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Assigned Reading: The Tao of Shaka

Shaka Smart

AP Photo

AP

Ever since he led VCU to the Final Four of the 2011 NCAA tournament, Shaka Smart has been a hot name in the coaching community.

His name has been in the mix for such job openings as UCLA, Marquette, N.C. State and Minnesota. Put it like this: if you’re a high-major program with a job opening, Smart is one of the first calls you make, even if it’s just to get told that he’s not interested.

Smart has also done an unbelievable job of getting the entire community of Richmond, Virginia, behind his program. Drive around town and it won’t be long before you see someone with a Rams shirt on or a Havoc poster hanging in a window.

And that’s why Smart has created such a coaching tree despite being so young. Former assistants have been hired by Chattanooga, Rice and Mount St. Mary’s already. Those programs don’t just want to win games, they want to develop a fan base.

But that’s not all that Shaka is, as Michael Litos, who is close to the VCU program, wrote about in this piece from NBCSportsWorld, ‘The Tao of Shaka'.

Go read it.

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