Louisville Basketball: Chris Mack arrives with major expectations
The Louisville Cardinals handed former Xavier coach Chris Mack a ton of money to win national championships.
The Louisville Cardinals are officially closing the door on the Rick Pitino era and opening the Chris Mack era.
Louisville landed their top head coaching choice all along Tuesday, flipping Mack from the Xavier Musketeers and the Big East to the ACC.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, the deal Mack signed will pay him almost $30 million over the life of a seven-year contract.
Louisville has agreed to a 7-year deal with Xavier’s Chris Mack worth about $4 million per season, sources told ESPN.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 27, 2018
On the one hand, giving Mack seven years to work his magic suggests the Cardinals understand it will take time to implement his vision. Then again, the coach did win 26 games with Xavier in 2009-10, his first season as a head coach at the Division I level.
The amount of money the team is reportedly paying him, however, builds high expectations. This is a team, after all, that won a (now vacated ) national championship just five years ago; the Cardinals need to contend for those every year.
For what it’s worth, the new coach has a tough road ahead of him, entirely somebody else’s fault. There are more sanctions likely to come against the program for the FBI investigation that led to Pitino’s ouster. Moreover, they may very well be banned from the postseason next year after missing the NCAA Tournament this year.
That, in turn, will harm the team on the recruiting trail.
There’s also a very real chance Deng Adel and Ray Spalding both leave for the NBA Draft.
The new coach is aiming for consistency and continuity as he takes over the proud program. Veteran reporter Jon Rothstein tweeted that the coach is expected to take two key staff members with him from Xavier.
Luke Murray and Mike Pegues are expected to be a part of Chris Mack's staff at Louisville as assistant coaches, per a source. Both were on staff at Xavier.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 27, 2018
Once he establishes himself at his new school, Mack will be able to get the Cardinals up and running.
It’s just a matter of giving him the time he needs as Louisville goes through increased scrutiny.