BTO Exclusive: Chris Mack & Xavier - 'Why Not Us?'

BTO Exclusive: Chris Mack & Xavier - 'Why Not Us?'

Xavier has a tradition of keeping pace with basketball's powerhouses despite losing coaches to the riches of BCS programs.  Now, with Sean Miller's flight to Arizona, it's Chris Mack's turn to keep X on the spot. 


By JOSH KATZOWITZ
Basketball Times Online

CINCINNATI – About two months ago, Xavier coach Chris Mack sat in his new office – still basically untouched from the decorating decisions Sean Miller made before he departed for Arizona – and explained his philosophy, his expectations, how he expected to uphold the Musketeers tradition and build upon it for the future.
 Before he could start on all that, though, he had to get used to the idea of being the man in charge. Even as he sat in an office that only had just begun to feel like home.
 “There’s so much more of a demand on your time,” said Mack, a former Xavier captain who was Miller’s assistant for five seasons. “Trying to prioritize what’s important is the most difficult thing to handle. Everybody, when you’re an assistant coach, sort of envisions that when that time comes, I’ll be prepared. You’ve sat through the meetings. You’ve done everything essentially that a head coach has done. But you haven’t had to worry about the time of people trying to get to you for interviews, for speaking engagements, for causes.
“Being able to make sure our basketball program is our primary focus and all the other things coming secondary can be challenging.”
Mack was as prepared as he could be when Miller, who led the Musketeers to the Elite Eight in 2008 and a Sweet 16 appearance last year, left for Tucson. Though Derrick Brown announced after Miller was gone that he would forgo his final year of eligibility for the NBA Draft, Mack still returns plenty of talent.
Mack will have junior guard Dante Jackson, senior center Jason Love and sophomore point guard Terrell Holloway to help guide his squad. He’ll also welcome in Indiana transfer Jordan Crawford, who will instantly become the team’s best player when the games begin. They all know about Xavier’s tradition. They all know what Mack expects of them. They all know that they can’t afford to take a step back in his first season as head coach.
“They didn’t hire Chris Mack to make the NCAA tournament this year,” Miller said from Arizona. “Xavier hired Chris Mack to continue the great tradition into the future. Chris knows expectations are part of the deal. That’s one of the things that make Xavier great. He’s going to get to make decisions for the long haul. There’s never a short picture at Xavier. Chris won’t feel the pressure of this year, but he’ll wake up every day making those decisions for the big picture.”
Xavier seems to be the perfect gig for Mack. He grew up in Cincinnati, and though he spent the first two years of his college career at Evansville, he transferred home to Xavier for the final two seasons. He was beset by injuries, but that didn’t dampen his love for the Musketeers and their tradition.
His coaching career took him to Wake Forest to work under former Xavier coach Skip Prosser, but when Thad Matta left the Musketeers for Ohio State and Miller took over the Xavier head coaching job, Miller hired Mack as his top assistant coach.
“I just have so many memories of winning championships and having special moments with teammates that I still keep in contact with to this day,” Mack said. “On a more global scale, I believe in the mission of Xavier – that it’s not just about basketball. It’s about trying to make sure that kids leave here with the ability to handle themselves in the real world. It’s one of those things that Xavier has been who I am and what I believe in. That’s never really changed.”
What has changed – at least in the preseason – is where his program stands in relation to Dayton, the Musketeers’ biggest Atlantic 10 rival. The Flyers, who made the second round of the NCAA tournament last season and return all but one of the top nine scorers, were crowned as the top team in the A-10 in the preseason poll.
But the preseason prognosticating doesn’t concern Mack. He’s more concerned about the program’s life beyond just the 2009-10 season.
“I feel like we can win a national championship at Xavier,” Mack said. “I don’t think it’s as easy for us as it is for Roy Williams at North Carolina or Rick Barnes at Texas or Ben Howland at UCLA. But I know this: in the last five years, we’ve been a heartbeat away from the Final Four.
“We have to keep building. Keep getting the right type of kids who believe in winning and fostering that belief over their career and build toward a national championship. I look at where the program was 20 years ago and where it is today, and if that same growth can occur over the next 10-20 years, then why not?”


Photo Credit: www.xavier.edu