When Shaka Smart found out his social studies teacher was also a basketball coach, the seventh-grader would hang around his desk every day, talking about Magic Johnson or the latest move he was perfecting on the playground.
“He was this effervescent, bubbly, bouncy, chatty little guy,” Kevin Bavery remembered Tuesday. “He was clearly different and driven and passionate.”
Still is.
By taking VCU, a team many didn’t even think belonged in the NCAA tournament, to the Final Four at just 33, Smart has become the coach of the moment, the prospect at the top of everyone’s wish list. There is substance behind that stylish name, however; a maturity, perspective and vision that are trademarks of the game’s greatest coaches.
If Smart and Butler’s Brad Stevens are the cornerstones of the future, their generation’s Dean Smiths or Coach Ks, Smart’s friends and mentors say the game will be in good hands. The young coaches face each other Saturday night, when VCU plays Butler in the most unlikely of national semifinals, a matchup of mid-majors in a game usually reserved for powerhouses.
“Shaka and Brad are two young guys who were given an opportunity, and they’ve absolutely run with it,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “I think it’s good for our game because they’re good guys who are good coaches.”
Smart grew up in Oregon, Wis., a village of fewer than 10,000 people about 10 miles south of Madison. His father, who named him after 19th-century African warrior Shaka Zulu, left the family early, and he was raised by his mother. She didn’t have many rules, but her sons knew better than to bring home a bad grade.
