Xavier Head Coaching Search 2025

[Xville]

Does Tony Bennett have the urge to get back? Would be an upgrade.

I'm guessing no, but worth a call.

Id rather have a root canal every single day of my life than watch that brand of basketball night in and night out. No thank you

[drudy23]

Id rather have a root canal every single day of my life than watch that brand of basketball night in and night out. No thank you

Agree on the style, but the dude won.

[Caveat]

Does Tony Bennett have the urge to get back? Would be an upgrade.

I'm guessing no, but worth a call.

He got out because the money / NIL thing is all that matters in the industry -- being a teacher of the game and developing players doesn't matter any longer.

[XUBand]

No question Sean is a very good coach. I do feel he asks alot of the right questions. He recognize many of the issues that need to be addressed
and he can fix most of those issues. It part of what makes him better than the vast majority of coaches. Still, it feels like he has blond spots and a few other limitations keeping him from getting to that elite level of coaching.

In fact, I think his coaching was not all that great in the game against Illinois. Too many players were out of position too often during the game. Too many 3s taken by the wrong players. Too many shots taken throughout the game with teammates continuing to be no where near the basket. Too many missed assignments again and again with little adjustments. How many times did Illinois run the same play on offense, leaving the 7 footer wide open again and again for an open three. Some lineups were not working. Too often an X guard, on fast break, would drive and score with three defenders in front of him instead of kicking it out to an open teammate on the wing.

It many sound like sour grapes, but I’m convinced there are at least a handful of mid-major coaches who coached in that tournament who could have taken those same X players and gotten a victory against Illinois.

While Sean is likely one of the 40 best coaches, I am not convinced he is a top 20 coach. There is likely a very good reason Sean has never made it to a Final Four all these years, even with the top tier talent he was getting at Arizona: he has the talent to help his teams play better but just not quite the talent to get them playing consistently at quite a high enough level.

Watching Sean coach in the Illinois game felt to me a little like Mack coaching that #1 seed X team against Florida in his final NCAA tournament game as Xavier coach. Both of them were trying to coach, all the while knowing they there about to be announced as the head coach of different school. Sean did look a bit more sedated than usual. He probably just received the offer right before the start of that game.

His coaching during Illinois was because he already accepted the Texas job dude.

[waggy]

Larranaga took the Miami job at 61 or 62. Randy Bennett is about the same age. He is definitely a guy who has done more with less. Consistently making the tournament, and St Marys gym is like Rose Hill.

[boozehound]

I guess if he wins again at X this will change, but Mack never really has the same cred nationally as Miller in the coaching department. Maybe because of Archie hanging around or their dad or the fact that Sean was on TV as a little kid or because he threw the pass to Jerome Lane, whatever. So Mack is not as likely to quickly get better offers like Miller did.

Plus, Miller won a lot of games over quite a few years even though he was ultimately a huge failure at Arizona. Mack, on the other hand, had a tenure that was basically a laughingstock at Louisville starting pretty early on.

That's true, and I'm with you that I don't know exactly why. Miller kind of had a charmed existence at Xavier which I think helped him. He was only there for 4 years and won an Elite 8 and a Sweet 16 then bolted. We were in the A-10 the whole time to it was easy to cruise through the regular season and get into the Dance where anything can happen. He struck while the iron was hot. Mack spent like 9 year here, and had a great team that made the Sweet 16 his first year, but tended to hit a rough patch every 2-3 years which might have impacted his national appeal?

[Xavier]

Xavier hired a search firm for help with the coaching search. But Mack is leading candidate and supposedly 3 others.

I mean…am I wrong, why on earth is a search firm needed if it’s down to 4-5 guys? Why take the time and spend the money? Genuine question. What’s the benefit? Feels ridiculous.

I get the logic years ago to see who is interested and what not. Seems silly

[IM4X]

Any consideration of Mark Schmidt of St. Bonnies; age 63. Good record, Midwest connections. Comments?

My thoughts.

Solid coach. Not sure Schmidt will be be able to recruit at a high enough level needed to get us to that elusive Final Four.

I feel like we several directions might work out.

A head coach who has knocked on the a Final Four door (like Mack has done) and who will be obsessed with doing everything to build a team that can get them there. A coach who come close to a Final Four is much more likely to make donors reach deeper into their pockets to come up with NIL money.

A former X assitant and current top assitant at a two time national champion team (i.e. Luke Murray) is intriguing too. Just being able to say we have a coach who helped put together the back to back National Champions is enough to get people excited about contributing money to what might be.

Finally, a young coach from a mid major conference who has proven he can advance in the NCAA Tournament with lesser talent (e,g. Drake’s coach, Colorado State’s coach) could work out too. That type of coach has clearly proven they have a lot of talent, -are able to find under-the-radar players and can (usually) persuade their best returning players to follow them to the bigger school where they’ll be coaching. Then hopefully they can prove they can recruit at an even higher level with the help of their reputation and ability to sell their abilities.

[drudy23]

Xavier hired a search firm for help with the coaching search. But Mack is leading candidate and supposedly 3 others.

I mean…am I wrong, why on earth is a search firm needed if it’s down to 4-5 guys? Why take the time and spend the money? Genuine question. What’s the benefit? Feels ridiculous.

I get the logic years ago to see who is interested and what not. Seems silly

Because the search firm owner is likely the buddy of a buddy. That's how corporate suits work.

It also draws into question the need for these high salary admin jobs. The boosters run the show now, especially with the dependence on NIL. ADs are literally middle men corporate suits that frankly just get in the way. GC gets to make the decision, but has zero power or influence on the trajectory of the program.

[ArizonaXUGrad]

Who are the other coaches? Those three could be complete shots in the dark we have zero chance to get. That is important. I would love to see Huss/Gerlufson on the list. I am not enamored with Pitino but he would be a good get as well. I am going to guess he will push for a higher profile job. His time at NMU has been very successful and he appears to learned a lot down there.