Chris Mack is MY coach!

[Drew's Crew]

I love the positive sentiment on this board today, and am not happy with the result last night, but happy with the effort nonetheless.

Throughout this past season, Mack came under fire for a lot of different reasons, some deserved, others a bit unfair. I think it is important to keep in mind how fortunate we are to have what we have in Mack. We have to keep it in perspective.

Mack has taken his lumps on the recruiting trail for sure, and I think it took him a couple years to understand what type of player he was looking for. Because of that, we were left with some barren recruiting classes with players transferring and Dez and Semaj leaving early for other reasons.

Chris Mack has taken XU to 3 Sweet Sixteens in 6 years. Yes, I know - we want more than that. So do I. And I can guarantee you none of us want it more than Mack.

One of the issues with Xavier over the decades has been our coaches leaving for "bigger" or "better" programs once they find sustained success in the Queen City. In my opinion, this has kept XU from achieving its ultimate goal of reaching a FF and getting a championship.

Sometimes it is hard to keep our expectations of coaches in check. Look what we have become accustomed to over the years? We have found INCREDIBLE basketball coaches time and time again to lead our program. Instead of looking at Mack's weaknesses, I think people need to focus more on his strengths. By all accounts, Mack is here for the long haul. He LOVES Xavier University and his family loves Cincinnati. I love how proud he is of our history, our tradition and our program. He gets it. These are intangible qualities that you CAN'T find in other coaches! How many programs have an alma mater determined to take his program that he loves to the next level? It really is something special, something I don't think we focus on enough.

Mack's personal history aside, I think this year was a bellwether season for him from a coaching standpoint. There were a lot of moving pieces this year, and while we were talented, I don't think we were quite as developed as we would have liked. Our offensive efficiency was one of the best in the country, and more importantly, our defense made ENORMOUS strides throughout the year. Mack had us playing the best basketball when we needed to.

Mack can recruit.

Mack can coach.

He actually does both of them at a very high level.

His players LOVE playing for him.

I love Xavier basketball - some would say too much. And watching Miller all week with his AZ gear on reminiscing about his time at X, I began to realize something. Miller loved it here, he did. But it was just a school for him. It was another city. He's a Pitt guy. Cincinnati was no different to him when he got here than any other city.

Mack is a Xavier man. He loves his alma mater, which just so happens to be mine.

Mack hates UC.

Mack hates Butler.

Although he wouldn't publicly admit to either.

Chris Mack is MY COACH. And I can't wait for him to take us to the promised land. He will enjoy more than anyone knows.

I am going to raise a glass to Coach Mack tonight while watching the NCAAs and get all kinds of jacked up thinking about Mack leading another group of young, coachable Muskies to another run at the title next season and for many years to come.

[xu82]

What he said.... since I couldn't say it better.

[Masterofreality]

Hear, Hear!

As I've said before, every year you coach, you get better. You could see great progression in the staff's preparation and strategy throughout the year- to the point of being flexible to run different defenses to fit the personnel. Look at how much zone we played last night. We probably played more zone in the last 6 games than we played in the previous 6 years!

The new "Coach Endowment" sets X up to be financially competitive and CMack is comfortable. I see this to be a stress free off season.

Go X!

[blobfan]

Agree completely. We are lucking to have Chris Mack and his whole family with us as a program. That there's room for growth, and signs of it, bodes well. I'm glad we haven't got out ceiling yet and am looking forward to the next couple seasons. I just need to learn to suck up the Big East losses. DePaul is not St Bonaventure.

[Xavier]

I admit, I was definitely critical of Mack and questioned multiple times on here if he was the right coach. I'm glad to admit I was wrong. Implementing the 1-3-1 zone was huge for us this year and I fully expect to see it as an option for years to come and I love it. He is underrated in terms of coaching plays out of the time out. I found myself saying "great play out of the time out" a lot (example, last night down 7 Arizona called a time out. X ran a great play to get Myles an open 3 which he drained. Also a great play out of timeout was Dee Davis getting an open 3 late against UC). Also, the guards missed some open looks last night and the more I think about it the more I think we missed a lot of open looks this season but we are getting open looks. Coaching.

I think he is starting to recruit his style more and more. Looking forward to the length London and Sumner bring next season. Mack is on a mission to bring Xavier a final four. For the first time-I believe he can accomplish that.

[Titanxman04]

Public reps since I got you on the other thread. Great bit there, friend. Agree 100%.

[markchal]

I agree with this. The offense moved the ball very well and I'd like to echo others on how important that 1-3-1 was to essentially saving our season. He also got this team playing its best ball at the end of the season, finally.

I do think some of the criticism this season was certainly justified, I also think this year, more than any other, he made more puzzling statements in the media, but part of that could just be candor that's unusual in this line of work.

I definitely think he proved a lot this year in terms of his coaching and he should have also bought himself plenty of time with his detractors, so it will be interesting to see how things unfold the next few years. Certainly promising, although I'm really looking forward to Jalen and Myles senior year. I think that will be the year to watch, since even next season we will have a lot of newer players jumping into key roles (only Trevon/JP played considerable minutes out of our six frosh class), but we will bring back almost everyone the year after with a TON of experience. The next two years are the years to watch, IMO.

[Milhouse]

Hear, Hear!

As I've said before, every year you coach, you get better. You could see great progression in the staff's preparation and strategy throughout the year- to the point of being flexible to run different defenses to fit the personnel. Look at how much zone we played last night. We probably played more zone in the last 6 games than we played in the previous 6 years!

The new "Coach Endowment" sets X up to be financially competitive and CMack is comfortable. I see this to be a stress free off season.

Go X!

Really hope this is still the case with Texas opening up...not saying they'd go for him but it could cause some dominoes

[markchal]

Really hope this is still the case with Texas opening up...not saying they'd go for him but it could cause some dominoes

I think now that we're in the Big East that we will have to worry about things like this less. The Xavier job is much better than it used to be. I think we would start to worry if we start making some really deep runs in the tournament, and then lose him to a truly elite job.

[SemajParlor]

Really could make a strong case Mack outcoached Miller last night.