Hondo Handy’s Podcast shares the story of Shaka Smart, Head Basketball Coach at Marquette Univer

Hondo Handy’s Podcast

Meet Shaka Smart, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Marquette University. Atlantic Physical Therapy presents the 81st Episode of the Hondo Handy’s Podcast. The podcast shares the journey of Coach Smart, as he enters his first year at Marquette. He spent his previous six seasons coaching the Texas Longhorns. In his first season at Texas, the Longhorns won 20 games and received an at-large-bid to the NCAA Tournament. He finished with five winning seasons, of 19 wins or more. He also won the N.I.T. VCU hired Smart to be the head coach in the spring of 2009. In his first season, he led the Rams to a 27–10 season and a CBI Championship. Despite not securing the automatic bid, VCU earned an at-large bid to the Southwest region of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. The Rams were one of the last four teams invited, and were placed in the First Four against USC for a spot in the main 64-team tournament bracket. VCU defeated USC and then upset the 6th-seeded Georgetown Hoyas and 3rd-seeded Purdue Boilermakers to advance to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. VCU won 72–71 against Florida State University in overtime to earn the school's first spot in the Elite Eight and subsequently upset the top-seeded University of Kansas 71–61 for its first Final Four appearance. The Rams lost to Butler 70-62 in the semifinal game. Shaka has held several assistant coaching positions including University of Akron for three years, Clemson for two, and Florida for one. At Clemson he was an Assistant to my high school teammate Oliver Purnell.