The Louisville Cardinals are currently 11-9 overall and 5-5 in the ACC. For many college basketball programs, that would be a decent place to be. But for Louisville, that’s not going to cut it, and it appears that head coach Chris Mack might not be around to try and fix things much longer.
Nick Coffey reported Tuesday that a joint meeting for the Board of Trustees and the UofL Athletic Association was called for Wednesday that would involve “pending litigation and personnel matters.” He also noted that Mack’s weekly coaches’ show had been canceled.
Meanwhile, Pat Forde tied everything together by reporting that Mack’s future was the topic of conversation at that meeting.
Mack came to Louisville from Xavier where the hope was that he could wash away the stink of the Rick Pitino era and return the program to glory. Things started well enough with a 20-14 finish in his first season and a 24-7 season in Year 2. Louisville was even ranked No. 1 in the country for two weeks that season. However, the shortened third season saw the Cards finish 13-7 and now they find themselves trending closer and closer to mediocrity.
There’s also the fallout from an incident in which Mack was said to have violated school guidelines in his dealings with former assistant coach Dino Gaudio’s attempt to extort the university over potential NCAA violations under his watch. The head coach was suspended for six games to start the season.
From release: "Mack failed to follow University guidelines, policies, and procedures in handling the (extortion) matter. The sanctions imposed upon Coach Mack are unrelated to the extortion attempt itself and the ongoing NCAA process."
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) August 27, 2021
All of which is to say that it’s not terribly surprising that the Chris Mack era may be over in Louisville. And plenty of people took to social media to share their thoughts on the situation while we wait to find out what will happen.
Our advice to Louisville? Hire coaches who don’t commit excessive NCAA violations. It’s a good place to start from.