Vanderbilt Basketball: 12 candidates to replace Jerry Stackhouse as Head Coach

Chris Mack

We’re not going to keep ragging on Stackhouse, but we will say that hiring someone with head coaching experience is important for the Commodores this time around. Additionally, this Vanderbilt brass would be very intrigued to notice someone with nearly a decade of power conference head coaching experience in Mack. While he’d be something of a retread hire that certainly isn’t a bad thing in this case.

A former player at both Evansville and Xavier, Mack began his coaching career at the high school level before rejoining his alma mater under Skip Prosser. He coached under Prosser and later Sean Miller with the Musketeers before becoming head coach in 2009. Across the next nine seasons Mack led Xavier to eight NCAA Tournaments, an Elite Eight, three Sweet Sixteen’s, and oversaw their transition into the Big East. He left for Louisville in 2018 and lasted four seasons, though he had that program in much better shape than it’s currently looking.

Mack has spent the last two years out of coaching, likely waiting for the right opportunity to get back into coaching. He showed that he’s a valuable head coach with his nearly decade at the helm at Xavier, even if things didn’t work out at Louisville. Vanderbilt would be getting a head coach with a ton of experience and someone who could reinstate a winning culture for the Commodores. Don’t be shocked if Mack is one of the favorites as a result.