In a move that very few folks saw coming, Utah Basketball has elected to move on from head coach Craig Smith, effective immediately.
The move comes at an interesting time as the Big 12 regular season has only four more games remaining, and Utah appears to have made a turn for the better, sitting above .500 and 2-1 in their last three games.
First reported by the Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman, Smith was relieved of duty in the midst of a push toward the NCAA Tournament bubble, with his team sitting at 15-12 and 7-9 in league play.
“Smith was hired at Utah following three straight NCAA tournaments at Utah State,” Goodman said. “Just beat Kansas and Kansas State last week. NIL needs to improve significantly in Utah. Just don’t understand the timing of this one at all.”
Smith has been a head coach at multiple different programs, including Mayville State, South Dakota, and Utah State, where he complied an overall record of 225-108, good for a winning percentage of .686.
At Utah, Smith sits at 65-62 overall and 30-46 in league play; however, he had been on a clear path of improvement, notching 11 wins in 2021-22, 17 wins in 2022-23, and 22 wins in 2023-24.
“I want to thank Craig for his work and commitment since he arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah AD Mark Harlan said. “He has led us to special moments and memorable victories, and Craig has poured his heart into building our current team. 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. The time is now to begin that process, and we will surround Coach Eilert, the staff and our student-athletes with support as they continue with their season.
He finishes off the 2024-25 season with the Utes at 15-12, and 7-9 in league play.
In Smith’s absence, assistant coach Josh Eilert was named the group’s interim head coach after Eilert occupied the same role for the West Virginia Mountaineers in 2023-24.
