Marquette will hire Texas' Shaka Smart to replace Steve Wojciechowski

The Marquette men's basketball team is ready for a new direction.

One week after parting ways with Steve Wojciechowski, the school is set to hire 43-year-old Shaka Smart away from Texas, the school announced Friday.

It is a homecoming for Smart, who graduated from Oregon High School outside of Madison in 1995. He will also become the first Black head coach in program history.

"I'm grateful to President (Michael) Lovell and (athletic director) Bill Scholl for entrusting me with the growth and development of this storied basketball program and the student-athletes who make it so special," Smart said in a release. "I am extremely excited to get to Milwaukee to begin building relationships and getting to work on the court!"

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Smart was likely looking for a fresh start after going 109-86 in six seasons at Texas. The Longhorns' fan base had grown restless with the coach who was hired with considerable fanfare after he did not win a game in three trips to the NCAA Tournament.

"Throughout the search, one individual continued to rise to the top and that was Shaka," Scholl said in a statement.  "I am beyond excited for our current and future student-athletes who will have the great fortune of being mentored by Shaka. He is a great teacher of the game, while also being a great molder of young men." 

Smart became one of the hottest college coaches in the country with Virginia Commonwealth from 2009-15. The Rams played an entertaining style of frenetic, full-court defense — nicknamed "Havoc" — and made a surprising run to the Final Four in 2011, where they lost to fellow upstart Butler in the national semifinal.

MU made a strong push for Smart to replace Buzz Williams in 2014, before the coaching search led to Wojciechowski. Smart stayed one more season at VCU, making the NCAA Tournament, before departing for Texas.

In his 12 seasons as a head coach, Smart is 272-142. Smart also spent time as an assistant at Akron, Clemson and Florida.

Smart recruited several future NBA players to Texas, including big guys Jarrett Allen, Mo Bamba and Jaxson Hayes. The coach throttled back the live-wire, full-court intensity of "Havoc" with the Longhorns, but still remained stout defensively. The Longhorns never finished lower than 40th nationally in defensive efficiency in Smart's six seasons, according to kenpom.com, a college basketball statistical website. Texas finished 12th in defensive efficiency in 2017-18.

This season ended in disappointment for the Longhorns. They were loaded with talent, winning the Maui Invitational in November and ascending to the top 10 in both national polls. Texas won the Big 12 tournament title and earned a No. 3 seeding in the NCAA Tournament, but suffered an ugly loss to 14th-seeded Abilene Christian in the first round. 

Smart had two years remaining on his Texas contract worth $7.1 million in guaranteed money.

Wojciechowski was fired last Friday after going 128-95 in seven seasons. He failed to win a game in the NCAA Tournament, suffering blowout losses to South Carolina in 2017 and Murray State in 2019. 

Smart becomes the program’s first hire with more than one season of head coaching experience since Mike Deane was brought on in 1995.

Deane was replaced by Tom Crean, who had been an assistant coach at Michigan State. Buzz Williams, who had been a head coach for one season at New Orleans, took over for Crean. Wojciechowski came to Marquette after a long tenure as an assistant coach at Duke.

"Shaka will be the first person of color to lead our program, and is a true role model for our student-athletes," Lovell said in a statement. "I've had several conversations with Shaka in the past few days and I know he will be a results-focused coach and recruiter, and also a strong advocate for our Catholic, Jesuit mission. What has impressed me most is that he is interested in being a leader beyond basketball. Shaka is a Wisconsin native and both he and his wife Maya want to make a positive impact on our Marquette and Milwaukee communities."