Texas Basketball: Shaka Smart leaving Austin for Marquette

This wasn’t the way that a lot of Texas basketball fans thought it would happen, but sixth-year head coach Shaka Smart does not look like he will return to the Forty Acres at this point for next season. According to a report confirmed by ESPN’s Jeff Borzello on March 26, the Marquette Golden Eagles are expected to hire Smart to be their next head coach to replace Steve Wojciechowski.

For seven seasons, Wojciechowski was Marquette’s head coach before getting fired last week.

Smart was with the Longhorns for six seasons before getting placed on the hot seat again entering this offseason. After their Round of 64 upset loss and early exit in March Madness yet again, the three-seed Texas had plenty of disappointing entering what still looks to be a long summer and offseason as a whole.

Following the upset loss back on March 20 in the Round of 64 to the 14-seed Abilene Christian Wildcats, Smart and the Longhorns finished up with a record of 19-8 (11-6 Big 12). Despite a largely successful regular season and a Big 12 Tournament crown for the first time in program history, Smart left hoops fans on the Forty Acres disappointed once again as he moved his postseason record as the program’s head coach to 0-3.

This did feel like the last straw for Smart as the Texas head coach. But he got to bolt and take another job before any potential formality of an announcement from Texas athletic director Chris del Conte that could’ve happened this offseason.

Former Texas basketball head coach Shaka Smart to Marquette

Smart will now get to return to his home state of Wisconsin and try to lead a Big East program to relevance on the national stage. That’s what he was able to do during his time as the VCU Rams head coach in the early-to-mid 2010’s. His rise to prominence with VCU more than six years ago is what landed Smart the Texas head coaching job in the first place.

Maybe a switch back to a smaller (but still power conference school) program is a better fit for Smart than a big-time major conference position like the one with Texas. Even if you include the Round of 64 upset loss to ACU last weekend, this was still the most successful season that Smart had in six tries in Austin.

Smart will now round out his time as the Texas head coach with a record of 109-86 (.559 winning percentage). And his head coaching record in total between his time with Texas and VCU sits at 272-142 (.657 winning percentage).

The coaching search will also now officially begin for the Longhorns basketball program, which was likely headed in that direction anyway this offseason. There’s not really a clear top candidate yet for Texas, but a lot of fans are going to want to pursue someone like Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Chris Beard to fill this opening.

This will signal a new era in a big way for both the Golden Eagles and the Longhorns. Each program is moving in very different directions, but both will also have a lot of roster attrition this coming offseason.