This is the fifth year that Texas Longhorns men’s basketball coach Shaka Smart has been the man in charge in Austin. After winning over 70 percent of his games at Virginia Commonwealth University, the thought was that Smart could bring some of his March Madness magic to Austin.
A team that hasn’t had much success in the tournament since Rick Barnes led the Longhorns to the Sweet 16 or better five times during his tenure. For any college coach, they should get at least four to five seasons to get their program in place. In the beginning using players that were recruiting by their predecessor.
With this being the fifth year under Smart, this is his team. For a program that has seen success, it has to be increasingly frustrating to see a team that seems to be regressing rather than improving as time has gone by. After two tournament invites, the Longhorns were invited to the NIT tournament that Smart was able to win but with the start of Big 12 play, how hot is the seat for Smart?
Increasingly. For Smart to remain in the cards for the future, he needs be better than 8-10 in conference play as the team finished the last two seasons after falling to 4-14 in 2016. Even though Smart is under contract through the 2023 season, will that be enough of a deterrent to keep him in Austin without a positive showing throughout the remainder of 2019-2020 basketball season.