Utah fires men's basketball coach Craig Smith

Utah fired men's basketball head coach Craig Smith amid his fourth season with the program, the school announced Monday.

The Utes are 7-9 in the Big 12 and have just four regular season games remaining. Assistant Josh Eilert will serve as head coach for those contests on an interim basis.

"After evaluating our program under Craig's leadership, I believe a change is needed to get us to where we want to go," Utes athletic director Mark Harlan said in a statement. "The time is now to begin that process, and we will surround coach Eilert, the staff and our student-athletes with support as they continue with their season."

The 52-year-old went 65-62 in just under four seasons with Utah - the first three spent in the Pac-12 before joining the Big 12 for 2024-25 - but didn't make an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Smith joined the Utes ahead of 2021-22 after three seasons at Utah State, during which he took the Aggies to two NCAA Tournaments. They would have also earned a berth in the 2020 edition as Mountain West Tournament champions, but it was canceled because of COVID.

Utah pulled off back-to-back wins over Kansas and Kansas State earlier this month before a four-point loss Sunday to UCF. The Utes face 22nd-ranked Arizona in their next game Wednesday.