Steve Alford and Tubby Smith take steps back

Tubby Smith and Steve Alford have both decided take their careers in another direction. Smith resigns from Kentucky to go to Minnesota. Alford resigns from Iowa to go to New Mexico. Hmm....No idea.

Who knew Minnesota and New Mexico were better opportunities than Kentucky and Iowa?

At least Kentucky fans will finally get their wish today. How many UK fans out there raged over Tubby Smith for the past 5 season, or since he was hired for that matter?

It doesn't appear that Alford will be missed much in Iowa either. Many fans and even the administration couldn't have been happy with him. He only took Iowa to the NCAA Tourney 3 out of 8 seasons.

"He wanted to get his family out of this negative environment," center Seth Gorney said.

We're guessing we won't see either Smith or Alford sniffing another big time job after these moves, but they got their wishes if they were looking for less pressure to win. Smith is even getting a cool $2.5 mil/year at Minnesota.

Smith leaves Kentucky, takes job at Minnesota - USA Today
Alford tells hawkeyes he's leaving - SI.com