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Texas Basketball: 5 potential replacements for Shaka Smart as head coach

By Jason Kinander

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 23: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns gestures during the championship game of the 2018 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament against the Michigan State Spartans at the Orleans Arena on November 23, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Michigan State defeated Texas 78-68. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 23: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns gestures during the championship game of the 2018 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament against the Michigan State Spartans at the Orleans Arena on November 23, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Michigan State defeated Texas 78-68. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images) /
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Texas Basketball
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 21: Texas Longhorns head coach Shaka Smart (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /

Texas Basketball will likely miss the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season, a feat that hasn’t happened since the 1980s. Consequently, head coach Shaka Smart is set to be fired. Who could be the next head coach of the Longhorns?

Texas Basketball has had a tumultuous time under head coach Shaka Smart.

Smart has always had talent, as ten players on the Longhorn’s roster were once top-100 recruits. Smart has landed big-name players such as Mo Bamba, Jaxson Hayes, and Will Baker.

However, the results have not matched up with the talent. After this season, the Longhorns will have only made the tournament twice in Smart’s tenure, both of which resulting in Round of 64 exits.

Unless the Longhorns experience an unlikely string of events, including a Big 12 Tournament Championship and a commitment from five-star recruit Greg Brown, Smart will be out of a job come March, if not sooner.

Despite not having success in recent years, Texas is still one of the most prominent and prestigious basketball and athletic programs in the country, and a head coach opening in Austin would be among the most highly-touted jobs in recent memory.

There certainly won’t be any shortage of options for the Longhorns, who given financial and recruiting resources, could acquire just about any mid-major or budding high major coach that they choose.

Who exactly will the Longhorns target?

Spoiler alert: The best that the college basketball world (within reason) has to offer.

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