Smart leaves Texas to take over Marquette’s program

After a frustrating six-year stint at Texas in which he never quite lived up to lofty expectations, Shaka Smart is returning to his home state and starting over at Marquette.

Marquette officially announced Friday it had hired Smart to replace Steve Wojciechowski, who was fired a week ago. The move came six days after Smart’s Texas team was upset 53-52 by Abilene Christian in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“Throughout the search, one individual continued to rise to the top, and that was Shaka,” Marquette athletic director Bill Scholl said in a statement. “I am beyond excited for our current and future studentathletes who will have the great fortune of being mentored by Shaka.”

Smart, who turns 44 on April 8, will be formally introduced Monday.

Smart went 109-86 with no NCAA Tournament victories at Texas after a remarkably successful six-year run at VCU, where he went 163-56 and led the Rams to a Final Four appearance in 2011.

Texas went 19-8 this season and won the Big 12 Tournament before its early NCAA exit.

“I am extremely excited to get to Milwaukee to begin building relationships and getting to work on the court!” Smart said in a statement.

This marks a bit of a homecoming for Smart, who went to high school at Oregon, Wis., just outside Madison. His arrival should provide a burst of energy for a Marquette program that went 128-95 overall and 59-68 in Big East competition during Wojciechowski’s seven seasons. Marquette went 13-14 this season for its first losing season since Wojciechowski’s debut in 2014-15.

Smart had two seasons left on a Texas contract paying him more than $3 million per year. Texas hired him to replace Rick Barnes, who was fired after making the NCAA Tournament 16 times in 17 seasons. Smart faced the immediate expectation he’d not just match that sort of consistency, but ignite the program with the sort of success he’d had in leading VCU.

The Longhorns haven’t been to the Final Four since 2003 and haven’t made it out of the second round since 2008.