5. Who is one coach the average fan does not know right now but will know well within six months?
DeCourcy: Shaka Smart was hired by VCU to replace Anthony Grant and walked into a team featuring Larry Sanders, a potentially dominant center, and young talent at nearly every other spot. Smart recruited well as an assistant at Akron, Clemson and Florida and demonstrated intelligence and zeal throughout his climb.
In the summer of 2006, at the last Nike All-American Camp, I decided to do a little piece about the first guy to show up and sign the board acknowledging which college coaches visited. The first name on the list that day: Shaka Smart. I didn't know him then but do now.
Mike DeCourcy is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at
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