Shaka Smart leaving Texas for Marquette head-coaching job

Shaka Smart has been on the hot seat at Texas for two years now, and his run with the program is about to come to an end.

Smart is leaving Texas to take the head coaching job at Marquette, Stadium’s Jeff Goodman reports.

Smart, 43, spent six seasons at Texas. The Longhorns went 109-86 under him and reached the NCAA Tournament three times, though they did not win a tournament game. Texas won the Big 12 Tournament earlier this month before being upset by 14-seeded Abilene Christian in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

There was a good chance Smart was going to be fired even if he did not leave for another job. Former Longhorns had been disappointed with the direction of the program for quite some time, and many were surprised when Texas kept Smart after last season.

Smart will replace Steve Wojciechowski at Marquette. Wojciechowski was fired recently after seven seasons with the Golden Eagles.

Texas will now have one of the more high-profile coaching vacancies in college basketball, and one name continues to pop up as a potential candidate.