Minneapolis ? As Tubby Smith walked to the podium at Williams Arena, hundreds of Golden Gopher fans showered him with chants of “Tubby! Tubby!”

He looked at the adoring faithful of his new school and beamed.

“This is what it’s all about,” Smith said Friday after being introduced as the new coach at Minnesota. “I feel the love already.”

It was quite a change for Smith, dogged by criticism from Kentucky’s notoriously demanding “Big Blue Nation.” Wildcat fans dubbed him “10-loss Tubby” and clogged Internet chat rooms and talk radio shows with complaints about a coach who won a national championship, five SEC titles, five SEC tournament titles and 76 percent of his games at Kentucky.

From the moment he stepped on stage decked out in a gray pinstripe suit and Gopher tie, it was clear just how different things will be in Minnesota.

“No matter how much he won at Kentucky, he’s never going to catch Adolph Rupp,” Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi said. “He can actually build a program here and develop a legacy here that I don’t think he could do at any of his other spots.”

Smith came to Kentucky from Georgia in 1997 to replace a legend. Rick Pitino had guided the Wildcats to two straight appearances in the championship game before leaving to coach the Boston Celtics. Despite one title and three appearances in the regional finals, Wildcat fans were growing restless even before Kentucky lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Kansas University last weekend.

There is no such pressure at Minnesota.

Smith inherits a team that went 9-22 last season and 3-13 in the Big Ten. The Gophers were overmatched nearly every time they took the floor, driving their once vocal fan base away in droves.

So Maturi set out to find a big-name coach who would sell season tickets and energize lethargic fans. He shelled out $1.75 million a year for seven years to lure Smith away from Kentucky, and Smith acknowledged Friday he was ready for a change of scenery after 10 years in Lexington.