Four years after Craig Smith arrived in Salt Lake City, hoping to restore Utah men’s basketball to national significance.
The university announced his sacking, ending its term, which had a memorable victory but never won the NCAA Championship. The decision was that Utes had a total score of 15-12, 7-9 in the Big 12, ranked ninth in the conference standings, and likely had no matches for the eighth consecutive season.
Utah athletic director Mark Harlan made it clear in his statement: The program expects more.
“I want to thank Craig for his work and commitment since he arrived in Salt Lake City.” Harlan said. “He led us to special moments and memorable victory, and Craig cheered up to build our current team. But whether it was at the Big 12 conference or across the country, we were on men for the The basketball program has a bigger desire, and our expectation is to regularly participate in the NCAA Championships.”
“After evaluating our program under Craig, I think changes need to be made to get us where we want to go… We continue to invest in our men’s basketball program, increase staff, increase Pay and with partners greatly increase opportunities for our student-athletes. Our investment will only grow. I am confident that the country search we have started will lead us to the right coaches and bring our legendary program back to national awareness.”
Utah is firing head coach Craig Smith to take effect immediately.
Smith has scored a 65-62 record in the NCAA Championship over the past four seasons. pic.twitter.com/arsnqbbuea
– College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) February 24, 2025
Unexpected term
Smith, who was hired in 2021 after three years of success at Utah State, led Aggies to three consecutive NCAA Championship appearances. But this success has never been translated in Utah.
In four seasons, Smith has set a 65-62 record, failing to bring UTES back to the game – the program has not been completed since 2016.
Utah has shined its potential this season, winning both Kansas and Kansas early this month. But the frustrating four-point loss to the UCF was frustrating due to a series of inconsistent performances, which quickly covered up the wins.
It has nothing to do with Craig Smith’s coach. These are the few times when no one in his right brain doesn’t say “Show me (return) money.” The coaching team has much less relationship with today’s success than ever before. @utahmbb
— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) February 24, 2025
As time goes by, the average tournament bid looks unlikely, Utah chooses to cut losses early and move on from Smith before the final game of the season.
A tough road in Utes
Utah’s last four regular season games will be played under interim head coach Josh Eilert, who took over Utes in search of any motivation to get into the big 12 Championship.
Their schedule won’t help them in anything.
- February 28 – exist No. 22, Arizona
- March 2 – VS. Arizona
- March 5 – VS. West Virginia
- March 8 – exist No. 25 BYU
Utah hopes to win the NCAA bid, which will require an in-depth Big 12 tournament (and perhaps even conference champions). More realistically, Utes will be watching March Madness at home again.
What’s next for Utah basketball?
Harlan did not hesitate to start a national coaching search, which shows that Utah will actively pursue leaders who can make the program famous again.
UTES has a long history of basketball and has made its debut in the last four games in 1998, but has remained important on the national stage in recent years. The game in the loaded Big 12 will only raise the ante, as Utah now has to regularly compete with strong programs like Kansas, Houston and Baylor.
Smith’s tenure was not without highlights, but it wasn’t enough in the end. Utah’s expectations are clear: Competition in Big 12 is not enough – winning in Big 12 is the standard.
Now, the search begins the coaches that can achieve this.
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