Marquette’s Shaka Smart Voted Men’s AP Coach of the Year

Marquette’s Shaka Smart Voted Men’s AP Coach of the Year
Marquette head coach Shaka Smart reacts during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Seton Hall in Newark, N.J., on Jan. 21, 2023. Noah K. Murray/AP Photo
The Associated Press
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Shaka Smart has packed an entire career’s worth of experiences into 14 years as a college head coach. He led VCU to an improbable Final Four as a 30-something wunderkind in 2011, guided mighty Texas to a Big 12 Tournament title during six otherwise tepid years in Austin, and now has turned Marquette into a Big East beast.

It’s sometimes easy to forget he’s still just 45 years old.