his first season, UGA posted a
20-15 record, only the seventh 20-win season in UGA history, en route to a
third-place finish in the NIT. Jirsa’s Bulldogs put together a 4-1 record in the
postseason with wins over Iowa, North Carolina State, Vanderbilt and Fresno
State in March 1998.
In his six seasons with
Smith, Jirsa helped four consecutive teams win at least 21 games and reach the
NCAA Tournament each season. The first three of those – two at Tulsa and one at
Georgia – reached the Sweet Sixteen.
Jirsa had spent the
previous four seasons as head coach at Marshall University. The Thundering Herd
went 13-19 in 2006-07, losing to Memphis in the Conference USA Tournament
Quarterfinals. Marshall had several big wins during Jirsa’s four-year tenure.
The Herd notched victories over NCAA Tournament teams UAB and Western Michigan
in 2003-04, and in 2004-05, Marshall knocked off eventual Elite Eight
participant West Virginia in the two teams’ annual game in Charleston. In
2005-06, the Herd won its first game against a top-10 opponent when Jirsa’s club
defeated No. 9 West Virginia again in Charleston.
Prior to his arrival at
Marshall, Jirsa was an assistant coach at Dayton under then-head coach Oliver
Purnell for four seasons. During his stint at UD, the Flyers posted an 88-39
overall record, made two NCAA Tournament and two NIT appearances. In 2002-03,
Dayton posted a 24-6 record, won the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship,
advanced to the NCAA Tournament as a four seed, and finished the season ranked
among the top 25 teams in the nation in the final Associated Press and USA Today
polls.
Jirsa began his coaching
career as an assistant at Connecticut College following his graduation from
Gettysburg College in 1981. Two years later, he moved on to the University of
Delaware and spent one season with the Blue Hens before taking a graduate
assistant position with a VCU program that finished ranked 11th in the nation in
1984-85.
He then took an assistant
position at Tulsa for three seasons (1985-88) before making one- year stops at
Belmont Abbey (1988-89), and Gardner-Webb (1990-91). At Tulsa, Jirsa coached
with former Golden Gopher Flip Saunders. In 1991, he returned to Tulsa as an
assistant under Smith before being promoted to associate head coach in
1994.
Jirsa earned a Bachelor
of Arts degree in biology from Gettysburg College in 1981 and a Master of Arts
in Athletic Administration from the University of Tulsa in 1987. He was a
three-sport letterwinner at Ledyard High School in Ledyard, Connecticut. He and
his wife Laura have one daughter, Hannah (6).
Saul Smith – Assistant
Coach
Saul Smith has served the past three seasons as an assistant coach at
Tennessee Tech under head coach Mike Sutton. Smith was involved in all phases of
the program, including player development, recruiting, organization, on-floor
coaching and academics. When Sutton was stricken with Guillian Barre Syndrome,
Smith assisted associate head coach Steve Payne with guiding the Golden Eagles
to two of the most successful seasons in school history.
Smith lettered four years
at Kentucky under his father, head coach Tubby Smith, and started at point guard
for the Wildcats in each of his final two seasons. He was part of winning three
SEC Championships, three SEC Tournament titles and one NCAA National
Championship. Smith ranks 10th all-time in Kentucky basketball history with 363
assists. Smith led the Wildcats in assists in both the 1999-2000 and the 2000-01
seasons and in steals with 51 during the 2000-01 season.
After his Kentucky
career, Smith was invited to the Houston Rockets summer camp before spending two
years playing for the NBDL’s Columbus Riverdragons.
Smith spent the 2003-04
season on the Kentucky coaching staff while completing his bachelor’s degree in
economics. Smith is single and lives in Minneapolis.
Vince Taylor – Assistant
Coach
Vince Taylor joins Coach Smith’s staff after spending the previous two
seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA. With the T-Wolves, Taylor
was responsible for player development.
Prior to arriving in
Minnesota, Taylor spent seven seasons as an assistant at the University of
Louisville, four under Rick Pitino and three under Denny Crum. While with the
Louisville program, Taylor earned the reputation as one of the nation’s top
recruiters. He helped the Cardinals land a top-five recruiting class in 2001
under Pitino that included McDonald’s All-American Carlos Hurt. Taylor was also
heavily responsible for the recruitment of Reece Gaines to Louisville. Gaines
was a four-year starter and was named third team All-American as a senior.
Gaines was the 15th pick of the 2003 NBA Entry Draft. In 2005, Louisville
returned to the Final Four with many Taylor’s recruits including Francisco
Garcia. Garcia was then selected at the 23rd pick in the 2005 Draft by
Sacramento.
Before joining the
Louisville staff in 1998, Taylor was an assistant coach at the University of
Pittsburgh (1997-98) and briefly at the University of Wyoming
(1998).
Before Taylor began his
coaching career, he spent 13 seasons playing professional basketball in Europe,
including the last two as a player/assistant coach in the Belgian professional
league. Additionally, he averaged 3.1 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per
game in 31 contests with the New York Knicks in 1982-83 after being selected by
the team in the second round (33rd overall) of the 1982 NBA Draft. Taylor was
traded to the Indiana Pacers in 1983-84 before beginning his European career in
1984, initially in Italy (1984-86), then moving to France (1986-92) and
finishing his career in Belgium (1992-97).
A standout guard at Duke
University, Taylor earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference and honorable mention
All-America honors as a senior (1981-82) by averaging 20.3 points per game.
During Taylor’s collegiate career, the Blue Devils won the 1979 ACC regular
season championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice (1979 and 1980)
and National Invitational Tournament once (1981). Taylor, who scored 1,445
career collegiate points, finished his career as one of the top 10 scorers in
Duke history. He once held the school record by playing in 120 consecutive
games.
A 1982 graduate of Duke
with a bachelor’s degree in economics, Taylor was named to the President’s List
at Duke his senior year. That honor is awarded to only five percent of the
student body, and is based on contributions to the university and academic
achievements.
Taylor prepped at Tates
Creek High School, where he was a McDonald’s high school All-American as a
senior in 1978 while averaging 29.3 points and 11 rebounds per
game.
A native of Lexington,
Ky., Taylor has two children: son, Brendan, and, daughter, Maya.
Joe Esposito - Director
of Basketball Operations
Joe Esposito joins Tubby Smith’s Gopher staff as the
Director of Basketball Operations. He will be in charge of all administrative
duties of the Golden Gopher basketball program. Esposito spent the past season
as the head coach at The Villages Charter High School in Florida where he
recorded the best record in school history and advanced The Villages to the
Class 3A District 7 Final Four. In addition, Esposito was a computer science
teacher at the school.
Prior to The Villages
Charter School, Esposito was the head coach at Angelo State for seven seasons.
Esposito recorded 118 wins in those seven seasons and left the school with the
highest winning percentage of any coach in the program’s history. In 2000-01,
the Rams advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in 10
years and only the third time in school history. Angelo State won the Lone Star
Conference South Division Championship with a 22-8 record which tied the highest
single-season win total in school history. In addition, Esposito was voted LSC
South Coach of the Year in 2001.
In 2002, Esposito led the
team to their fourth consecutive winning season, the first time ASU had posted
four straight winning seasons since the 1980s. In just four seasons, Esposito
led the Rams to three of the top five single season win totals in school history
and three straight post-season berths. In 2003, ASU posted their fifth winning
season in a row, a mark only matched one other time in the history of the
program. He left the program as one of the winningest coaches in Lone Star
Conference history.
Esposito’s relationship
with Coach Smith dates back to his tenure as associate head coach and recruiting
coordinator at Tennessee State. For three seasons (1995-98), Esposito was
responsible for recruiting three Ohio Valley Conference Freshmen of the Year to
TSU and both his 1996-97 and 1997-98 recruiting classes were ranked among the
top 30 in the nation by Hoop Scoop.
Before his tenure at
Tennessee State, Esposito was the interim head coach at Assumption College, an
NCAA Division II powerhouse in the Northeast-10 Conference for half a season.
Prior to being named head coach, Esposito also served as an assistant and then
associate head coach for Assumption, prior to assuming temporary head coaching
duties in 1994.
During his tenure at
Assumption, the Greyhounds won three straight conference titles, appeared twice
in the NCAA Division II regionals and set records for wins and winning streaks
at the school. Esposito also has served as an assistant coach at Roosevelt High
School in Hyde Park, N.Y., and was a student assistant at Marist College in
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. His coaching resume also includes a stint as an assistant
coach at the Bay State and Empire State games.
A native of New York,
Esposito received his bachelor of science degree in computer science in 1988
from Marist College and his master of science in sports administration and
coaching from the United States Sports Academy in Mobile, Ala., in
1990.
Esposito and his wife,
Tammy, a former collegiate diver at the University of Connecticut, have two
sons, Jordan Michael (10) and Jacob O’Neal (7), and a daughter, Shay Lynn
(5).