The rise of head coach Shaka Smart during his time with the VCU Rams led him to land the job with the Texas basketball program four years ago. Smart replaced former Texas basketball head coach, currently with the SEC runner-up Tennessee Volunteers, Rick Barnes previous to the 2015-16 regular season. Smart hasn’t lived up to the billing, though, since coming to the Forty Acres.
In his fourth season with the Texas basketball program, Smart barely managed to post a winning percentage above .500. That level of mediocrity is clearly quite difficult for this Texas basketball fan base to deal with, and understandably so.