Reports: Louisville hires Xavier’s Chris Mack as new men’s basketball coach

Xavier’s Chris Mack has been hired as the new head coach of the University of Louisville’s men’s basketball program, according to multiple media reports Tuesday citing unnamed sources within the university.

ESPN’s Jeff Goodman announced on Twitter that the deal is for seven years and worth about $4 million per season.

In a post on Twitter about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, Mack thanked Xavier for the opportunity to play and coach there.

“The past week has been one of the toughest of my life,” Mack posted. “For over 18 years I called Victory Parkway home. ... Ultimately, I felt this situation offered a new and unique challenge that I could not turn down.”

Mack succeeds interim head coach David Padgett whose contract was not renewed after he took over the program in the wake of the firing of Rick Pitino amid an FBI investigation into alleged corruption in college basketball. Padgett’s Cardinals went 22-14 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.

Mack, 48, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, played at Evansville for two seasons before transferring to Xavier to finish his career in 1991. He coached in high school until 1999 when he earned a spot on the late Skip Prosser's staff at Xavier. He followed Prosser to Wake Forest in 2001 before returning as an assistant to Sean Miller at Xavier in 2004.

When Miller left to take the Arizona head coaching position in 2009, Mack was named head coach at Xavier where he’s compiled a 215-97 record in nine seasons, leading the Musketeers to eight NCAA Tournaments, including four Sweet 16s trips and one Elite Eight appearance.

Mack led the Musketeers to a 29-6 record and the school’s first-ever Big East regular-season title and No. 1 tournament seeding this season, but Xavier was upset in the second round by Florida State.

Mack takes over a program reeling from NCAA sanctions last year that stripped the Cardinals of the 2013 NCAA championship. The program has no future restrictions on scholarships or postseason appearances but the NCAA has not revealed how it plans to deal with the school’s alleged involvement in the FBI corruption investigation.

CBS Sports reported that Mack is expected to bring at least two Xavier assistant coaches with him to Louisville in Mike Pegues and Luke Murray. Murray is the son of actor Bill Murray.

CBS Sports also said assistant Travis Steele is the favorite to take over for Mack at Xavier.

The Courier Journal reported Tuesday that Mack’s hiring was expected to be announced at a news conference Wednesday afternoon at the KFC Yum Center after a vote to approve the hire by Louisville’s athletics association and board of trustees.

This story was originally published March 27, 2018 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Reports: Louisville hires Xavier’s Chris Mack as new men’s basketball coach."