Chris Mack (basketball)

Background

Chris Mack was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in North College Hill, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. He graduated in 1988 from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, where he was named 1987-88 Cincinnati Post Metro Player of the Year.

Mack continued on to the University of Evansville, where he played basketball for two seasons and played tuba in band. He then transferred to Xavier in 1990, where he played his final two seasons of eligibility (after redshirting one for transfer rules), and graduated in 1992 with a B.A. in Communication Arts. He is married to Christi Mack (Hester), a former University of Dayton guard (1996–2000). They have three children and reside in Northern Kentucky. In 2017, he earned an honorary degree from Arizona State after beating Arizona in the NCAA tournament

High School Coaching

Mack started his coaching career as junior varsity head coach at McAuley High School, an all-girls high school in Cincinnati, in 1993. In 1995, Mack was named head coach of the girls varsity basketball team at Mount Notre Dame High School in Reading, Ohio, where he received the 1996 Coach of the Year award from the Cincinnati Post.

Xavier & Wake Forest

In 1999, he was named Director of Basketball Operations at Xavier, serving under the late Skip Prosser, whom he followed as an assistant coach to Wake Forest in 2001.

Return to Xavier

In 2004 Mack returned to Xavier, joining new head coach Sean Miller as his top assistant.

Head coach at Xavier

When Miller moved to the University of Arizona in 2009, on April 15, 2009 it was announced that Mack would replace Miller as Xavier head coach. The first top 25 ranking by a Mack-led Xavier team was March 1, 2010 when it made its season debut in the Associated Press Poll at #25. During that season, the Jordan Crawford-led Musketeers won the Atlantic 10 Conference and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16. The Musketeers had question marks heading into the next season, yet Mack guided the team to its fifth consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship before falling to Marquette in the first round of the NCAA tournament. During both of these years Mack earned Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year awards. Heading into the 2011-2012 campaign the Musketeers were slated to be one of the top teams in the country. With senior All-American Tu Holloway returning, Mack and Xavier were on the cusp of a special year. Xavier got off to a great start and a #7 ranking before the brawl with their in-city rival UC Bearcats derailed the Musketeers. Mack's squad did not win the Atlantic 10 Tournament title in 2012 but was able to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 with wins over the Notre Dame and Lehigh. Since Xavier joined the Big East for the 2012-13 season, it has continued to build upon the success attained in the A-10 making the Sweet Sixteen for a third time in six years during the 2014-15 season while attaining regular Top Twenty Five rankings. Mack won several national coach of the year awards following the 2015-16 season in which Xavier finished 28-6, including the Hank Iba Award. The Musketeers had the highest preseason ranking in school history of 7th (Associated Press) under Mack prior to the 2016-17. After overcoming multiple injuries to key players Xavier went on a tremendous run defeating 6th seeded Maryland, 3rd seeded Florida State and 2nd seeded Arizona landing in the Elite Eight for the third time in school history. Interesting side note, Xavier's crosstown rival, UC, has only defeated one team that had a higher seed in the NCAA tourney in its entire history. Something that Xavier did three times in the 2016-2017 season. Xavier's other rival Dayton, has not won in Cincinnati since Jimmy Carter was in office. Except for the time they played UC at UC in the CBI when both teams failed to qualify for the NIT.