Louisville got their man. Chris Mack, by way of Xavier, is going to be the head coach of the Louisville basketball team. This is a great hire for Louisville… period. Our track record here at AllSportsDiscussion.com is pretty good with predicting how the recent ACC coaching hires would go. @Hokiesmash_ASD wasn’t impressed by the Kevin Stallings hire at Pitt. Yea that turned into a disaster for Pitt. We were indifferent on the Josh Pastner hire at Georgia Tech. He’s been decent so far, but the long term is a still question mark.
What did we think about Buzz Williams, Danny Manning, and Jim Christian hires back in 2014?
Buzz Williams was a home run, and he was. There were concerns about Danny Manning, and that hasn’t changed. Jim Christian had no buzz when he was hired and a lot of question marks. It’s still that way, especially if Christian can’t cash in on what should be a pretty talented BC team next year. Oh yea when Kevin Keatts was hired at NC State blog contributer @JamesIV1978 approved. That’s working out well I’d say in Raleigh.
So when we tell you Louisville made a great hire, Cardinal fans can feel really good about it. Chris Mack knows the ACC – He was an assistant coach at Wake Forest from 2001-2004. He is in it for the long haul. Mack was an assistant at Xavier from 2004-2009, and then took over head coaching responsibilities from 2009-2018. He’s not likely to be job hopping to the NBA or another school. Most of all Mack is winner – a big winner. In 9 years at Xavier he won 69% of his games with 215 wins. He made the NCAA tournament every year but one.
He had 4 Sweet 16 or better seasons. This continued even when Xavier went from the A-10 to the Big East. This year he coached Xavier to a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. He’s a tough hardnosed coach, but he’s more offensive minded that you might have realized. Two of his last three Xavier teams averaged more than 80 points a game. If his games with Cincinnati are an indication, the games with Kentucky will be wars. That’s music to a Louisville fan’s ears. He takes rivalries pretty seriously.
Xavier is a top-notch basketball school, but Louisville is among the top 10 basketball programs in the country. He’ll have every resource he needs to make Louisville great again. Future NCAA rulings could slow Mack’s work, but it’s just a matter of time before Louisville under Chris Mack is again a national power.
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