News on Shaka Smart

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richmondinsider

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Hope all is well in Minnesota, I come to you from Richmond VA where I have connections deep inside Shaka Smarts adminstration at VCU. I can confirm to you that he is indeed talking to both UCLA and Minnesota. Minn is his first choice as he wouldn't feel the amount of pressure as he would at UCLA. However, at this point I'd say its 60/40 he will remain the coach of the Rams. He is very comfortable with Norwood Teague which is what could seal the deal for that 40 percent chance. Right now money etc hasn't been discussed and Shaka is meeting with family members to get their take on this. We went thru this last season when both Illinois and VA Tech offered him big money to become they're coach and he decided it wasn't the right place for him.

One thing of note, I can tell you he did contact Tubby Smith today to discuss with him the overall feel of being the Minnesota hoops coach.
 

richmondinsider said:
Hope all is well in Minnesota, I come to you from Richmond VA where I have connections deep inside Shaka Smarts adminstration at VCU. I can confirm to you that he is indeed talking to both UCLA and Minnesota. Minn is his first choice as he wouldn't feel the amount of pressure as he would at UCLA. However, at this point I'd say its 60/40 he will remain the coach of the Rams. He is very comfortable with Norwood Teague which is what could seal the deal for that 40 percent chance. Right now money etc hasn't been discussed and Shaka is meeting with family members to get their take on this. We went thru this last season when both Illinois and VA Tech offered him big money to become they're coach and he decided it wasn't the right place for him.

One thing of note, I can tell you he did contact Tubby Smith today to discuss with him the overall feel of being the Minnesota hoops coach.
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I sincerely hope you're right. 60/40 would be way better odds than I would have thought.
 

That is just my estimate and the estimate of a few around me. Shaka in no way told me its 60/40 I haven't discussed the situation with him directly.
 


richmondinsider said:
That is just my estimate and the estimate of a few around me. Shaka in no way told me its 60/40 I haven't discussed the situation with him directly.
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Oh, I understand. But if you're feeling is that it's anything close to a tossup for him to leave VCU and come to Minnesota, it's better than I suspected. Thanks for the insights.
 



richmondinsider said:
One thing of note, I can tell you he did contact Tubby Smith today to discuss with him the overall feel of being the Minnesota hoops coach.
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Clem sold Tubby on the job. Hopefully Tubby did the same. Would be hard to blame him if he didn't, though.
 

If true... better chance compared to what I was thinking.
 

Did anyone catch Ryan Iverson on with PA this morning? He played and coached at Delaware and the coaches on the east coast he has talked to believe Shaka is the guy if money can be worked out. Will be interesting next 24-48 hours.
 



This jibes with the other thread about his contract being restructured there. Either he's gotten cold feet after an initial interest or VCU is putting together a package, not at his bidding but for his consideration. Plot thickening indeed.

As often happens, candidates are often in, out and back in again. Would not be surprised if he stays in VA, but just glad to hear he prefers us to UCLA.
 


richmondinsider said:
Hope all is well in Minnesota, I come to you from Richmond VA where I have connections deep inside Shaka Smarts adminstration at VCU. I can confirm to you that he is indeed talking to both UCLA and Minnesota. Minn is his first choice as he wouldn't feel the amount of pressure as he would at UCLA. However, at this point I'd say its 60/40 he will remain the coach of the Rams. He is very comfortable with Norwood Teague which is what could seal the deal for that 40 percent chance. Right now money etc hasn't been discussed and Shaka is meeting with family members to get their take on this. We went thru this last season when both Illinois and VA Tech offered him big money to become they're coach and he decided it wasn't the right place for him.

One thing of note, I can tell you he did contact Tubby Smith today to discuss with him the overall feel of being the Minnesota hoops coach.
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I think I speak for everyone here when I say I really appreciate this information. Much better than a VCU fan coming on here to bash us pointlessly.
 

Contacting Tubby Smith is an important step. My concern all along was that Smart wouldn't want to show up the statesman of black coaches.

This makes me want Shaka more. Classy.
 



@SIPeteThamel
Sorry, UCLA. VCU is working on an contract extension to keep Shaka Smart. Should have an agreement soon.
 



GopherInPittsburgh said:
@SIPeteThamel
Sorry, UCLA. VCU is working on an contract extension to keep Shaka Smart. Should have an agreement soon.
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FYI "Working on an extension" is not necessarily a killer. Wasn't he just extended to 2017 or something?
 

MadtownGopher said:
Interesting he didn't say Sorry UCLA and Minnesota.
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My guess is he didn't include us because he didn't seriously think Shaka would consider Minnesota above UCLA in any universe, not as any sort of intentional omission.
 


Maybe he was never coming here and NT was just helping him get some $$$ and promises from VCU. Or maybe @SIPete doesn't know jack...
 



richmondinsider said:
Hope all is well in Minnesota, I come to you from Richmond VA where I have connections deep inside Shaka Smarts adminstration at VCU. I can confirm to you that he is indeed talking to both UCLA and Minnesota. Minn is his first choice as he wouldn't feel the amount of pressure as he would at UCLA. However, at this point I'd say its 60/40 he will remain the coach of the Rams. He is very comfortable with Norwood Teague which is what could seal the deal for that 40 percent chance. Right now money etc hasn't been discussed and Shaka is meeting with family members to get their take on this. We went thru this last season when both Illinois and VA Tech offered him big money to become they're coach and he decided it wasn't the right place for him.

One thing of note, I can tell you he did contact Tubby Smith today to discuss with him the overall feel of being the Minnesota hoops coach.
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richmondinsider, why do you feel the need to share this with us? That's the only thing strange about your post (and/or existence of a profile).
 


westcoastgopher11 said:
This seems like a successful troll thread.
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Disagree. This might be the case if he said he was 100% going back to VCU. But he gave some pretty reasonable info, and it lines up with the tweets about VCU scrambling to restructure his contract.
 

Who or what is "Thamel" ?

Whoever it is, they are reporting that Shaka and VCU are about to formalize an extension....gulp....It was nice to dream.
 

ZebH82 said:
Who or what is "Thamel" ?

Whoever it is, they are reporting that Shaka and VCU are about to formalize an extension....gulp....It was nice to dream.
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Pete Thamel is an SI College BBball writer
 

ZebH82 said:
Who or what is "Thamel" ?

Whoever it is, they are reporting that Shaka and VCU are about to formalize an extension....gulp....It was nice to dream.
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Why isn't anyone else running with this Thamel report, haven't seen anyone like Katz, Goodman, and guys of that status say anything about this yet. I wonder if Thamel is just running with the reports from the local Richmond media and hoping they are right.
 



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