Texas Basketball: 247Sports mentions Shaka Smart with Wake Forest job

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons recently parted ways with head coach Danny Manning. Could Texas basketball lead them to their next HC with Shaka Smart?

For much of the earliest portion of the premature 2020 college basketball offseason, all the hype surrounding the Texas basketball program was what athletic director Chris del Conte would do about head coach Shaka Smart and his impending return next season. This would be the sixth year for Smart as the Texas men’s hoops head coach if he were to return. And, at least up to this point, all signs pointed to Smart returning for that sixth year.

The fan base of the Texas Longhorns basketball program tends to have a lot of mixed feelings (especially bad ones early on last season) surrounding Smart’s hot seat. Smart sat on the hot seat for much of the last two seasons. And although it definitely wasn’t his fault this year, Smart has missed the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons and for three of the last four years.

That won’t lead to much popularity for even head coach with a hoops program like the Longhorns.

Smart and the Longhorns finished out the 2019-20 regular season with a record of 19-12 (9-9 Big 12). For the most part, the season did end on a high-note, with the Longhorns carrying a significant five-game winning streak into the finale against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The regular season finale didn’t go as planned as Texas would fall short by a margin of 22 points back on March 7.

Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, pretty much the entirety of the significant portion of the college basketball postseason would be cancelled. Texas wouldn’t get to play in a single Big 12 Tournament game, and thus not figure out their postseason fate on Selection Sunday.

But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is one new hot coaching job on the market in college hoops. That job that just opened is in the ACC with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. On April 25 it was reported (official school announcement) that Wake Forest would be parting ways with now former head coach Danny Manning after six seasons with the program.

And in the coaching search that will now ensue for the Wake Forest basketball program, one name that is already being mentioned ties back to the Forty Acres. In the initial candidate list released by 247Sports, involving 10 names for the Demon Deacons to potentially hire, one included at the very top of the list was Smart.

"It’s 2014 all over again, as Shaka Smart is once again being linked to the Wake Forest Basketball head coaching position. Is it still a dream hire for Demon Deacon fans? It might be tough to find a more qualified candidate. Smart has made the NCAA Tournament seven of his 11 years coaching, and led VCU to the Final Four in 2011. Of course, he’s still the coach at Texas, a massive school with an astronomical athletics budget and a sizable contract buy-out that goes along with that. The friendship between incoming Wake Forest athletic director John Currie and Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte could potentially bridge that gap, however. Del Conte has already announced that Smart will return for the 2020-21 season, and the Longhorns played reasonably well down the stretch last season."

Those reported ties between del Conte and Wake Forest athletic director (formerly with the Tennessee Volunteers in the same role) John Currie could make for something tangible where the Deacs try and reach out to Smart. But this seems to be mostly just conjecture at this point.

And this wouldn’t be the first time that Wake Forest targeted Smart as a potential head coaching hire. Prior to the hiring of Manning back in 2014, they reportedly (ESPN) looked into Smart to be their head coach. At that time, Smart was still the VCU Rams head coach.

This will be a very intriguing development to watch if it gains any traction moving forward this offseason. If Smart were to leave Texas for Wake Forest, then it would give the Longhorns an out to find another head coach without having to give all of that massive buyout.

Smart holds a record as Texas head coach of  90-78, with two NCAA Tournament appearances in five years. Meanwhile Manning held a record as Wake Forest head coach of 78-111, with just one NCAA Tournament appearance in six years.