Marquette basketball: Golden Eagles hire Shaka Smart as their next head coach

After six seasons and five NCAA Tournament appearances, Texas basketball head coach Shaka Smart is leaving Austin to be the head coach at Marquette.

Six years after leaving VCU to take the reigns at Texas, head coach Shaka Smart has a new job, this time as the head coach of the Marquette Golden Eagles. This move comes just days after the Longhorns suffered an upset loss to the Abilene Christian Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament.

Before his tenure at Texas, Smart became a household name due to his success at Virginia Commonwealth University, largely highlighted by the Rams’ run from the First Four to the Final Four in 2011. The VCU ramming its way through the bracket was a shock to several pundits who previously criticized the Rams being included in the field.

Smart left VCU with a 163-56 record.

However, following the 2012-2013 season, Smart lost five straight NCAA tournament games in the first round. Four of those losses came against teams with a double-digit seed, the lone exception being 2018 against the Nevada Wolfpack.

Shaka Smart brings intensity and can help the Golden Eagles get back on the winning track

There’s no question that Shaka Smart is an exceptional coach. In fact, throughout his coaching career, he’s produced some fantastic players. At VCU, he was the head coach when Larry Sanders became a first-round draft pick in the NBA by the Milwaukee Bucks. At Texas, he recruited Mo Bamba, who became a first-round pick of the Orlando Magic.

Now, Smart takes over the Golden Eagles program that has not made the tournament since 2019 and fired their former head coach Steve Wojciechowski. Whether or not Smart brings his trademark “HAVOC” defense to Marquette is up to him. But, he will produce results and get the program on the right track.