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Big 12 men’s basketball team reportedly fires coach amid disappointing season
By Andrew Olson
Published:
One Big 12 program is turning some heads in the college basketball world with its decision on the program’s future shortly before the 2024-25 regular season ends.
College basketball insider Jeff Goodman broke the news that Craig Smith is out at Utah.
BREAKING: Utah is parting ways with Craig Smith, source told @TheFieldOf68.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 24, 2025
Strange timing.
Utah is 7-9 in the Big 12.
Smith is being let go with his team sitting at 15-12 overall and 7-9 in conference standings. Last week, the Utes defeated then-No. 17 Kansas 74-67. Utah followed that up with a 74-69 win over Kansas State. The week ended with a 76-72 road loss at UCF on Sunday.
Utah has 4 remaining regular-season games before the Big 12 Tournament. The final stretch starts with a trip to No. 22 Arizona on Wednesday.
Smith, 52, has a 290-169 record as a head coach, including previous stops at South Dakota and Utah State. In his 3 seasons at Utah State, Smith guided the Aggies to 3 winning seasons and trips to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and 2021. (The 2020 NCAA Tournament was not held due to COVID-19.)
At Utah, Smith went 65-62. The Utes reached the NIT Semifinals in 2024, their only postseason appearance in Smith’s tenure.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
