American men’s collegiate basketball coach and former college player Shaka Dingani Smart. He serves as Marquette University’s men’s basketball team’s head coach.
During the 2011 NCAA tournament, Smart’s Virginia Commonwealth University team made its first-ever appearance in the Final Four, making him the most famous coach.
Who Is Marquette Basketball Coach Shaka Smart?
Winston Smart and Monica King welcomed Smart into the world on April 8, 1977, in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1994, Smart’s father, who had been unsupportive of Smart, split up with the family.
He was raised in Fitchburg and went to school in Oregon, Wisconsin, at Oregon High School. Smart, a multiracial student, encountered racism while attending Oregon High and was among “10 or so” students of color there.
As a result, Smart founded a student organization that organized multicultural gatherings and lectures on racism and homophobia. He claims that these encounters fueled his competitive spirit.
When Did Shaka Smart Start His Coaching Career?
Assistant Coach
In 1999, Bill Brown, Smart’s former Kenyon coach, hired Smart as an assistant coach at California University of Pennsylvania. After that, he worked as the director of basketball operations at the University of Dayton and as an assistant coach at the Universities of Akron, Clemson, and Florida.
VCU
As Anthony Grant left to become the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide men’s basketball team in 2009, Smart was appointed head coach at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).
He was one of the youngest head basketball coaches in NCAA Division I at the time of his hire. After VCU swept Saint Louis in the championship best-of-three series, he guided the Rams to a 27-10 record and a CBI Championship in his first season.
Smart’s second season got underway with standout forward Larry Sanders declaring for the 2010 NBA draft. Without Sanders, the Rams finished 23-11, competed in their second straight CAA championship game, and lost to Old Dominion.
Texas
Smart took over as the men’s basketball team’s head coach for the University of Texas in 2015. The Houston Chronicle noted that the Longhorns’ 20-13 record and sixth-seed finish in the NCAA tournament in his first year at Texas “surpassed any realistic expectations.”
Smart signed a contract extension in the winter that would keep him at Texas through the 2022–2023 campaign.
Mohamed Bamba, the second-ranked prospect overall in the 2017 recruiting class, pledged to play at Texas in May 2017.
With the eighth-ranked recruiting class in the nation, he also garnered pledges from Gerald Liddell, Brock Cunningham, Jaxson Hayes, and Kamaka Hepa.
The 2017–18 Longhorns finished 19–15 under Smart’s direction. The University of Nevada defeated the squad in overtime in the opening round of the 2018 NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament.
Smart guided Texas to a 21-16 record and the school’s first National Invitation Tournament victory since 1978 during the 2018–19 season.
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Marquette
In March 2021, Marquette University hired Smart to take Steve Wojciechowski’s place as the Golden Eagles head coach. In the program’s history, he is the first Black head coach.
The following year, under Smart’s leadership, the Golden Eagles finished 19-13 and lost to the University of North Carolina in the NCAA tournament’s opening round.
Despite being picked in preseason polls to finish eighth in the conference, Smart guided the Golden Eagles to the Big East regular season and tournament titles in his second season in Milwaukee.
Coaching Style
Known as “havoc,” Smart’s teams at VCU played with a lot of pressure. The defense relies on double units, traps, and full-court pressure in this system to compel turnovers and stymie opposing offenses. The offense is centered on attacking inside. Smart used this approach less frequently in Texas.
What Is Happening In Shaka Smart’s Personal Life?
Shaka kaSenzangakhona, the Zulu king, inspired the name Smart. The “greatest thing” his father did for Smart, who was frequently made fun of for his name as a child, was to give him the name Shaka. The Ndebele word Dingani, which stands for “one who is searching,” is Smart’s middle name.
An Instagram from coachshakasmart’s official account remarked, “Grateful for our players and fans.”-
Smart is wed to Marquette professor and author Maya Payne Smart. One kid was born to the couple. Sekou Lumumba, Alfie Olson, Ifoma Smart, Anika Aduesa Smart, Nkosi Mandela Smart, and J.M. Tyree are his six siblings.
In 2008 and 2012, Smart ran Obama’s campaigns in Florida and Virginia.
What Is Shaka Smart’s Net Worth?
With a $1.19 million annual pay, the men’s basketball head coach of the University of Texas Longhorns is one of the highest-paid college basketball coaches, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Shaka Smart, one of the more recent head coaches, was born in 1977 and had a 15-million-dollar net worth.
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