Texas Hires VCUs Shaka Smart

[jackson_supersooner]

Just announced

 

[jackson_supersooner]

Here's story http://texas.scout.com/story/1534038-sources-if-smart-flies-to-austin-deal-done?s=110

 

[thebigabd]

Huge hire for UT which should re-energize the program. Barnes was very good, but got stagnant, it was time to move on.

They will do very well under Smart, starting season 1.

 

[MercedeSooner]

not gonna lie little scared.

 

[DenverSooner]

Huge hire for UT which should re-energize the program. Barnes was very good, but got stagnant, it was time to move on.

They will do very well under Smart, starting season 1.

We must have a different definition of huge. Huge is KU hiring Bill self from Il, kentucky hiring Calipari, Louisville hiring Patino, etc.

Smart might do an excellent job but this is hardly huge in my opinion.

 

[thebigabd]

We must have a different definition of huge. Huge is KU hiring Bill self from Il, kentucky hiring Calipari, Louisville hiring Patino, etc.

Smart might do an excellent job but this is hardly huge in my opinion.

Texas will finish top 3 in the Big 12 next year. Year 1.

 

[DenverSooner]

Texas will finish top 3 in the Big 12 next year. Year 1.

Do you want to wager on that? How about our lives on this board?

 

[pnkranger]

Texas will finish top 3 in the Big 12 next year. Year 1.

No way. Playing shaka's system with their current crop of guards who can't handle the ball and beefy post players will be a nightmare.

 

[WTSooner]

Texas will finish top 3 in the Big 12 next year. Year 1.

Probably not happening.

I don't get the love for Smart either. The history of college basketball is filled with coaches that had 3-5 year runs at mid-majors, got hired at better schools, and either flamed out or did nothing other than produce mediocre results. Smart may turn into a great coach. He may turn UT into a baby Kansas in the Big 12. But he also might turn out like Jeff Capel. Or Anthony Grant. Or Travis Ford. Or any other coach from a long list of coaches that like I said above, had a short run of success at a mid-major, that didn't carry over to big boy basketball.

 

[BoulderSooner]

Probably not happening.

I don't get the love for Smart either. The history of college basketball is filled with coaches that had 3-5 year runs at mid-majors, got hired at better schools, and either flamed out or did nothing other than produce mediocre results. Smart may turn into a great coach. He may turn UT into a baby Kansas in the Big 12. But he also might turn out like Jeff Capel. Or Anthony Grant. Or Travis Ford. Or any other coach from a long list of coaches that like I said above, had a short run of success at a mid-major, that didn't carry over to big boy basketball.

this .. and while I think smart is a very good coach .. his system (the D Havoc) doesn't fit the current texas personal .. the bigs in particular

 

[KBaden145]

Texas will finish top 3 in the Big 12 next year. Year 1.

I'll take that wager too. System and personnel are totally at odds with each other. No way this happens and not necessarily to any fault of Smart or his players. ISU, KU, OU, Baylor, and WVU are all going to be very, very good next season. Top 3? No way. Top half of the conference? Maybe.


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[KBaden145]

Huge hire for UT which should re-energize the program. Barnes was very good, but got stagnant, it was time to move on.



They will do very well under Smart, starting season 1.

I don't categorize this as huge either. In fact, I don't necessarily think this is a good fit. I liked Smart but this is far from a sure thing. I hope he fails and honestly hope he does it in fabulous style.


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[vbdad]

His system doesn't fit the current players. If he gets a bunch of hungry athletes he will do a good job. They will mimic West Virginia the question is whether the players will be better.
He was much more successful at VCU than Capel.

 

[TINY]

His system doesn't fit the current players. If he gets a bunch of hungry athletes he will do a good job. They will mimic West Virginia the question is whether the players will be better.
He was much more successful at VCU than Capel.

This is true.

I will say that the vcu program was firing on all cylinders when Shaka took over, which was not the case for capel.

 

[IndySooner]

I love this for OU. It's not like VCU coaches have fared well elsewhere. It feels like Travis Ford to me. This is great news.

 

[JDSooners]

I love this for OU. It's not like VCU coaches have fared well elsewhere. It feels like Travis Ford to me. This is great news.

Feels more like Jeff Capel to me

listening to the national media talk about the upgrade in recruiting

fans excited about a home and home with Texas or 250K.

Texas just took the best available.
Really think some KU backers should have contributed to giving a couple extra dollars to Texas to get Greg Marshall out of Kansas.

 

[jackson_supersooner]

We already have a VCU type team in our conference....WVU. VCUs press defense is what wins them a ton of games when you play teams that don't have the talent to break it. Then you get in the tourney against teams who don't have time to prepare for it and you can grab some wins. Havoc is great but when you play against it , like OU will, 4 times a year(including WVU) then it becomes easier to break and get easy baskets. Smart has made his living off of his defense. But my question is can he develop any of his players into really good BIG 12 caliber offensive players. Only time will tell. But I don't see smart being the big time "bring Texas to the top" type of coach.

 

[Dignon003]

Feels like Lincoln Riley to me. If he's smart he'll adjust his scheme's to fit what he has available.

 

[WaymanFan]

I'm apparently in the minority because I believe this was an excellent hire for Texas. Also, while I understand the obvious comparisons to Jeff Capel and Anthony Grant, Smart achieved far more than either of those guys did at VCU. 1) He got them to the Final Four, 2) He won 7 NCAA Tournament games, and 3) He went 5-3 as a LOWER seed in the Dance. I think #3 impresses me the most. Since the start of the Billy Tubbs era, we're 4-9 against higher (or equally) seeded teams.

 

[WTSooner]

I'm asking this question not really knowing the answer, but how have the last few surprise (small school, etc) Elite 8/Final Four coaches done at their next, bigger, jobs?

Didn't the GW coach fail recently at a larger job?

Sometimes those smaller schools just catch lightening in a bottle for a few years. I don't think it always, or even usually, means that coach will succeed at his next, larger stop.