VCU Eliminated: Will Shaka Smart Bolt to NC State or Missouri?

Now that VCU has been eliminated from the Final Four, things are about to get interesting for 33-year-old head coach Shaka Smart.

Taking a school such as VCU, a mid-major program from the Colonial Athletic Association to the Final Four, Smart raised his coaching profile.

Success breeds envy and as it often goes in sports; teams with coaching vacancies like to go for the hot, new name. Smart has a lot to offer a program such as N.C. State or Missouri. He is young, successful, well-spoken and an excellent tactician.

One would have to imagine it would take a lot for a school such as VCU to keep an up-and-coming coach such as Smart because there will be only so much they can pay. Smart earned $350,000 in base pay this season, and a cool $500,000 for his NCAA tournament run.

Schools from conferences such as the ACC or Big 12 often have no problem having coaching salaries upwards of $2 million. Their athletic teams generate much more revenue so they can justify paying a coach such a large salary. VCU doesn’t have a football program, which usually creates the most revenue for a school’s athletic department.

The next question would be would Smart want to leave VCU?

That can be viewed in two ways.

Smart would want to stay with VCU since he has only been there two years and he is legitimately happy there. He has continued building an already solid program and recruiting will further improved now that he has made the Final Four. Plus, Smart will forever be beloved in Richmond.

Or, Smart, at 33, has no real ties to VCU other than it being his first head-coaching gig and wants to jump to a bigger school as fast as he can. From Smart’s perspective, he may see that his stock may never be higher and the financial windfall could be greater now than say, in two years.

Let’s take a look at a few schools that should be in hot pursuit of Smart:

Missouri: This may be the most attractive job available. Mike Anderson rebuilt this program into a consistent NCAA tournament team and did so in a clean fashion.

N.C. State: This is an intriguing position. But would Smart, still a newcomer to the head-coaching ranks, want to hit the recruiting trail against two legendary coaches in his own backyard, Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski? That wouldn’t be an enviable task; ask Sidney Lowe. The benefits are N.C. State has been known to sign talented players, they play in the ACC and could pay a competitive salary.

These two schools seem the most likely options for Smart and would all make sense.

Does he want to follow the lead of coaches such as Mark Few and Brad Stevens, stay at the mid-major level and build successful program, or jump right into the elite conferences before he thinks he may be ready?

As expected, VCU is already working on a deal to make him wealthier and keep him around for the foreseeable future. The question is will it be enough?

Regardless of what Smart decides, he will have a bright future and his pick of jobs every year when openings become available.