Chris Mack (basketball)

Last updated
Chris Mack
Current position
Title Head coach
Team Charleston
Conference CAA
Record8–2 (.800)
Biographical details
Born (1969-12-30) December 30, 1969 (age 54)
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Playing career
1988–1990 Evansville
1991–1993 Xavier
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1993–1994 McAuley HS (JV)
1995–1999 Mount Notre Dame HS
1999–2001 Xavier (assistant)
2001–2004 Wake Forest (assistant)
2004–2009Xavier (assistant)
2009–2018Xavier
2018–2022 Louisville
2024–present Charleston
Head coaching record
Overall286–135 (.679)
Tournaments NCAA: 11–9 (.550)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Big East regular season (2018)
2 Atlantic 10 regular season (2010, 2011)
Awards
Big East Coach of the Year (2018)
Henry Iba Award (2016)
Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (2011)
Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award (2011)

Christopher Lee Mack [1] (born December 30, 1969) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach at the College of Charleston. He formerly served as head coach for the University of Louisville and Xavier University. [2]

Contents

Background

Chris Mack was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in North College Hill, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. He graduated in 1988 from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, where he was named 1987–88 Cincinnati Post Metro Player of the Year. [3]

Mack continued on to the University of Evansville, where he played basketball for two seasons. [4] [5] He then transferred to Xavier University in 1990, where he played his final two seasons of eligibility (after redshirting one due to then-current NCAA transfer rules), and graduated in 1992 with a B.A. in Communication Arts. [5] He is married to the former Christi Hester, a Louisville native and former University of Dayton guard (1996–2000). [6] They have three children and resided in Northern Kentucky before he took the Louisville position.

Coaching career

High school

Mack started his coaching career as junior varsity head coach at McAuley High School, an all-girls high school in Cincinnati, in 1993. In 1995, Mack was named head coach of the girls varsity basketball team at Mount Notre Dame High School in Reading, Ohio, where he received the 1996 Coach of the Year award from the Cincinnati Post .

College

Xavier and Wake Forest

In 1999, he was named Director of Basketball Operations at Xavier University, serving under the late Skip Prosser, whom he followed as an assistant coach to Wake Forest in 2001.

Return to Xavier

In 2004 Mack returned to Xavier, joining new head coach Sean Miller as his top assistant.

Head coach at Xavier

When Miller moved to the University of Arizona in 2009, on April 15, 2009, it was announced that Mack would replace Miller as Xavier head coach. [7] The first top 25 ranking by a Mack-led Xavier team was March 1, 2010 when it made its season debut in the Associated Press Poll at #25. During that season, the Jordan Crawford-led Musketeers won the Atlantic 10 Conference and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16. The Musketeers had question marks heading into the next season, yet Mack guided the team to its fifth consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship before falling to Marquette in the first round of the NCAA tournament. During both of these years Mack earned Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year awards. Heading into the 2011–2012 campaign the Musketeers were slated to be one of the top teams in the country. With senior All-American Tu Holloway returning, Mack and Xavier were on the cusp of a special year. Xavier got off to a good start and were ranked as high as #7 before a bench-clearing brawl with their in-city rival Cincinnati Bearcats derailed the Musketeers. Mack's squad did not win the Atlantic 10 Tournament title in 2012 but was able to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 with wins over Notre Dame and Lehigh. Since Xavier joined the reconfigured Big East for the 2013–14 season, it has continued to build upon the success attained in the A-10 making the Sweet Sixteen for a third time in six years during the 2014–15 season while attaining regular Top 25 rankings. Mack won several national coach of the year awards following the 2015–16 season in which Xavier finished 28–6, including the Hank Iba Award. The Musketeers had the highest preseason ranking in school history of 7th (Associated Press) under Mack prior to the 2016–17. After overcoming multiple injuries to key players Xavier went on a tremendous run defeating 6th seeded Maryland, 3rd seeded Florida State and 2nd seeded Arizona landing in the Elite Eight for the third time in school history. On January 18, 2018, Mack passed former Xavier head coach Pete Gillen and became the all-time leader in Xavier coaching wins after defeating St. Johns 88–82. Mack eventually would lead his 2018 Xavier squad to the school's first No. 1 seed, becoming the 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament's West Region. The team would eventually bow out of the tournament in the second round to Florida State, losing 75–70 to the West Region's 9-seed. Xavier finished the 2018 season with a 29–6 record.

University of Louisville

Mack coaching Louisville in 2019 Chris Mack 2019.jpg
Mack coaching Louisville in 2019

On March 27, 2018, Mack agreed to terms on a seven-year contract worth about $4 million annually to become the next head coach at the University of Louisville. [8] In December 2019 Mack's Louisville basketball team was ranked #1 in the country for two weeks before stumbling and losing 3 out of 5 games. In January 2020 the team recovered to beat #3 ranked Duke in a statement win.

Mack was suspended from the first six games of the 2021–22 season. The university claimed that Mack violated the school's guidelines while dealing with former assistant coach Dino Gaudio's extortion attempts. Unbeknownst to Gaudio, Mack recorded the conversation in which he fired the assistant coach and was threatened by Gaudio for doing so. [9] [10] On January 26, 2022, it was announced that Mack was out as head coach of the University of Louisville. [11] Louisville paid Mack $4.8 million — $133,000 per month for three years with his termination. [12]

College of Charleston

After a two-year coaching hiatus, Mack signed a five-year contract worth roughly $1.1 million annually to lead the College of Charleston men's basketball team, after former Mack-assistant and Charleston head coach Pat Kelsey left to coach at the University of Louisville. [13]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
SeasonTeamOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Xavier Musketeers (Atlantic 10 Conference)(2009–2013)
2009–10 Xavier 26–914–2T–1st NCAA Division I Sweet 16
2010–11 Xavier 24–815–11st NCAA Division I Round of 64
2011–12 Xavier 23–1310–63rd NCAA Division I Sweet 16
2012–13 Xavier 17–149–7T–6th
Xavier Musketeers (Big East Conference)(2013–2018)
2013–14 Xavier 21–1310–8T–3rd NCAA Division I First Four
2014–15 Xavier 23–149–96th NCAA Division I Sweet 16
2015–16 Xavier 28–614–42nd NCAA Division I Round of 32
2016–17 Xavier 24–149–97th NCAA Division I Elite Eight
2017–18 Xavier 29–615–31st NCAA Division I Round of 32
Xavier:215–97 (.689)105–49 (.682)
Louisville Cardinals (Atlantic Coast Conference)(2018–2022)
2018–19 Louisville 20–1410–8T–6th NCAA Division I Round of 64
2019–20 Louisville 24–715–5T–2ndNo postseason due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 Louisville 13–78–57th
2021–22 Louisville 6–85–5
Louisville:63–36 (.636)38–23 (.623)
Charleston Cougars (Coastal Athletic Association)(2024–present)
2024–25 Charleston 8–20–0
Charleston:8–2 (.800)0–0 (–)
Total:286–135 (.679)

      National champion        Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

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References

  1. ↑ "Chris Mack" (PDF), Wake Forest 2003–04 Basketball, Wake Forest University, p. 81, 2003, archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-01-10, retrieved 2019-01-10
  2. ↑ @ericcrawford (28 March 2018). "John Karman, University of Louisville..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. ↑ "XAVIER OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE - Men's Basketball". Archived from the original on 2009-04-09. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  4. ↑ "Past Hall of Fame Inductees". St. Xavier High School. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  5. 1 2 "Player Bio: Chris Mack". Archived from the original on 9 April 2009. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
  6. ↑ Archdeacon, Tom (2009-04-23). "Christi Mack knows both sides of UD-Xavier rivalry". Dayton Daily News. Dayton, Ohio, USA: Cox Ohio Publishing. Archived from the original on 2011-08-10. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  7. ↑ "Chris Mack Introduced As Xavier's New Men's Basketball Head Coach". Archived from the original on 21 April 2009. Retrieved 16 April 2009.
  8. ↑ Greer, Jeff (March 27, 2018). "Louisville hires Chris Mack as new men's basketball coach". Courier Journal. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  9. ↑ Norlander, Matt (August 27, 2021). "Louisville suspends coach Chris Mack for first six games of upcoming season for breaking school rules". CBS.
  10. ↑ Forde, Pat (August 27, 2021). "'You're Going to F—ing Pay Me': Inside Dino Gaudio's Explosive Conversation With Chris Mack". SI.
  11. ↑ Norlander, Matt (January 26, 2022). "Louisville parts ways with Chris Mack: Cardinals move on from basketball coach in midst of fourth season". CBSSports.com . Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  12. ↑ Hamilton, Dana O'Neil and Brian. "How Chris Mack fell so hard, so fast at Louisville: 'He just didn't handle all of this very well'". The Athletic.
  13. ↑ "Charleston hires ex-Louisville coach Chris Mack to take over for new Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey". AP News. 2024-04-02. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
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