SHAKA SMART
Third Season Kenyon College, 1999 A
flabbergasted Jim Nantz walked up to Shaka Smart. He’d just watched VCU’s fiery, second-year head coach par- ticipate in the “Iron Man Drill”, a jarring exercise normally reserved for players, at the Rams’ carefree Final Four
open practice.
The Iron Man requires participants to take a charge under the basket, dive on the floor for a loose ball, then leap out of bounds to save the ball to a teammate. As he completed the drill before a crowd of more than 9,000 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Tex., Smart was mobbed by his team. Nantz, CBS’ veteran NCAA Tournament play-by-play man for more than 20 years, thought he had seen it all. He was wrong.
“Are you out of your mind?” A bemused Nantz asked.
Nantz was joking, of course. He, like most of the country, knows that the 34-year-old Smart is a rising star in the college coach- ing ranks, one with a firm head on his shoulders. In two short seasons, Smart has gone from an under-the-radar hire to one of the most talked-about sideline generals in the country.
That was bound to happen after VCU’s magical 2010-11 cam- paign, in which Smart’s Rams turned college basketball on its ear.
The 11th-seeded Rams scored a series of NCAA Tournament upsets, five in all, to reach the Final Four for the first time in school history. Many have called it the greatest run to the Final Four ever. Along the way, VCU dispatched “BCS Conference” schools Southern California, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and finally, mighty Kansas, the Southwest Region’s No. 1 seed. The Rams’ 71-61 victory over the Jayhawks sent shockwaves through the sports world. It was later named the “Best Upset” of 2011 at ESPN’s annual ESPY Awards.
Along the way, VCU tied a school-record with 28 wins, while Smart received the Fritz Pollard and Gaines Adams National Coach of the Year Awards. The Rams finished the year ranked sixth in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, the highest in school and conference history.
VCU’s 2010-11 was so incredible it managed to completely overshadowed Smart’s 27-win, CBI Championship season in 2009-10. That squad produced Larry Sanders, who was se- lected in 15th overall in the 2010 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, the highest draft pick ever from VCU or the Colonial Athletic Association.
VCU MEN’S BASKETBALL 29
“Through the vetting process of hiring someone to lead our program, we spoke with some of the nation’s top head and assistant coaches, men who came highly recommended from the biggest names in college basketball,” said VCU Athletic Director Norwood Teague. “Shaka stood out amongst all of
Smart’s Havoc philosophy took shape while working with no- table coaches Billy Donovan (Florida), Oliver Purnell (Clemson, Dayton) and Keith Dambrot (Akron) early in his career and is clearly paying dividends at VCU.
Smart was introduced as VCU’s 10th head coach on April 2, 2009. Two years later, to the day, Smart led the Rams onto floor at Reliant Stadium, in front of a crowd of more than 75,000 for a Final Four matchup with Butler.
Employing a philosophy he calls “Havoc”, part aggressive, full court offense and defense and part psychological warfare, Smart has led VCU to 55 wins in his first two seasons, the most victories over any two-year span in school history.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172