In a good news for Virginia Commonwealth fans, their brilliant coach Shaka Smart, who led the Rams to their first-ever Final Four appearance, has decided to prolong his stay at the school, rejecting an offer from NC State, reported the Charlotte Observer. "[Smart] is staying,'' VCU athletic director Norwood Teague said in an email, according to the report.”We agreed to terms this [Monday] morning."
“We’ve talked about that stuff so much. I bother him about it probably more than he bothers me. I’m always, ‘You need to think of five things we’ll do in the next nine months. We’ll go raise the money, we’ll do it.’ He feels so good about that. We’re still on the same page. We do things to our program that a lot of BCS programs don’t do, because we’re really a basketball-only school,” Teague added.
Replying to a query that whether NC State had pursued Smart, Teague wrote "Yes, they talked to him and made an offer. We countered and he is staying!!!" according to the report. NC State is looking for a replacement of Sidney Lowe, who stepped down after the Wolfpack were eliminated from the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. The 33-year-old Smart just completed his second year at VCU and was largely instrumental in guiding the No. 11-seeded Rams to the Final Four. He VCU also defeated top seed Kansas in the Elite Eight.
The VCU’s startling success propelled Smart on top of the coaching circuit with several eyeing his service. But VCU always maintained that it would do what it could to keep Smart in Richmond.
