Texas Basketball: Is Shaka Smart Coaching for His Job at the Big 12 Tournament?
Prior to the arrival of Coach Smart, the Longhorn basketball program went through 17 rather mediocre seasons with current Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes. Barnes guided the Horns to one Final Four appearance in 2003, their first in over 50 years. The program decided that they had enough of Coach Barnes; firing him in 2015 after Texas failed to advance to the Sweet 16 for the seventh straight season.
And in came the young promising prodigy head coach from Virginia Commonwealth University. Smart was fresh off of a miracle 2011 Final Four run. Known for his defensive strategies wreaking havoc on opposing offenses, Coach Smart led VCU to four seasons with 26 or more victories.
Even with all the hype going into his first season with Texas, he somehow exceeded the expectations, leading the Horns to 20 wins and receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As the years went on, the excitement slowly faded away. With an overall record of 90-78, Coach Smart is at a make or break moment in his short lived Texas career. It was only a few weeks ago when boos echoed in the Frank C, Erwin Center, as Texas’ losing streak extended to four games with a lopsided 81-52 loss to Iowa State.
With March Madness just around the corner, seemingly everything comes down to this final game. On Thursday the Longhorns face Texas Tech in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. With Texas being on the bubble, their hopes of clinching a spot in the Big Dance all comes down to this. With a loss on Thursday, it’s hard for me to imagine Coach Smart keeping his job as Head Coach.