Chris Mack is no longer the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals men’s basketball team.
Chris Mack has been fired as head coach of the Louisville men’s basketball team, according to an announcement made Wednesday, and he has stated that he is not “bitter” about the situation.
The board of trustees and the University of Louisville Athletic Association both approved Mack’s separation agreement, interim athletic director Josh Heird revealed. Mack signed a deal in 2018 that included a $12 million buyout, but the two sides reduced it down to $4.8 million as part of the arrangement, according to ESPN sources.
“It’s a hard place,” Mack told reporters on Wednesday. “You’ve gotta win games.”
Mike Pegues, Louisville’s associate head coach, has been named interim coach for the remainder of the season.
Mack and Heird had multiple conversations throughout the season, and sources told ESPN that the two sides had determined the environment had gotten too toxic for Mack to stay.
“Coaching transitions are always difficult, especially during the course of the season, but Chris and I agreed that it is in the best interests of our student-athletes that he step aside immediately,” Heird said in a statement that referred to the decision as the result of a “mutual agreement to part ways, effective immediately.”
Louisville fell to 11-9 after a road loss to Virginia on Monday, their fifth in six games. Mack was suspended without pay for the first six games of the season, and Louisville has gone 6-8 since he returned.
“It has been building. We all want the best for Louisville, and I still do. “That won’t change,” Mack told reporters. “It doesn’t matter when or anything like that. What’s crucial is that these guys can connect. I’m humble enough that if I’m not the appropriate person, that’s okay, man. I only want the best for them. They’re wonderful kids. I adored my Louisville team. My children enjoyed it here. I have no bitterness.”
Mack’s connection with the fan base had deteriorated since last March, when the Cardinals were eliminated from the NCAA tournament.
“I love them. “I love them,” Mack stated on Wednesday. “They want to win.” S—, I agree. I’m not bitter at all. I’ve got my family and a wonderful existence. “I’m good.”
Mack, 52, stated numerous times during the previous month that he was having difficulty communicating with his team, once claiming that “this team has been impossible for us to figure out.”
Following Louisville’s loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, senior forward Malik Williams was questioned if the players were still responding to the coaching staff.
“I don’t have a comment for that,” Williams added.
Mack was hired in 2018 after spending nine seasons at Xavier. He guided Louisville to the NCAA tournament in his first season and finished second in the ACC in Year 2. The Cardinals were on track to make the Sweet 16 before the coronavirus pandemic canceled the tournament.
Last season, however, Louisville finished 13-7 and missed the NCAA tournament. The Cardinals began 9-1 but crumbled in the final two months. Mack finished 68-36 at Louisville.
In September, the NCAA updated a previous notice of charges against Louisville to include three alleged infractions by the men’s basketball program under Mack. The alleged infractions come from former assistant coach Dino Gaudio’s termination last spring, which led in Gaudio attempting to extort Mack. In a tape, Gaudio threatened Mack with exposing violations if he was not given the remainder of his wages.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) claimed that Mack “either participated in, condoned, or negligently disregarded violations involving graduate assistants and others participation in practice as well as the creation and use of personalized recruiting videos and aids.”
It went on to say, “Mack did not demonstrate that he promoted an atmosphere for compliance.”
Mack was suspended for the first six games of the season for failing to follow university norms and procedures after Gaudio’s dismissal.
Pegues filled in for Mack during the first six games of the season.
“I love Mike,” Mack said. “I coached beside him for ten years. He is a special individual. He will connect, and he deserves this opportunity. I believe he will perform an excellent job, just as I expected him to do while I was away.
