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Texas Basketball: 5 potential candidates for Longhorns to replace Shaka Smart

By Benjamin Zacher

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 20: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns looks on during the first half against the Abilene Christian Wildcats in the first round game of the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 20, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 20: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns looks on during the first half against the Abilene Christian Wildcats in the first round game of the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 20, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) /
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Head coach Joe Golding Abilene Christian Wildcats (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
Head coach Joe Golding Abilene Christian Wildcats (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) /

Joe Golding

  • HC experience: Abilene Christian (2011-present; 158-144)
  • Assistant experience: Abilene Christian (2005-08), Arkansas-Little Rock (2008-11)

Nothing would scream cruel irony quite like the Longhorns hiring the man responsible for Shaka Smart’s final loss at Texas – but it would make perfect sense, considering what Joe Golding has done at Abilene Christian.

A former point guard at Abilene Christian, Golding has thrived on the sidelines as both an assistant and a head coach, having spent three years with the Wildcats – with his final season yielding Abilene’s first 20-win season in 10 years – before moving to Arkansas Little-Rock, where he helped lead the Trojans to a Sun Belt Conference title and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2011.

After that trip to the tourney, Golding returned to Abilene Christian, this time at the helm of a Div. II program that had not reached the NCAA Tournament in 12 years.  That struggle continued in Golding’s first handful of years, during which the Wildcats transitioned to Div. I and endured six-straight losing seasons in Golding’s first six campaigns.

But the 2017-18 campaign produced the first glimpse of success, where the Wildcats finished .500 and earned a berth to the CIT – before following that up with a dominant 27-7 record and the school’s first-ever NCAA Div. I Tournament appearance the ensuing year.  Two more 20-win seasons followed, and Golding’s Wildcats made noise in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, toppling Texas in the opening round before falling to UCLA days later.

Golding’s methodology of stifling, active defense has led Abilene Christian to never-before-seen heights, and that was on full display this past season and against Texas.  The Wildcats rank fifth in the nation in points allowed, holding teams to just 60.4 – and force more turnovers than any team in the country, at 19.9 per game on a Div. I-best 26.5% rate.

With his erratic style of basketball reminiscent of Smart’s well-renowned havoc defense, Golding would be a solid fit for the Longhorns.  He does not have the ties to the Big 12 like others on this list, but his regional ties and success in bringing up a struggling Div. II program to being in the conversation of Div. I mid-major power bodes well for what Golding could do with Texas.

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