It’s one thing for a coach to move to a different program, but it’s another for a coaching swap to happen. While obviously unintentional, that’s just what happened between Charleston basketball and Louisville basketball. Fresh off the recent announcement that Louisville landed former Charleston coach Pat Kelsey, Charleston itself is set to acquire a former face on the Louisville sidelines. According to sources, Chris Mack is expected to be the next coach of the Cougars, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Charleston’s new coach

Xavier Musketeers head coach Chris Mack calls out a play in the first half of the NCAA Big East Conference basketball game between the Xavier Musketeers and the Georgetown Hoyas at the Cintas Center
Sam Greene / USA TODAY NETWORK

Mack spent four seasons as head coach for Louisville basketball before parting ways with the school in 2022 following the controversial firing of an assistant coach. In his time with the Cardinals, Mack coached a total of 99 games, tallying a 63-36 record. He led Louisville to a March Madness appearance during the 2018-19 season.

Mack’s best coaching years were arguably during his days at the helm of Xavier basketball. Before moving to Louisville, the HC spent nine seasons with the Musketeers, where he led the school to the Big Dance in all but one of his nine campaigns. During the 2016-17 season, Xavier garnered an Elite Eight appearance after pulling off upsets over Maryland (6th seed), Florida State (3rd seed) and Arizona (2nd seed). Their run would eventually end at the hands of Gonzaga.

With Xavier, Mack amassed a total of 215 wins and 97 losses in 312 games coached. Throughout his career (including Louisville), the 54-year-old holds a 278-133 win-loss record.

Chris Mack starts a new chapter with Charleston basketball

Charleston Cougars forward Ben Burnham (13) boxes out Alabama Crimson Tide guard Rylan Griffen (3) during the second half in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

Mack now moves to a Charleston basketball team that’s made two straight March Madness appearances (this season included). Under Pat Kelsey, the Cougars took home the CAA Conference Championship during their 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns. However, there’s more work to be done. Recent results show that Charleston has trouble making it past the first round of the postseason tournament. They fell to number-four seed Alabama this year and bowed out last year at the hands of fifth-seeded San Diego State.

Nevertheless, there’s still a silver lining to all of this. Looking at both games, the Cougars, who ranked outside the top 10 seeds in both years, didn’t let themselves get blown out. Last season’s game against San Diego State, in particular, saw Charleston lose by just six points.

So where’s the silver lining? Basically, it paints a picture that Mack will be handling a team that has the potential to improve and compete. In fact, during last Friday’s elimination against Alabama, Charleston held Crimson Tide forward Grant Nelson to just three points in 15 minutes of action. For more context, Nelson starred in Alabama’s recent Sweet Sixteen takedown of UNC.

Small flashes of potential such as this point to a program that may possibly execute a Cinderella run in the near future, assuming player development and recruitment continue to improve moving forward. This can all just be speculation, but Chris Mack entering the picture means that he’ll be bringing years of coaching expertise and March Madness experience.

Can Mack somehow continue and build on what Kelsey has done in recent years? There’s no guarantee, but it could be possible.