VCU's Shaka Smart has his Eye on the Prize!

"Get the U-haul Ready son, I've got somewhere to go"

Now who's going to be the first to call Shaka Smart for a big time job? Like I said yesterday about Butler's Brad Stevens, Tennessee's got money and land to give away to resurrect their program. Doesn't look like Stevens wants it, so I can almost bet my life that 33 year old Shaka will take it or an opportunity similar to it. His VCU Rams just knocked off the 10th seed Florida State Seminoles to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history.

 Bradford Burgess made a layup off an inbounds pass with 7.1 seconds left and Jamie Skeen blocked a shot at the buzzer, giving Virginia Commonwealth a 72-71 victory over Florida State in overtime in a Southwest Region semifinal Friday night.

Since being told they lucked their way into a play-in game for the 11th seed, all VCU has done is knock out high-profile programs from the Pac-10 (Southern Cal), Big East (Georgetown), Big Ten (Purdue) and now the ACC. Those were all blowouts -- this one was as tight as they come.


The second year coach  keeps stoking his team by reminding them that everyone said they don't belong. It shouldn't be a problem finding folks writing them off for their next game. The Rams face top-seeded Kansas on Sunday with a spot in the Final Four on the line. The Jayhawks advanced with a 77-57 rout over Richmond.

I know the young brother is going to take the money and run. Why not? He's making $325,000 per year as the VCU head coach. There's only so much money Virginia Commonwealth  can pay him. It is what it is! They'll try to give him a raise but they don't have the budget to compete with the big boys. The big programs are going to throw everything at him including the kitchen sink.

Like I always say, what's the point in working for less than the market pays? According to USA Today in 2007 the coaches of six of the tournament's Elite Eight teams in 2006 parlayed their success into new deals for the following season.

Their raises were substantial. At the five schools where raises are public — George Mason, LSU, Memphis, Texas and UCLA — the coaches got a collective bump of about $1.7 million, or about $332,000 each when they extended their contracts. With those new agreements, and others, at least 20 of that year's 65 tournament coaches were making $1 million or more, a USA TODAY study finds. Kentucky's Tubby Smith was guaranteed nearly $2.1 million. Texas' Rick Barnes, Ohio State's Thad Matta and Michigan State's Tom Izzo were all pulling down more than $1.7 million.

That was 5 years ago! I can't understand why Brad Stevens doesn't see that he's being under paid for the great job that he's doing at Butler, but my man Shaka won't let me down. Just wait and see what I tell you. In two weeks he'll be introduced as somebody's head coach looking like his butt is swollen because he's got so much money in his pocket.

I hear folks saying, well there's something to be said about loyalty. You're absolutely right and coaching isn't a loyal business. If VCU starts loosing they'll start looking for a new coach! Believe what I'm saying or just ask Pat Knight how loyal Texas Tech was a few weeks ago. It's not personal, it's business. Would you stay on your job if someone offered you 5 times your salary plus a home and cars to go down the street to do the same thing? I didn't think so. So take your fan hat off for just a few minutes and think like a normal adult with a family and a mortgage. What's your opinion?

Jay Graves
jaygraves@thejaygravesreport.com
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
Information from the Associated Press and USA Today was used in this article.