Smart’s loyalty refreshing in today’s college basketball culture

Quinn Casteel
Assistant Sports Editor
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ANALYSIS/OPINION

For the second straight year, Shaka Smart has turned down a multi-million dollar per year offer from a BCS conference school to remain head coach at VCU, proving once again that his current position is much more than just a stepping stone.

The soon-to-be 35-year-old, who just completed his third season with the program, was offered a contract from the University of Illinois at a value of at least $2.5 million per year in base salary, according to USA Today. Just a year ago, he was made a similar offer for the head-coaching vacancy at North Carolina State, but again turned it down to stay with the Rams. In turn, VCU athletic director Norwood Teague signed Smart to a new eight-year deal valued at $1.2 million in base salary, an almost unheard of amount for a mid-major job, but still less than half of what he could have made elsewhere.

By staying with VCU, Smart is offering a refreshing new approach to the way young, ambitious college coaches can advance their careers without turning their backs on the programs they worked so hard to build. In today’s culture of college basketball, talented mid-major coaches like Smart are some of the most sought-after candidates for open positions, and often times they’re quick to leave, whether it’s for the money or out of fear that another opportunity might not come along.

Coaches are not in the wrong for pursuing the best for themselves, but in a profession where your first priority is supposed to be the student-athletes, there is a right and a wrong way to go about things. In Smart’s case, he wouldn’t have been in the wrong for taking the Illinois job, but by staying, he is making a statement that he cares about his players – and winning – more than money.

If he had accepted the job at Illinois, Smart would have been leaving behind his first-ever recruit in Darius Theus and a roster that includes 12 of 13 players returning from this year’s CAA championship team, eight of whom were members of the 2011 Final Four squad. In the past two years alone, Smart and the Rams have six NCAA Tournament victories while the Fighting Illini went 6-12 in Big Ten play this season and failed to make the tournament. Given the success he’s already had at VCU, and the promise that the future holds in Richmond, basketball-wise, it was the obvious choice over inheriting a rebuilding situation at Illinois.

If he had taken Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas’ offer, Smart also would have been a assuming a good deal of personal risk. If he were unable to turn things around quickly for the Illini, he would have been on a much shorter leash for getting fired, as former VCU head coach Jeff Capel saw when he eventually floundered at the University of Oklahoma. Capel is now an assistant at Duke.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Smart’s decision to stay is the level of security he’s displaying in his own abilities, and the perspective he has over the situation. At just a few weeks under the age of 35, his coaching career is likely to span over the next couple of decades, giving him all the time in the world to advance to a more glamorous job. If VCU continues to have success, the offers are only going to get better for him. If the Rams continue to make NCAA Tournament runs, and in all likelihood even if they don’t, “Shaka Watch” could be an annual period at the end of the season for the VCU community, considering his status around the country has made him among the first names to be mentioned on any head-coaching vacancy.

That, however, is not necessarily a bad thing because it’s a reminder of the caliber of coach that he is, and it brings positive national attention to the program. Fans around the country have the opportunity to realize that VCU is a place the nation’s most touted young coach loves and truly wants to be.