Texas’ Shaka Smart was hired as Marquette’s new basketball coach, the Golden Eagles announced on Friday.
Smart replaces Steve Wojciechowski, who was fired last week after seven seasons at the Golden Eagles.
“We did an exhaustive national search, during which we discussed our openness with a significant number of highly qualified coaches,” said Marquette sporting director Bill School in a statement. “Throughout the search, one individual continued to rise to the top and that individual was Shaka. I am very excited about our current and future student-athletes, who will be very fortunate to be mentored by Shaka. He is a great teacher of the game, while while being a great boy trainer. “
Smart said in a statement, “I am extremely excited to be coming to Milwaukee to start building relationships and working on the court! ”
Among Texas’s main targets for replacing Smart should be Texas Tech coach Chris Beard, who went to Texas and was an assistant student of the Longhorns under Tom Penders. His purchase to go to another Big 12 school drops to $ 4 million on Thursday, sources told ESPN.
Smart, a native of Wisconsin, was the head coach in Texas for six seasons. The Longhorns went to three NCAA tournaments under Smart, but have yet to win an NCAA tournament with him in charge. They won the Big 12 tournament earlier this month, but were defeated by Abilene Christian, with 14 seed heads, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Smart was on the hot seat in Austin two years ago, but the pandemic probably saved him after the 2019-20 season. His purchase after this season by Texas would have been about $ 7 million.
Prior to taking over Texas, Smart was the head coach of the VCU, taking the Rams to five consecutive appearances in NCAA tournaments, including a Final Four in 2011.