Texas Basketball: 3 reasons keeping Shaka Smart is the wrong move

Was it the right move for the Texas basketball program to keep Shaka Smart as head coach after an abrupt end to the 2019-20 season?

There will be a lot of opinions out on why the Texas basketball program should, or shouldn’t keep, head coach Shaka Smart around in what will be his sixth season on the Forty Acres.

In the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Smart and his Texas hoops team saw their season cut short before it got good. The Big 12 Tournament was cancelled out before the four-seed Texas would be able to take on the five-seed Texas Tech Red Raiders in each team’s first game. Then, the NCAA Tournament was cancelled before Selection Sunday could even occur.

Texas would finish out their season with a record of 19-12 (9-9 Big 12). Their last game resulted in a loss at the hands of the Oklahoma State Cowboys way back on March 7 at home at the Frank Erwin Center, by the final score of 81-59. It is unfortunate that Texas had to end their season on that note, after a special five-game winning streak helped to salvage their chances of making it to the Big Dance.

But there is to a certain degree how everything is patched into the news cycle at the moment. COVID-19 took over the news cycle in every aspect of the world. Although, that did not stop Texas athletic director Chris del Conte from giving word to Horns247 that Smart would be returning as the head men’s basketball coach for a sixth season, on March 27.

What this the right move given how the 2019-20 season ended?

Here’s a look into three reasons why the decision that was dropped on March 27 by athletic director Chris del Conte to keep head coach Shaka Smart around for a sixth season with the Texas Longhorns basketball program could be the wrong move.