Good news for the BE, Chris Mack staying at X

[Tugg Speedman]

http://m.espn.go.com/ncb/story?storyId=10772029&src=desktop

Chris Mack will stay Xavier

Chris Mack has coached Xavier to the NCAA tournament four times in the last five seasons.

Mack has decided to remain as the Musketeers' head coach after discussions regarding the California opening, sources told ESPN.

Mack, 44, has led the Musketeers to the NCAA tournament in four of his five seasons since taking over for Sean Miller in 2009. He took Xavier to the Sweet 16 in 2010 and 2012.

Cal coach Mike Montgomery retired earlier this month after six seasons in Berkeley. The 67-year-old had previously been a head coach at Montana, Stanford and in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors. He publicly pushed for his assistant, Travis DeCuire, to get the job.

California was 21-14 this past season and will lose seniors Justin Cobbs and Richard Solomon.

[Knight Commission]

I am having dinner tonight with X's biggest fans and to my surprise they are happy to have him stay. They (and many others at X) would love to have Pat Kelsey as coach.

Mack is a Cincinnati native, went to St Xavier High School and played and graduated from Xavier University. No way he leaves.  The problem is he is making only $800k a year. I am sure this exercise was to up that #.

[JoBo2756]

If only Brad Stevens would come back to Butler...

[77ncaachamps]

If only Brad Stevens would come back to Butler...

Echoing my sentiment...huge loss for Butler and the BE. Easily would have been the poster boy for the league this year.

[marquette20]

If only Brad Stevens would come back to Butler...

Would SLU be in the league, if he had left earlier?

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Would SLU be in the league, if he had left earlier?

That is a great question. On one hand I would say yes, on the other, I would also say they did not want that many teams that far west that early.

[Windyplayer]

Would SLU be in the league, if he had left earlier?

It makes you wonder if the Big East exploratory committee or whatever you call the group that was in charge of plucking teams from other conferenes, looked into the likelihood of big-name coaches staying at target schools. Xavier has a little more name power than Butler to survive a coaching change. Butler, on the other hand, was on the verge of becoming a solid, solid DI basketball program thanks in large part to Brad Stevens, but likely fell short when he took flight for the NBA. There's a REALLY big difference between a Steven's Butler and another coach's Butler.  That being said, the Big East had to know that Stevens could bounce, but wanted Butler in for other reasons--good, well-known midwest basketball program with recent success and a solid fanbase. I hope they land on their feet, but losing Stevens was a blow to the conference and Butler, we'll see if the committee still made the right decision over the next couple of years. We can ill-afford to have another DePaul in the league (OK, it won't get that bad for the Bulldogs).

[wadesworld]

It makes you wonder if the Big East exploratory committee or whatever you call the group that was in charge of plucking teams from other conferenes, looked into the likelihood of big-name coaches staying at target schools. Xavier has a little more name power than Butler to survive a coaching change. Butler, on the other hand, was on the verge of becoming a solid, solid DI basketball program thanks in large part to Brad Stevens, but likely fell short when he took flight for the NBA. There's a REALLY big difference between a Steven's Butler and another coach's Butler.  That being said, the Big East had to know that Stevens could bounce, but wanted Butler in for other reasons--good, well-known midwest basketball program with recent success and a solid fanbase. I hope they land on their feet, but losing Stevens was a blow to the conference and Butler, we'll see if the committee still made the right decision over the next couple of years. We can ill-afford to have another DePaul in the league (OK, it won't get that bad for the Bulldogs).

Butler won't be going to back-to-back NCAA championship games anytime soon (not many schools do...), but they will be fine.  Butler went to the NCAA Tournament in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2007 before Stevens took over the job after that year.  Butler was going to be BAD this year regardless of whether Brandon Miller, Brad Stevens, Al McGuire, John Wooden, Tom Izzo, John Calipari, Phil Jackson, or anyone else was their coach.  They will be fine.  Respect the process.