Shaka Smart

Shaka Smart is the head men's basketball coach at Virginia Commonwealth University, and guided the school's team to its first-ever Final Four appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2011. Before being named VCU coach in 2009, Smart was an assistant coach for the basketball programs at Akron, Clemson and Florida. A point guard and three-year captain for Kenyon College (in Gambier, Ohio), Smart holds the school record for career assists and graduated magna cum laude with a history degree in 1999.

Born on April 8, 1977 in Madison, Wisc., Shaka Smart graduated from Oregon High School in Oregon, Wisc. He was a guard on the school's basketball team and earned all-conference honors in his senior season.

Smart attended Kenyon College (in Gambier, Ohio), graduating magna cum laude with a degree in history in 1999. He was a four-year starter at point guard for Kenyon, and served as a team captain for the Lords for three seasons. He set single-season and career assist marks for the school that still stand.

As a senior, Smart was an All-North Coast Conference selection and was the league's Scholar Athlete of the Year. He was also one of 20 students selected for the 1999 USA Today All-USA Academic team and received a NCAA postgraduate scholarship.

After graduating from Kenyon College in 1999, Shaka Smart accepted a position from California University of Pennsylvania as a graduate assistant coach to former Kenyon coach Bill Brown. With the program for two years, he earned his master's degree in social science at the Pennsylvania school.

Smart then served as director of basketball operations at Dayton University from 2001 to 2003, before joining Akron University's staff as an assistant basketball coach. During his three years at Akron, the Zips produced the school's highest single-season victory total in its first 25 years as a Division I program.

Having worked with him while the two were at Dayton, Oliver Purnell offered Smart an assistant coaching position at Clemson University in 2006. In his two years at the South Carolina school, Smart helped guide the Tigers to back-to-back postseason appearances, including an NCAA Tournament berth in 2008.

Smart, known as a solid recruiter, then moved on the University of Florida to join coach Billy Donovan's staff for the 2008-09 season, when the Gators won 25 games and reached the quarterfinals of the NIT tournament.

In April 2009, Smart became a head college coach for the first time when accepting the position at Virginia Commonwealth University. He helped bring in a formidable freshman recruiting class and led the Rams to a 27-9 record, ending his first season with a victory over Saint Louis to win the College Basketball Invitational post-season tournament.

After finishing fourth in the Colonial Conference regular season in 2010-11, VCU was defeated by Old Dominion in the conference tournament final but still received a bid to the NCAA tournament. Considered by many to be a team not worthy of selection for the Big Dance, the Rams won their opening-round encounter against USC and then produced an amazing string of upsets against major conference foes -- including top-seeded Kansas -- to reach the Final Four in Smart's second year as head coach. In the Final Four, the Rams lost to Butler, ending their run. After VCU was eliminated, Smart was offered the head coaching job at NC State, but turned it down to remain at VCU.

VCU followed up its Final Four season with a slow start in 2011-12, losing three of its first six games. However, the Rams lost just three more times the rest of the regular season, and followed that up by winning the CAA tournament to advance to the NCAA tournament for the second conseutive year. Once again, they pulled off a Round of 64 upset, beating 5th seeded Wichita State, before falling to Indiana in the Round of 32.

After the season, Smart was reportedly offered the open job at the University of Illinois, but again chose to remain at VCU.