Craig Smith completes his Utah men’s basketball staff with hiring of former Cincinnati assistant Tim Morris

Craig Smith has completed his first University of Utah coaching staff.

Tim Morris, an assistant coach for the University of Cincinnati the last two seasons under John Brannen, is expected to be hired as the third and final assistant under Smith, multiple sources told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Morris will join former Utah State assistant coach Eric Peterson and ex-UNLV assistant DeMarlo Slocum on Smith’s bench this winter. Before spending two seasons in his hometown of Las Vegas with the Runnin’ Rebels, Sloucm spent the previous eight seasons (2011-19) as a Utah assistant under Larry Krystkowiak.

An Atlanta native, Morris played 75 games as a collegian across three seasons, first for Stanford, then for Washington in 2007-08. After a short professional career, Morris began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Alabama during the 2010-11 season.

Morris was hired as an assistant by Brannen, then the head coach at Northern Kentucky, in 2016. He then followed Brannen when he became the Cincinnati head coach in 2019 following Mick Cronin’s departure to UCLA that spring.

Smith completing his staff comes at a time when the Utes unofficially have two open scholarships for the 2021-22 season. Two remaining scholarships is the result of Smith pulling four players out of the NCAA Transfer Portal for next season. Morris should be familiar with at least one of those portal recruits, Bearcats freshman guard Gabe Madsen, who was Smith’s first commit as Utah head coach back on April 2.