PonyFans.com

VCU's Shaka Smart in discussions with Texas about coaching post
By Jon Rothstein | CBS Sports
March 30, 2015 5:07 pm ET

VCU's Shaka Smart is in discussions with Texas about its coaching vacancy, sources said Monday.

Texas parted ways with Rick Barnes over the weekend after 17 seasons.

Smart, who's been at VCU since 2009 and led the Rams to the 2011 Final Four, has had past opportunities to leave VCU and stayed. But this time, sources say the fit at Texas may be too good to pass up. He's turned down vacancies at Maryland, NC State, Marquette, Illinois, and Wake Forest over the past five years.

If Smart turns down Texas, the Longhorns likely are turn their attention to Utah's Larry Krystkowiak and Xavier's Chris Mack.

The consensus of opinion the last time he came up for a big job was that he was so firmly entrenched in Richmond/that region that he could dominate recruiting and find a wealth of kids in his own back yard. He has been rewarded with a fairly lucrative new contract and shoe deal. VCU is constantly on national TV and gets national media recognition. Question is whether or not he leaves a great situation where he and basketball are king to handle the pressures of a bigger program where football is the only sport and the basketball arena is about half full for most games.

he'd be an idiot not to take the Texas job assuming he asks for and receives any support he needs at UT. Texas has unlimited resources

He'd be leaving behind a pretty solid 2015 class at VCU: https://rivals.yahoo.com/smu/basketball ... 15/vcu-651

Two four stars and a high three star. He has unlimited job security at VCU for life. Why risk it and go work for an [deleted] like Steve Patterson when you wait a few years and have your pick of the UNC, Duke, or Kentucky jobs?

I never have followed the VCU program very closely, but it seems that whenever I did pay attention to them for the last few years (their Final Four appearance not withstanding) they were losing to a team that they should not have been losing to according to the rankings. Maybe I just tuned in at the wrong times, because overall it appears to be a solid program.

They probably ought to run Shaka's resume past Deep Pockets Alum Red McCombs first to see if Shaka's performance is up to McCombs' standards first though

Stallion wrote:They probably ought to run Shaka's resume past Deep Pockets Alum Red McCombs first to see if Shaka's performance is up to McCombs' standards first though

Maybe they're hiring Shaka to be an assistant?

Is Steve Patterson really going to get outbid by Alabama for Gregg Marshall? That's embarrassing for Texas.

Marshall is clearly the better hire- Shaka hasn't made it to the second weekend of the tourney since that 2011 Final Four run. Since then Marshall has gone to a Final Four, gone 35-1, and beaten KU to make the Sweet 16 this year.

Marshall needs to turn down Alabama and get to Texas as soon as he can.

and rebel - why should we (SMU) want that again?

gostangs wrote:and rebel - why should we (SMU) want that again?

SMU would not want Marshall or Smart at Texas. I was just looking at it from Marshall's prospective. Texas is much better regarding basketball than Alabama imo.

Rebel10 wrote:Marshall needs to turn down Alabama and get to Texas as soon as he can.

Personally, I think he should let them both dangle for a while and enjoy the publicity, then turn them both down and stick with Wichita State for the time being. There are much better jobs out there that will eventually open up, if he even wants them. He's got a really good thing going in Wichita.

East Coast Mustang wrote:

Stallion wrote:They probably ought to run Shaka's resume past Deep Pockets Alum Red McCombs first to see if Shaka's performance is up to McCombs' standards first though

Maybe they're hiring Shaka to be an assistant?

They've already started printing Texas Smart T-shirts to go with the Texas Strong shirts.

In my opinion, these are not only two of the best coaches @ mid majors, but two of the better coaches in college basketball right now...really hate that these two hatable programs might pluck these guys away :-/