Part of the way through his fourth season with the Utes, the Utah men's basketball head coach Craig Smith has reportedly been fired. Following a disappointing first season and a mediocre second season with the Utes, it seemed as though Smith had finally found his footing during the 2023-24 season with a 22-15 overall record.
However, so far this season, the Utes have gone just 15-12 overall so far with a 7-9 record against their Big Ten opponents. Now, Smith is out as the Utah head coach following the disappointing performance in conference play.
College basketball insider Jeff Goodman reported the news following a source sharing the information with his publication, The Field of 68.
Before accepting the job at Utah, Smith coached at Mayville State, South Dakota, and Utah State. Throughout his 14-year-long head coaching career, Smith has built a 65-62 overall record.
The highlight of his time at Utah was when he led the Utes to an appearance in the NIT Tournament semifinals where they lost to Indiana State by just 10 points. While coaching at Utah State, Smith led the team to three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Following the announcement of Smith's firing, Utah shared that former assistant coach Josh Eilert would act as the Utes' interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Utah has just four regular-season games remaining – at No. 22 Arizona, vs. Arizona State, vs. West Virginia, and at No. 25 BYU.
Utah and Arizona are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. MT on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at the McKale Memorial Center in Tuscon, AZ. The game will be Eilert's first matchup as the interim head coach.