In 2009 Virginia Commenwealth University hired a Kenyon College scholar (magna cum laude, history and social science) as head basketball coach. Oh, he had some b-ball cred, too; an academic All-American at Kenyon, Smart began his coaching career in 1999 as an assistant at California University of Pennsylvania, where he also earned his Master's Degree. Afterwards, he was hired as Director of Basketball Operations at the University of Dayton. From there he went on to become an assistant at the University of Akron for three years, Clemson University for two, and the University of Florida for one. With Smart at the VCU helm, urban VCU (it's right in the center of Richmond) has risen from regional athletic obscurity to national basketball prominence. Coach Shaka Smart (yes, he's named after that famous Zulu warrior) has compiled a 131-44 record, employing what he calls a 'havoc' style of play, an aggressive, upbeat tempo that has placed VCU in the top three teams for steals and turnovers in the past three years, and earned them a rarified Final Four berth in the 2011 NCAA March Madness and tournament bids and success every year since. Smart squashed rumors (and offers!) of his moving on and up by signing an eight-year extension at VCU.Smart fields a team that is superbly coached, rigorously trained, and instilled with team esprit; for the last two years the VCU basketball varsity has worked through Navy Seal exercises, becoming such physical specimens that they seem to own the last ten minutes of every game.
Watch the Rams!!!
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