Texas-based Shaka Smart is in talks with Marquette to become the next Golden Eagles head coach, sources told ESPN.
A deal is expected to come soon.
Born in Wisconsin, Smart has been a head coach at Texas for six seasons. The Longhorns have gone to three NCAA tournaments under Smart, but have not yet won an NCAA tournament game with him at the helm. They won the Big 12 conference tournament earlier this month, but were then upset by Abilene Christian from 14 seeds in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Smart has been in the hot seat in Austin for two years, but the pandemic likely saved him after the 2019-2020 season. His post-season buyout for Texas would have been around $ 7 million.
Before taking the helm at Texas, Smart was the head coach at VCU and led the Rams to five consecutive NCAA tournaments, including a Final Four run in 2011.
Smart would replace Steve Wojciechowski, who was fired earlier this month after seven seasons with the Golden Eagles.
One of Texas’s main targets is expected to be Texas Tech coach Chris Beard, who went to Texas and was a student assistant for the Longhorns under Tom Penders. His buyout to go to another Big 12 school drops to $ 4 million on Thursday, sources told ESPN.