Utes fire hoops coach Smith during fourth season

Jeff BorzelloFeb 24, 2025, 03:35 PM ET

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• Basketball recruiting insider.
• Signed up with ESPN in 2014.
• Graduate of University of Delaware.Utah has actually fired guys’s basketball coach Craig Smith after nearly four seasons, it was revealed Monday.The Utes fell to 15-12– and 7-9 in the Huge 12– after losing at UCF on

  Sunday. Utah beat Kansas and Kansas State in back-to-back games earlier this month and also own a win over BYU.”I wish to thank Craig for his work and dedication since he got here in Salt Lake City,” athletic director Mark Harlan said in a declaration.” He has led us to unique moments and remarkable triumphes, and Craig has actually poured his heart into building our current team.”Nevertheless, we have greater aspirations for our men’s basketball program … and our expectation is to regularly compete in the NCAA tournament. … I think a modification is needed to get us to where we wish to go. The time is now to start that procedure. “Harlan said assistant coach Josh Eilert will function as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.Smith leaves Utah with a 65-62 record. He is owed roughly$

  5 million from a fully guaranteed six-year contract that he signed in 2021, sources informed ESPN.The Utes have actually failed to reach the NCAA tournament in any of Smith’s 3 previous seasons as coach, and they are not on track to hear their name on Choice Sunday this season. Utah won 22 games last season but dropped eight of the last 12 regular-season games to fall out of consideration for the NCAA tournament. It did accept an NIT invite and made a go to the semifinals.Utah hired Smith far from Utah State after he directed the Aggies to two NCAA competitions– it would have been 3 if not for

  COVID-19 canceling the 2020 NCAA competition. With Smith, Utah State won a share of the Mountain West regular-season title in 2019, won the conference competition champion in 2020 and got an at-large bid in 2021. Smith had actually also been the head coach at South Dakota for four seasons from 2015-18, winning a Top League regular-season champion in 2017.