An Early Guide To Louisville's New Coaching Search
There is a changing of the guard at Louisville Basketball headquarters as Chris Mack’s time as head coach has come to an abrupt, midseason end. Earlier today, Mack boxed up his office supplies, Planet Fitness coupons, hidden audio recorders, Michael Jackson-themed family photos, and G-shock watch collection, and turned out the lights on his time as Louisville’s head coach.
Mack’s immediate exit became clear when the University of Louisville Board of Trustees and the University of Louisville Athletic Association Board of Directors scheduled a Wednesday afternoon meeting regarding “personnel matters.” Soon after news of the meeting leaked on Tuesday, Mack’s Tuesday night call-in radio show was canceled and, like Mack, the secret was out.
Now Louisville needs a new basketball coach, a new athletics director, a new school president, and a new board to be appointed soon. Some might even say Louisville needs Jesus too but that’s a conversation for another day.
Today we’re here to discuss Mack’s buh-bye and the new coaching vacancy before a room full of interim seat-fillers plan Louisville’s next move. To those people, good luck with that. If I were you, I would politely excuse myself from the table and go do something else, anything else.
How It Got To This Point
The story of how Louisville’s entire athletic department got to this point is a long one, and this is a family website. If you were paying attention during the end of the Rick Pitino era, you know how sticky it got over there.
As for Mack, it didn’t take long to realize he was in over his head at Louisville. He doesn’t have the personality for the job, his winning was slipping and so was recruiting, and he somehow managed to get the program in even more trouble.
During assistant coach Dino Gaudio’s attempts to extort Mack for firing him, Gaudio alleged to Mack that Mack had committed NCAA violations when UofL was already on probation; meanwhile, Mack was all mic’d up like Salvadore “Big P*ssy” Bonpensiero in The Sopranos during the private conversation between longtime friends.
For his role, Mack earned a six-game suspension for “failure to follow university guidelines and procedures in dealing with former assistant Dino Gaudio’s extortion attempt,” UofL said.
With Mack suspended to open the current 2021-22 season, Louisville lost at home to Furman in the second game of the year. Once Mack returned, the Cardinals suffered embarrassing losses to Depaul at home and to Western Kentucky by 10. Most recently, Louisville lost its last five of six games in ACC play and Mack got booed in his own arena.
The biggest blow to Mack’s job security came last weekend when one of Louisville’s star players all but said the team quit playing for him. When asked after the loss to Notre Dame if the UofL players had tuned out the coaches, Malik Williams took a long pause and replied, “I don’t have a comment for that.”
A week earlier, Mack admitted he didn’t know what motivated his own team or what he would get out of them on a given night. The admission was more proof he is unfit for the Louisville job.
MACK’S YEAR-BY-YEAR RECORD
2018-19: 20–14 (10-8)
2019-20: 24–7 (15–5)
2020-21: 13-7 (8-5)
2021-22: 11-9 (5-5)
Other Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mack’s buyout?
His contract reads $12 million, but it’s believed the two sides met somewhere near the middle to avoid fighting it out in court. Neither party wanted to gamble for a larger share, only to end the relationship as quickly as possible.
Details will come soon.
Do you still have that video?
Yes, I still have that video.
To Mack’s credit, he will remain 1-0 furr-ever against John Calipari minus Kenny Payne (What! What! What!).
But what about the Rooster’s on Preston Hwy.? Will it be OK?
Rooster’s on Preston Hwy. will undoubtedly take a hit in sales from this. It’s never easy for a restaurant to lose a regular. Rooster’s will be fine though.
Is there anything Papa John can do to help?
My guess is Papa John is smoking a celebratory cigar while soaking his feet in a hot garlic butter bath right now. His days of helping have passed.
So who will be the next coach?
In the short term, assistant coach Mike Pegues, who took over the team during Mack’s suspension, will be the interim head coach as Louisville prepares to host ninth-ranked Duke this upcoming Saturday. Pegues was the lone survivor of Mack’s offseason staff turnover that included the very unexpected firings of Dino Gaudio and Luke Murray.
Long term, it’s a long list.
The Early Candidates
Louisville’s coaching search will be chaotic with no leadership in place to see the hire through and incoming NCAA sanctions coming for whoever takes the job. I’m not the guy to suggest a hire because if it were up to me, I would’ve given Chris Mack an extension. But I do have a short list of names who should get invites to Louisville Basketball’s job fair.
SEC CANDIDATES
Bruce Pearl, Auburn – Pearl is high on Louisville fans’ wish list. Yeah, he has Auburn at No. 1 in the country right now, but Pearl wants to coach a blue-blood and Louisville is close enough to the top. He would love all of the attention and admiration that comes with the job, and the city life is more his speed than the plains.
But even if Pearl would leave No. 1 Auburn to put his Ls up, does Louisville need another coach with baggage? Pearl is only a few years removed from his own FBI investigation and he too has a troubled past with the NCAA. Plus Louisville just got rid of one coach who will snitch on his friends, does it need another?
Pat Forde wrote, “This is a school under a massive compliance microscope; hiring a coach who has been sanctioned twice in the last 11 years ain’t happening.”
Mark him down as very unlikely.
Nate Oats, Alabama – Another hot name from the SEC is Alabama’s Nate Oats. Oats’ brand of basketball made him a popular man nationally when he took it from Buffalo to immediate success in the SEC. His stock has declined a little this season with seven losses, most recently to Georgia last night, but the biggest obstacle with Oats is his $10 million buyout. There aren’t enough gas pumps or milk gallons in Jefferson County to crowdsource that kind of money.
Eric Musselman, Arkansas – Musselman’s name is also being thrown around water cooler talk at the local Crown Royal mill today. He’s an unlikely candidate, but not impossible to get if Louisville wants him.
Will Wade, LSU – The double-down candidate on the list, Will Wade would be merging two of the NCAA’s biggest targets into one convenient location. Wade at Louisville would certainly cut back on travel costs for investigations and the FBI could consolidate its phone-tapping division, all while improving UofL’s recruiting.
Funny, at least one person believes Wade is an actual candidate:
Please hire Will Wade.
ANOTHER CANDIDATE WITH NCAA BEEF
Kelvin Sampson, Houston – Sampson wins everywhere he goes, but hiring a guy with a five-year show cause penalty on his resume would be the wrong direction for Louisville.
COME BACK HOME CANDIDATES
Kenny Payne, New York Knicks asst. – Kenny Payne is the only candidate for many around Louisville, particularly fans and alums hoping Louisville will hire its first Black head coach in school history. Of course, Payne is already beloved as a member of Louisville’s 1986 national championship team, and from a coaching standpoint, he’s long been considered one of the best assistants in basketball.
Being an NBA assistant with your buddies is pretty good living though. On Louisville’s end, you’d be putting the program in the hands of someone with zero head coaching experience.
Rick Pitino, Iona – It won’t happen, but I bet the number of Louisville fans who would support it is very high. Embarrassingly high.
Mick Cronin, UCLA – Also very unlikely, Mick Cronin was an assistant at Louisville under Pitino from 2001-03, Pitino’s first two seasons at UofL. Cronin could tap back into those Cincinnati recruiting trails, but right now he seems to be doing very well at UCLA. He has the Bruins in the top 10 at 14-2 and he is probably very uninterested in Louisville’s problems.
ALREADY HOME CANDIDATE
Scotty Davenport – The most affordable option of the bunch, Louisville could save a buck and call up Louisville native/resident/alum/former assistant Scotty Davenport over at Bellarmine to watch over the seat for a few years. Davenport is Louisville through and through, and a proven winner on the sideline.
ALSO AVAILABLE
Gregg Marshall, Unemployed – A name few have mentioned is Gregg Marshall, once the hottest name in college basketball coaching searches, but now funemployed. Marshall needed some time off from his dynasty at Wichita State before the 2020 season following multiple allegations of physical and verbal abuse. He quickly resigned after 13 seasons. Louisville would be a great spot for a comeback, no? He and Louisville could rebrand and change their ways together. I support it.
Dino Gaudio, Unemployed (but not in prison, which is good) – With Mack out of the picture, Gaudio could return to his old office until he can get that retirement he wanted.
Next Steps
The next step is the 4 p.m. board meeting to clear up Mack’s exit and begin the next chapter of Louisville Basketball. Be there if you can. I think they need people.
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