Utah is expected to hire Utah State‘s Craig Smith as its next head basketball coach, sources told ESPN on Saturday.
A deal should be official soon.
Smith, 48, has been at Utah State for three seasons, leading the Aggies to two NCAA tournaments and three top-two finishes in the Mountain West Conference. It would have been three NCAA tournament appearances, but the pandemic canceled the 2020 tournament after Utah State had won the Mountain West tournament.
The Aggies earned an 11-seed in this year’s NCAA tournament after making a run to the conference tournament title game. They lost to Texas Tech in the first round.
Smith also spent four seasons as the head coach at South Dakota, winning 48 games in his final two years with the Coyotes. He also won a Summit League regular-season title in 2017.
Utah had discussions with two NBA assistant coaches who played at Utah, sources told ESPN: Utah Jazz assistant Alex Jensen and New York Knicks assistant Johnnie Bryant. But both opted to stay in the NBA.
Smith replaces Larry Krystkowiak, who was fired earlier this month after 10 seasons with the Utes.