It’s been a little over a year since Texas announced that Shaka Smart would be its next head coach, and since then calling Smart “busy” would be an enormous understatement. He’s been everywhere, and doing a bit of everything.
Fortunately for Smart and the Longhorns, the busy nature of his past 14 months has led to Smart emerging as one of the faces and symbols of the University of Texas. This past week in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the USA Olympic Training Facility, Smart put on the red, white, and blue as head coach of the Team USA U18 team during its training camp and trials prior to the FIBA Championships later this summer.
“This is a tremendous opportunity. I’ve had a chance to do this a couple of times as an assistant coach. First of all, just being able to help coach a team with USA across the chest and the best players in the country at this age group is an incredible honor,” the Texas head coach said last week in Colorado Springs. “It’s also a great learning experience. Really, as a coach you don’t get a lot of opportunities like this to learn from some of the best coaches in the profession and also from some of the best players in the country. That’s how I’m looking at this – as a chance to really learn, and as we get into some of this team stuff now that we’re down to finalists, a chance to help a group come together around a common cause, which is why we all coach.”
Anyone that’s been around Smart knows he’s a sponge that’s always trying to soak up some information from those around him. On the UT campus, Smart has been known to meet with professors to pick their brains, and his interactions with and studying of other coaches, no matter what the sport is, are well-documented.
So if you think coaches at the Team USA events don’t exchange ideas and talk hoops, you’d be wrong. And it’s one of the least surprising things ever that Smart spent part of his time gathering information and learning from some of the game’s best coaches.
“No question,” responded Smart when asked if he discusses basketball and hoops ideas with his fellow coaches at USA Basketball. “I was sitting at breakfast today with Chris Mack from Xavier, who is one of the core coaches, and we were talking all about one of the defenses he uses, which has been really, really effective for them. He’s been here coaching Jarret (Allen) and James (Banks) and we’re just talking about our personnel and how that would fit for us. You get a chance to pick people’s brain and get a sense for what other teams do.”
Smart also relished the opportunity to learn more about two of his freshmen big men – Jarrett Allen and James Banks. The Longhorn duo made the cut to become part of the 18 finalists, and impressed on both ends of the floor.
“I think they’ve done a really good job,” said Smart after last Thursday’s scrimmage session. “These settings can be challenging for bigs because you may not necessarily get the ball as much or just depending on the group you’re with it could be a different dynamic offensively. I thought they did a really good job of doing the things that they do well. They both block shots well in the trails I thought they had some really good moments in terms of bringing energy, running the floor, and finishing so I was pleased.”
It wasn’t until recently that Smart knew for sure Allen would be a part of the Texas program. A five-star prospect from St. Stephen’s in Austin, Allen propelled Smart’s first hoops year on the 40 Acres from good to great because the No. 15 overall prospect will contribute early, often, and significantly on the hardwood for Texas. And the Longhorns were able to keep him at home, which resulted in a loud recruiting statement heard around the nation and especially in Texas.
“We were really, really excited and we are really, really excited about him,” stated the Texas head coach. “He’s a special kid first of all. When you look at what he can do on the basketball floor it’s very exciting. He’s jumped right in with our guys with workouts and weights and all the things that we do as a team in the summer. We’re really pleased with how he’s transitioned so far.”
Allen is a part of an exciting but young 2016-17 Texas roster. The Longhorns will possess solid talent throughout the roster, but they’ll also be extremely young with seven players being sophomores or freshmen. So Smart is understandably excited about the bright future of Texas basketball, but he is certainly aware that the Longhorns lost five key seniors and Isaiah Taylor from last year’s team.
“I tell you what, it’s exciting; it’s also at times when you look out there it’s daunting because you realize just how many guys we lost from last year’s team,” Smart stated about the group he has participating in summer workouts and classes right now. “If you count Jordan Barnett, who transferred at the semester, we lost seven of the nine guys that were scholarship players at Texas last spring when we arrived. Obviously, we added Tevin (Mack) and Kerwin (Roach) and Eric (Davis); those three came in June. But It’s really a whole new team in a lot of ways from the one that we first met with when we got to Texas. And we lost some really good players. We lost some guys that played in NCAA tournaments and have won some big games over the course of their careers. We lost a few guys that have a legitimate chance, if things play out the right way, to be very successful at the next level.”
Smart reinforced his level of excitement with his players, and reiterated that it’ll take some time as they learn.
“But like I said I’m extremely excited. I think the young guys that we have brought in are guys that have really bright futures,” he said. “They’re just young and they need to learn and they need to get stronger and get their legs under them and understand what goes into success at the college level, but I think they will.”
Smart proved last season at Texas that he will not only remain committed to the development of his young players - the freshmen trio of Mack, Davis, and Roach individually played 15 minutes or more 67 times last season – despite freshmen bumps in the road, but he’ll also fully adapt to his roster in approach, teaching, and style. So how does he plan on approaching the 2016-17 Longhorns? He already has a specific word in mind that will be vitally important throughout the next 10 months.
“So my approach really is one of we just have to really focus on progression and development over time, and understand as a coaching staff and as a team that the word ‘yet’ is going to be very important over the next several months,” said Smart. “Because it would easy to say we’re not where we want to be at a certain time in a certain area whether it’s pick-and-roll defense or rebounding. But if you add the word ‘yet’ to the end… because we do have a promising group of young guys and really our freshmen and sophomore classes there are seven guys. And you might as well throw Dylan (Osetkowski) in there because he’s sitting out this year and he’ll have two years remaining after this year so those eight guys, that’s a really exciting foundation. I think the seniors that we have are guys that can really contribute to success this year and hopefully play a role of veteran leadership and experience and have a calming influence on some of our younger guys.”
While he doesn’t yet know what his second year at Texas will result in on the hardwood, Smart does know that he’s firmly entrenched as a part of the Texas family. Recently during the spring graduation ceremonies and festivities, Smart delivered the commencement speech for the History department’s graduation. Whenever the bright, young coach has an opportunity at Texas to get involved in any area, he does. And he’s not the only one that hasn’t hesitated to become involved in Austin and the University of Texas’ truly unique and lively community.
“That’s something that I really enjoy,” responded Smart when asked about the commencement speech and being so involved around the campus in areas that have nothing to do with basketball. “As involved as I am, my wife is 100 times more involved in community activities and different organizations and I would love to do more. Obviously, there are a lot of time demands when you have this job. But Texas is a big family. There are a lot of special people at Texas that go far beyond athletics. So I think it’s a great opportunity for us to be a part of that and to learn from folks like that and continue to grow.”
It's safe to say the feeling between the Longhorns and Smart is absolutely mutual.
