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Shaka Smart Photo Courtesy: Clemson University

Smart, now starting his second year as an assistant at Clemson under head coach Oliver Purnell, had just returned from a whirlwind trip to Europe that saw him travel nearly 10,000 miles round trip over the course of five days simply based on a promise to a recruit. Considering that the recruit in question had already committed to Smart and Clemson, many would have excused Smart from shying away from such a promise.

"I made a promise to him before he committed that I would go (to Warsaw, Poland) to watch him compete for his national team, Romania, in the European under-20 championships," explained Smart. "The last thing I wanted to do was to go back on my word and disappoint him by not showing up."

It's that kind of forthright honesty, hard work and dedication that have made Shaka Smart a rising star in the crowded ranks of collegiate assistant coaches and has seen his name surface as a potential head coaching candidate, at the young of 30 no less, for openings such as the one at Ball State that was recently created by the resignation of head coach Ronny Thompson after only one season. It also helps that Smart spent three years as an assistant at Akron in the Mid-American Conference and has a great deal of familiarity with the MAC and its programs.

Smart came to Akron after spending three years under Purnell as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations at the University of Dayton. Purnell's highly successful run as head coach of the Flyers led to his becoming head coach at Clemson and initially Purnell took his entire staff from Dayton, including Smart, with him to Clemson. But a bigger opportunity beckoned.

"Essentially I was in the same spot on the staff at Clemson as I was at Dayton but Bill Brown (head coach at California PA), put me in touch with (then head coach) Dan Hipsher at Akron," noted Smart, outlining his route to the MAC.

But to understand how he got to Akron, and eventually Clemson, we have to step back just a bit.

Smart was a successful Division III player at tiny Kenyon College in Gambier, OH (enrollment: 1,600) and, after graduating magna cum laude in 1999, still holds the Lords' records for assists in a season (184) and career (542). In his senior season at Kenyon, Smart was named the North Coast Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year and named to the USA Today All-USA Academic Team. But Smart knew he always wanted to coach.

"One of my biggest influences was the man who recruited me to Kenyon, Bill Brown," said Smart. "I was really disappointed when he left after my first year and took the head coaching job at California (PA) but he we had a deal that after he left when I finished at Kenyon, if I wanted to coach, he had a job waiting for me." It was under Brown that Smart not only learned about coaching but about dealing with people.

"Bill gave me a tremendous foundation and helped me develop in regard to knowing how to treat people. He had the best people skills of anyone I have been around. I'm certainly not him, but I try to emulate him."

Akron head coach Keith Dambrot; "I would hate to coach against" Smart. Photo: Jim Klapthor/MAC Report Online

Smart stayed at California (PA) for two seasons before landing at Dayton as Smart's progression in the college ranks continued on a swift upward trend, going from a D3 player to D2 and then D1 in four short years. Smart had apparently caught the attention of Purnell after working a couple of camps for Purnell and was offered and accepted the Coordinator of Basketball Operations position. "That's really a fancy title for running the video and handling pre game preparations," chuckled Smart. "It's really just being the next guy in line for an assistant's position."

His time at Dayton though exposed him to the differences that exist in the various levels of college hoops. "I went from playing at a school with an enrollment of 1600 to being on staff at Dayton where they routinely had 13,000 people at their games. It made me realize how important these programs are to the community. Being at Dayton was a great learning experience for me."

After Purnell parlayed his successful run at Dayton into the head coaching gig at Clemson, Smart was set to join him but old friend Bill Brown put Smart in touch with then-Akron head coach Dan Hipsher who hired Smart based on Brown's recommendation and Smart joined top assistant Keith Dambrot on Hipsher's staff for the 2003-2004 season.

During Smart's tenure at Akron he recruited players such as Cedrick Middleton, Chris McKnight, Bubba Walther and Quade Milum. Hipsher though was dismissed after Smart's first season at Akron but Smart was retained by newly named head coach Keith Dambrot as Dambrot's top assistant at the tender age of 27.

"Keith and I became really good friends and he leaned on me for recruiting and strategy and I learned so much from Keith. There is not a coach out there that studies more tape than Keith. He also really understands what it takes to be a success in a mid-major conference like the MAC. You have to reach out to the community and become part of the community."

Smart knows too that financial resources in the MAC are far more limited than what schools are able to spend in the larger conferences on their programs. "You have to raise money for your program by showing the community you are serious about what you are doing and that you are committed to the school and the surrounding communities, as well as showing that you have a sincere interest in the program. Even if you are not from, for example, Northeast Ohio, you better turn yourself into a Northeast Ohio guy. Your recruiting base will instantly know whether you are sincere and if you can't solidify your home and surrounding states, you are not going to be successful."

Besides commitment, what is the wining formula for a Shaka Smart coached team?

"Well, first off, I have never won a game! But I truly believe you win with defense. Look at the programs that have been successful in the MAC, especially for instance Miami under Charlie Coles. It's about defense. I really believe in playing an uptempo defense. You can control your defense 100%. I mean, on offense some shots are going to fall and some aren't, but you control so much more when you play sound defensively."

"At Clemson we press most of the game, sometimes man-to-man and sometimes we use zone presses," Smart continued. "I believe in playing a cerebral style of basketball. Give me five players with a high basketball IQ and you can build a defensive foundation that then lets you play offensively to your strengths. I learned a lot from Dan Hipsher about the motion offense for instance. It's a very time-consuming offense and can be tough to guard but at the same time I am not going to try to simply run a motion offense if I have players that are playmakers. With players like (Akron's) Jeremiah Wood, you weren't going to run motion, you are going to do what is best suited to get the job done."

Smart definitely has aspirations and hopes to one day become a head coach, but is quick to point out that he is happy too coaching in the ACC at Clemson and serving as the Tigers' primary recruiter in the crucial surrounding areas of North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee as well as the Midwest. "We have the core of our team coming back and I'm really excited about what we can accomplish this upcoming season." He also enjoys the rapport and respect that he develops with the players.

"The relationship to your players is huge," noted Smart. "You form and develop relationships with these young men and their families. You really do become part of their extended family. You spend more time with them than they do with their own family and frequently your own family as well. If you don't look at it in that way, you are just fooling yourself. There is so much more to coaching than just the on the court stuff."

It also helps that Smart has been a winner. During his tenure at Akron, the Zips compiled a mark of 55-35 and set a then-school record for wins in a season in 2005-2006 by recording 23 victories. While he was at Dayton, the Flyers posted a 45-17 mark and during his first year at Clemson this past season, the Tigers sprinted out to a 17-0 start and made it to the NIT finals.

Those are numbers that are hard to ignore and it would be shocking if some enterprising athletic directors didn't start looking Smart's way when evaluating head coaching candidates.

"I know I would hate to coach against him," Akron head coach Keith Dambrot noted. "When he was here (at Akron) he did a tremendous job for us. He's a bright guy with a great attitude and a tireless commitment."

Commitment. There's that word again and it's a primary reason that Shaka Smart may just find himself on the fast track to becoming the next hot coaching prospect on the collegiate scene.

THE SHAKA SMART FILE