Smart faces tough acts to follow at VCU

Expectations greet Shaka Smart as he takes over as Virginia Commonwealth University's new basketball coach.

His predecessors, Anthony Grant and Jeff Capel, won four Colonial Athletic Association regular-season titles in seven years and took the Rams to three NCAA tournaments and two National Invitation Tournaments.

Smart will be introduced as VCU's 10th coach today at an 11 a.m. press conference at the Siegel Center that is open to the public. Contract details haven't been finalized, but Rams Athletic Director Norwood Teague said the five-year deal will pay Smart about $325,000 annually plus incentives.

Smart, 32, will be expected to continue a run that has seen the Rams win 70 percent (155-66) of their games since the 2002-2003 season.

While he has never been a head coach, two of his previous employers say Smart is prepared because of multidimensional experiences. He has spent 10 years in various capacities as an assistant at Florida, Clemson, Akron, Dayton and California University in Pennsylvania.

"That's not an easy job after all the success they've had," said Akron coach Keith Dambrot, who worked as an assistant with Smart and then as his boss. "You lose [Eric] Maynor, who's arguably one of the top two or three mid-major players in the country -- maybe the best -- it's not going to be easy. But I think he's more than cut out for it."

Clemson coach Oliver Purnell had Smart as his director of basketball operations at Dayton and as an assistant coach with the Tigers. He said Smart doesn't have any weak areas.

"It's kind of like being a really good player," Purnell said. "To me, a really good player does a little bit of everything.

"He's competent in every area. He's a very good recruiter. He understands the marketing aspect and fundraising and getting folks excited about the program. Player relationships, he understands the importance of that and will do a great job communicating."

Dambrot agreed. "A lot of times young people today have only been in one aspect of the job," he said. "A lot of the guys now can excel in recruiting but they've never really coached. This guy is going to be a good basketball coach. He's worked very hard to be a good coach besides a good recruiter.

"He's been at almost every level. . . . I think that's very, very important when you coach a high mid-major like VCU."