Texas interviews former UT player Royal Ivey for basketball head coach job

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Royal Ivey, a 2003 Texas Final Four team member and currently Brooklyn Nets assistant coach, was interviewed to replace Shaka Smart as Texas’s head basketball coach, a source familiar with the situation told Horns247 on Sunday.

“Royal had an introductory interview with Texas,” the source told Horns247.

ESPN was the first to report an interview with Ivey with Texas.

Texas found themselves in a coach search after six-year-old coach Shaka Smart took over as head coach at Marquette on Friday.

Ivey, 39, was the defensive goalscorer for the Texas Final Four team in 2003 and continued his 10-year career in the NBA before starting his coaching career as an assistant with the Oklahoma City Blue ( Thunder’s G-League team) in 2014. In 2016, Ivey became an assistant coach of the Thunder before joining the staff of the New York Knicks in 2018 and the Brooklyn Nets in 2020.

Ivey has the backing of former key Texas players namely Kevin Durant, TJ Ford and LaMarcus Aldridge.

“It’s my choice,” Ford told Horns247.

Ivey was never a head coach. But Ford, Durant and Aldridge feel Ivey could do for Texas what the former Michigan star Juwan howard did as coach of the No.1 seeded Wolverines. Like Ivey, Howard’s only previous coaching experience had been as an NBA assistant coach with the Miami Heat from 2013-19.

Horns247 reported on Sunday, according to sources familiar with the situation, that the Texas Tech coach Chris Beard is the main candidate to replace Smart but that others, including Ivey, were to be interviewed by Texas.

“I think on this one we’ll go through a process and question several of them before making any decisions,” the source said. “We’re getting a lot of interest.”

Ivey is quite successful in terms of his rise from a lightly recruited guard from Queens, NY, to become a key leader and UT’s top perimeter defender in the 2003 Longhorns Final Four squad which included Ford, Brandon Mouton. , James Thomas, Brian Boddicker and Brad Buckman under then head coach Rick Barnes.

After Ivey’s stint in Texas, his number 24 was only assigned to defensive-minded perimeter players worthy of wearing him under Barnes.

Ivey was recruited from Texas by then assistant coach Rob Lanier. During one of Ivey’s first practice sessions in Texas, Ivey returned the ball several times and Barnes said he yelled, “Who recruited this guy?” knowing full well it was Lanier, whose back stiffened as Barnes went wild.

But Ivey, a 6-foot-4 guard with long arms, would become one of Barnes’ favorite players, due to his unwavering commitment to playing defense and his selflessness.

Ivey was a 2004 NBA second-round pick (37th overall) by the Atlanta Hawks, where he played from 2004-07, before moving on to the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder. Ivey and Durant were teammates with the Thunder from 2010 to 2012 and again in 2014.

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