Univ of Texas Basketball Makes a ‘Smart’ Move
03 Apr, 2015
Shaka Smart has been a hot coaching commodity since leading Virginia Commonwealth to the Final Four in 2011. He had reportedly shunned several big-time offers, but the lure of Texas was finally too much to turn down.
VCU sports information director Scott Day confirmed Thursday night that Smart was leaving the Richmond university to take over the program in Austin. Smart met with VCU players earlier in the evening at the Siegel Center, the team’s home arena, and at least one player was seen crying when he left.
Smart, who has won at least 26 games in each of his six seasons at VCU, is bolting for a Texas program that hasn’t been able to unseat Kansas atop the Big 12. But the Longhorns also boast the wealthiest athletic department in the country and easy access to some of the nation’s most fertile recruiting grounds in Dallas and Houston.
Terms of Smart’s contract were not immediately released and VCU said a statement would be released Friday. Barnes made $2.62 million last season, while Smart made $1.8 million with the Rams.
Texas athletic director Steve Patterson had zeroed in on bringing Smart to Texas immediately after firing former Longhorns coach Rick Barnes last weekend. Patterson flew to Richmond on Thursday to close the deal. Texas officials did not have any immediate comment on the hire.
Smart did not speak to the media gathered Thursday and VCU players were escorted from the building by university public relations without offering comments.
That Barnes was pushed out shows Patterson, a former NBA executive, expects big things from basketball. Barnes won three Big 12 titles and recruited elite talent to Austin. Former Longhorns T.J. Ford (2003) and Kevin Durant (2007) won national player of the year honors.
But the program had plateaued and the early-round exits in the NCAA Tournament started to mount, despite rosters full of future NBA talent.
By leaving before May 1, Smart owes VCU a $500,000 buyout. His contract also contains a provision that if he became a head coach at another institution, that school would have to play VCU in a home-and-home series, or pay VCU $250,000.
Barnes led Texas to 16 NCAA Tournaments in 17 seasons but his teams haven’t made it out of the first weekend since 2008.
Smart’s 26 wins in six consecutive seasons is a feat matched only by Duke.
AP
Image lostLetterman .com
Mentioned In This Post:
