Louisville Hires Xavier Basketball Coach Chris Mack On Seven-Year Deal

Louisville has hired Xavier’s Chris Mack as its new men’s basketball head coach on a seven-year deal, the Cardinals announced Tuesday.

Chris Mack Louisville head coach deal

Mack — whose deal is reportedly worth $4 million — replaces David Padgett, who served as Louisville’s interim coach in 2017-18 after longtime coach Rick Pitino was fired amid a pay-for-play scandal before the start of the season.

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Mack has been the head coach of the Musketeers for the past nine seasons, and helped the team reach the NCAA Tournament eight times. Xavier had at least one victory in six of their eight NCAA showings. The team captured the Big East championship this year, and took the top seed in the NCAA Tournament until Florida State defeated them in Round 2.

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On Tuesday afternoon, Mack took to Twitter to thank Xavier:

Mack, 48, played for Xavier and Evansville before working as an assistant for both the Musketeers and Wake Forest. He now inherits a Louisville program that not only missed the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years, but also had its 2013 national title — among other victories — vacated due to the aforementioned scandal.

Allegations against Louisville include payments of $100,000 to the family of recruit Brian Bowen to sign with the Cardinals.

Mack finishes his tenure with Xavier with a 212–96 record — including three Sweet 16 appearances and three Elite Eight appearances.