Utes fire hoops coach Smith during fourth season

Utah has fired men’s basketball coach Craig Smith after nearly four seasons, it was announced Monday.

The Utes fell to 15-12 — and 7-9 in the Big 12 — after losing at UCF on Sunday. Utah beat Kansas and Kansas State in back-to-back games earlier this month and also own a win over BYU.

“I want to thank Craig for his work and commitment since he arrived in Salt Lake City,” athletic director Mark Harlan said in a statement. “He has led us to special moments and memorable victories, and Craig has poured his heart into building our current team.

“However, we have greater aspirations for our men’s basketball program … and our expectation is to regularly compete in the NCAA tournament. … I believe a change is needed to get us to where we want to go. The time is now to begin that process.”

Harlan said assistant coach Josh Eilert will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season.

Smith, 52, leaves Utah with a 65-62 record. He is owed approximately $5 million from a fully guaranteed six-year contract that he signed in 2021, sources told ESPN.

The Utes have failed to reach the NCAA tournament in any of Smith’s three previous seasons as coach, and they are not on track to hear their name on Selection Sunday this season. Utah won 22 games last season but dropped eight of the final 12 regular-season games to fall out of consideration for the NCAA tournament. It did accept an NIT invite and made a run to the semifinals.

Utah hired Smith away from Utah State after he guided the Aggies to two NCAA tournaments — it would have been three if not for COVID-19 canceling the 2020 NCAA tournament. With Smith, Utah State won a share of the Mountain West regular-season title in 2019, won the conference tournament championship in 2020 and received an at-large bid in 2021.

Smith had also been the head coach at South Dakota for four seasons from 2015-18, winning a Summit League regular-season championship in 2017.