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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; Shaka Smart has been one of the most sought-after up-and-coming coaches for the past five years. (Al Tielemans/SI)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Virginia Commonwealth head coach Shaka Smart has rejected Marquette's offer to take over as the team's head men's basketball coach, ESPN.com's Jeff Goodman reported Thursday.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to Goodman, Smart called Marquette representatives on Thursday and told them he would not be taking the position. The school is looking for a replacement for Buzz Williams, who stunningly left last week\u00A0for the Virginia Tech job after six seasons with the Golden Eagles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The 36-year-old Smart has been the head coach of VCU for five years and has been sought after as an up-and-comer in the head-coaching ranks for most of that time. Last year, Smart spurned an offer from UCLA\u00A0and signed a contract extension that runs through 2023, one that pays him approximately $1.5 million per season.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Under Smart, the Rams have made the NCAA tournament in each of the last four years. The fifth-seeded Rams were bounced from this year's tournament by 12th-seeded Stephen F. Austin last week.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to Goodman, Marquette is now prepared to move on to other possibilities for their head-coaching vacancy. Some of the names on their list, he reported, are former\u00A0UCLA coach Ben Howland, Green Bay coach Brian Wardle, and Syracuse assistant\u00A0Mike Hopkins.\n&lt;strong&gt;SI WIRE: Mike D'Antoni reportedly contact about open Marshall job &amp;gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/si-wire/2014/03/27/shaka-smart-marquette-offer-job-vcu-staying>