Minnesota fired Tubby Smith after he coached the Golden Gophers to a 21-13 season and two wins in the NCAA tournament. (Jason Szenes/Getty Images)

Texas Tech has contacted Tubby Smith regarding its vacant head coaching position according to multiple sources in an ESPN.com report.

One source said Smith would meet with school officials as soon as Thursday.

Smith was fired by Minnesota on Monday after the Golden Gophers ended a 21-13 season with a loss to Florida in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

Texas Tech has already been linked to several coaching candidates including Barry Hinson (Southern Illinois), Marvin Menzies (New Mexico State), Wyoming assistant Steve McClain, Kansas Director of Basketball Operations Doc Sadler and Scott Sutton (Oral Roberts). Former Texas Tech assistant and interim coach Chris Walker is also reportedly being considered for the job.

Walker coached the Red Raiders to an 11-20 record — including 3-15 in Big 12 play — after head coach Billy Gillispie was forced to resign in September surrounded by allegations that he broke NCAA practice time limits and verbally abused players.

Texas Tech went just 11-20 under Walker this season, including a 3-15 mark in the Big 12. The school fired six assistant coaches from the Gillispie regime on March 16.

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby issued a public reprimand to Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville during BCS meetings on Monday for an incident caught on camera between him and a graduate assistant coach, reports CBSSports.com.

Tuberville was caught on camera ripping a headset off of graduate assistant Kevin Oliver on the sideline during the third quarter of Texas Tech’s overtime victory over Kansas. Tuberville later said he apologized to Oliver.

Bowlsby says he doesn’t consider Tuberville’s action Saturday “a slap”. Tuberville says he grabbed the Oliver’s microphone and ripped it.

“I guess I’d be less than forthright if I didn’t acknowledge we’ll be keeping a careful eye on it going forward,” Bowlsby said.

“I have to hold myself to a higher standard,”  Tuberville said to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “After watching the film when I got home, it was obvious what a lot of people were upset about, and it upset me, too. You don’t do things like that. It was obvious I reached up and grabbed his headset and pulled on it. In the heat of the battle, some things happen sometimes that you’d like to take back.”

Bob Bowlsby issues public reprimand on Tommy Tuberville while inside BCS meetings today.—
Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) November 12, 2012

Billy Gillispie has been accused of verbally abusing a teenager after stepping down as Texas Tech coach following similar allegations from his college players. (Ed Zurga, Getty Images)

Billy Gillispie is in trouble for player mistreatment again. The AP reports that the mother of a teenager that attended Gillispie’s summer basketball camp has sent a letter to a Texas Tech administrator claiming the coach repeatedly verbally abused her son.

The letter, addressed to Texas Tech Univeristy System Chancellor Kent Hance, claimed that coaches at the camp told the teenager that Gillispie likes to pitck out one player in the camp and attempt to “break” them.

Gillispie resigned from his post as head coach of the Texas Tech men’s basketball team yesterday amid allegations of player mistreatment. Gillispie has also made multiple visits to the hospital for stress-related symptoms.

Billy Gillispie has resigned as Texas Tech basketball coach. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Embattled Texas Tech basketball coach Billy Gillispie has resigned according to a statement released by the school.

“Billy has decided to focus on his health and we wish him a full recovery,” athletic director Kirby Hocutt said. “We are proud of the young men that he has brought to this campus. Billy’s decision allows him to concentrate on his well-being and allows us to turn our attention to preparations for the upcoming season.”

The move comes less than a week after Gillispie returned to Lubbock after spending less than 72 hours — reportedly being treated for high blood pressure and stress — at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Gillispie later texted reporters saying that doctors had instructed him to take 30 stress-free days.

Multiple university sources told RedRaiderSports.com Friday that Gillispie caught Tech officials off guard by returning to Lubbock Friday evening, less than five hours after telling athletic director Kirby Hocutt that he was still undergoing tests at the Mayo Clinic.

Gillispie, 52, reported health issues on the same day news surfaced that Texas Tech players had complained to Hocutt of mistreatment and NCAA rules violations.

Hocutt recently said Gillispie was no longer involved with the day-to-day operations of the team and ordered him “not to engage” the basketball program “in any way” until the two could meet. Gillispie has since been unavailable to meet with Hocutt.

Gillispie’s further actions did not include communicating with Texas Tech officials.

According to multiple sources, Gillispie did not notify Tech after he left UMC on Sept. 6 and ignored multiple calls from university officials after it was discovered that he was no longer in the hospital.

Embattled Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie seeks stress-free rest. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

A text from Billy Gillispie to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal said doctors have ordered the troubled Texas Tech basketball coach to recover in a stress-free environment for 30 days.

Gillispie returned to Lubbock Friday after spending four days at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn..

The text said Gillispie had been treated at the clinic for abnormal headaches and kidney problems and was ordered to live in the stress-free environment while trying to get his high blood pressure under control.

Texas Tech initiated an investigation of Gillispie and his program after a group of players raised concerns about the way Gillispie was treating the players and breaking NCAA rules regarding practices.

Athletic director Kirby Hocutt recently said Gillispie was no longer involved with the day-to-day operations of the team and ordered him “not to engage” the basketball program “in any way” until the two could meet. Gillispie has been unavailable to meet with Hocutt.

Assistant coach Chris Walker is now in charge of the day-to-day operations of the team.

Jordan Tolbert says he won’t play for Billy Gillispie if the coach returns to Texas Tech. (Ed Zurga, Getty Images)

As more details emerge about Texas Tech’s investigation of Head Basketball Coach Billy Gillispie, one of his star players has added to the disturbing details uncovered in recent reports, most of which came from unnamed sources.

Rising sophomore Jordan Tolbert, who led the Red Raiders in scoring as a freshman, told ESPN that he would not play for Texas Tech if Billy Gillispie, currently on medical leave and hospitalized after complaining for heart-attack like symptoms, returns as coach this season.

“I don’t,” Tolbert said by phone. “I don’t. Maybe I would for the assistants. I haven’t put that much thought into it. There is a big sense of urgency. I don’t want to play for him if he comes back.”

Tolbert and several of his Texas Tech teammates met with the university’s athletic director Kirby Hocutt two weeks ago, complaining that Gillispie forced the players to practice excessively, sometimes to the point of causing injuries and purposely aggravating existing ones.

Texas Tech has made no announcement yet concerning the future of Gillispie, who went 8-23 in his first season in charge of the Red Raiders.

Following last week’s ESPN.com report that several players had gone to Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt to complain about coach Billy Gillispie’s mistreatment of them, Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com uncovers more details and allegations.

Sources told Goodman that Gillispie made one injured player practice to the point of tears; that he regularly exceeded NCAA maximums for practice time, once practicing for eight hours; and that several times he promised jobs to coaches that he didn’t deliver.

Gillispie remains in a Lubbock hospital after checking himself in last Friday for what he said felt like a stroke or a heart attack.