BREAKING: Stanford hires former Washington State coach Kyle Smith as next basketball coach

Kevin Borba | Mar 25, 2024

Drake v Washington State / Michael Reaves/GettyImages

The search for Stanford's next basketball coach has come to an end.

Following the firing of head coach Jerod Haase after eight years of zero tournament appearances, the Cardinal turned to a fellow Pac-12 coach to steer the ship.

According to a release on Monday, Washington State head coach Kyle Smith is set to become the next head coach for the Cardinal.

Mar 21, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach Kyle Smith celebrates after / Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

Smith emerged as one of the hottest names in all of college basketball, after he led the Cougars to one of their best seasons in program history. Washington State finished the season with a 25-10 record, their best since 2007-08, and also appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since that same season.

His first big test as the head coach at Stanford will be to keep the roster intact, after their three stars Maxime Raynaud, Kanaan Carlyle, and Andrej Stojakovic all entered their name into the transfer portal. Even if he does convince them to stay, he will have a ton of recruiting and portaling to do in order to rebuild a roster that is losing pretty much its entire rotation.

Smith will also be tasked with navigating a move to the ACC, which Stanford will be playing in for the first time in 2024. Prior to his time in Pullman where he accumulated a 94-71 record, Smith started his career at Columbia where he went 101-82, and then ended up at San Francisco where he went 63-40. This will be his biggest test as a recruiter with all of the academic restrictions, and more importantly will test his ability as a coach.