On Tuesday, news broke that the University of Louisville had found a permanent replacement for Rick Pitino in Xavier’s Chris Mack. In fact, Mack himself seemed to confirm the reports with a heartfelt thank you letter to Xavier.
Thank You Xavier! pic.twitter.com/qXjvfko6UN
— Chris Mack (@CoachChrisMack) March 27, 2018
Reportedly, he agreed to a seven-year deal with Louisville that pays him roughly $4 million per year.
Louisville has agreed to a 7-year deal with Xavier’s Chris Mack worth about $4 million per season, sources told ESPN.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 27, 2018
Then, on Tuesday night, a Louisville spokesman, John Karman, threw a bunch of cold water on all this news with a brief statement. Per Eric Crawford of WDRB in Louisville, he began his statement like this: “Please consider the following statement in any of your coverage of our coaching vacancy this evening. You can attribute to me. Thanks.”
“Reports that the University of Louisville has hired a men’s basketball coach are premature. There is no contract. The appropriate boards have not yet met to consider a contract. Nor are the board members aware of any terms in a potential contract.”
Suddenly, we’re getting flashbacks to last year when the University of Tennessee hired Greg Schiano, only to back off after some public resistance. Only this time, there is no public outcry, which makes this all the more confusing.
All we can think about at this point is, “What must Mack be thinking right about now?”