Louisville Hires Chris Mack as New Men’s Basketball Coach
The rumors that Xavier head coach Chris Mack was considering Louisville as his next stop are now confirmed
The University and Mack have agreed to terms on a seven-year deal and ESPN is reporting that would the new coach would make "about $4 million" per year.
48-year-old Mack grew up in the Cincinnati area and his wife Christi is from Louisville, she played basketball at Holy Cross and at the University of Dayton. He played college basketball at Evansville and at Xavier before beginning his coaching career, first in high school then he joined the staff at Xavier, then Wake Forest, then he went back to Xavier to serve under current Arizona coach Sean Miller.
CBS is reporting Mack will bring his Xavier assistant coaches, Mike Pegues and Luke Murray, actor Bill Murray's son, with him to Louisville.
To say the Men's Basketball program has had a rough year is an understatement. Head Coach Rick Pitino was fired last October and interim head coach David Padgett walked away after the Cardinals lost to MTSU in the second round of this year's NIT. The Cardinals missed the NCAA tournament and they finished with a record of 22-14.
Xavier was the number one seed in the West region in this year's NCAA tournament. They were upset in the second round by Florida State. Xavier made eight NCAA appearances in Mack's nine year tenure.
Mack took to Twitter to thank Xavier and the fans