Craig Smith is out at Utah.
The Utes split with their head coach on Monday afternoon, the school announced. The move comes as Smith was set to wrap up his fourth campaign with the program this spring, and after he led them to a pair of huge Big 12 wins earlier this month.
“I want to thank Craig for his work and commitment since he arrived in Salt Lake City. He has led us to special moments and memorable victories, and Craig has poured his heart into building our current team,” athletic director Mark Harlan said in a statement, in part. “However, we have greater aspirations for our men’s basketball program, both within the Big 12 Conference and nationally, and our expectation is to regularly compete in the NCAA Tournament.
“After evaluating our program under Craig’s leadership, I believe a change is needed to get us to where we want to go … We have continued to invest in our men’s basketball program, adding staff, increasing compensation and significantly enhancing NIL opportunities with our partners for our student-athletes. And our investments will only grow. I am confident that our national search, which has already begun, will lead us to the right coach to take our storied program back to national prominence.”
Smith was hired at Utah ahead of the 2021-22 campaign. He’ll leave the school with a 65-62 overall record and without a single NCAA tournament appearance. It marked his third head coaching job in the sport, following stints at both South Dakota and Utah State. He led Utah State to three straight NCAA tournament appearances before moving south to Salt Lake City.
The Utes currently hold a 15-12 record, 7-9 in Big 12 play heading into Wednesday’s game at No. 22 Arizona, which has them tied for ninth in the league standings. They knocked off both Kansas and Kansas State, but followed that up with a four-point loss at UCF — which has just five Big 12 wins this season.
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Unless they make a big run at the Big 12 tournament next month in Kansas City, the Utes are looking at yet another missed NCAA tournament. The program has not made the tournament since 2016. So instead of riding the last few weeks out, Utah has opted to cut its losses now and start looking for Smith’s replacement immediately.
After traveling to Arizona, the Utes will host Arizona State and West Virginia before wrapping up the regular season at No. 25 BYU on March 8. Assistant coach Josh Eilert will serve as the team’s interim head coach the rest of the way.
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