Holy crap is Louisville bad

[IM4X]

Did not realize Louisville is 0-6, including several losses to very weak teams and three other blowout losses (two to unranked teams). One has to wonder if they will ever win a game this season. It makes me smile a bit.

To think, in taking Mack from X, Louisville thought they were stealing pure gold that would help them rebuild their empire. Instead, Louisville would come to realize they bought (and brought in) a very expensive ticking time bomb that would ultimately go off a few year later, completely leveling a program that went all-in to regain it’s upper echelon status.

https://www.wdrb.com/sports/bozich-what-is-the-first-step-forward-for-louisville-basketball/article_09833fa8-6f5a-11ed-96f9-739d4f10258e.html (https://www.wdrb.com/sports/bozich-what-is-the-first-step-forward-for-louisville-basketball/article_09833fa8-6f5a-11ed-96f9-739d4f10258e.html)

[GoMuskies]

They'll beat Florida A&M and probably Lipscomb. Other than that, maybe two random win. 4-27 seems about right.

[XU 87]

I dont understand the “ticking time bomb”. Mack was a damn good coach at X.

[X-band '01]

There are 3 teams among the ACC/Pac-12 that are abysmally bad this year. Florida State only has 1 win this year (Mercer).

Cal might be even worse - they already have a home loss to Southern (plays at X after the Shootout). If they can't beat Eastern Washington at home, they just might run the table winless for the first time since Savannah State. I can't recall a Power 5 team ever coming that close.

[Muskie]

I dont understand the “ticking time bomb”. Mack was a damn good coach at X.

I do not understand this sentiment either... X would have been glad to have Mack continue on as coach.

[bleedXblue]

Louisville is where they are primarily b/c of very poor leadership and a bunch of very poor decisions......

Mack screwed up the Gaudio situation that brought further scrutiny to an already beleaguered program

Ticking time bomb........NO

[BigMoeMusketeer]

I've watched 3 of their games beginning to end, they are game on the defensive end against mid-level teams, but they are a special kind of horrific at the offensive end. They lost their first three, at home, in buy games, all by a single point. Any offensive ability, flow, design, execution at all and they win those 3 by 10.

I think they'll beat WKU to end what will be a season-beginning 0-9 start, then when they beat Florida A&M they'll think they are back! HA!!

I think they'll win 8 or 9 games this year....which is unbelievable when you really think about it.

[Masterofreality]

I do not understand this sentiment either... X would have been glad to have Mack continue on as coach.

They offered him what they are paying Sean to coach.
The answer is, yup!

[Xville]

They have to be getting booed the entire second half tonight, right? I wonder how much payne can really take?

[GoMuskies]

They have to be getting booed the entire second half tonight, right? I wonder how much payne can really take?

Yeah, all six fans must be screaming.

[xukeith]

Any predictions?

Payne!

[X-band '01]

Yeah, all six fans must be screaming.

Judging by all the fans in the stands, Maryland must travel real well, though.

[GoMuskies]

Louisville stole their best player from Xavier. Check out this tweet: https://twitter.com/RealCardGame/status/1597782759589961728?s=20&t=_arEJGR_pN6ZlePMB1kBGA

"Louisville has lost by 1 point in the 76 minutes that Hercy Miller has played this season and lost by 104 points in the 204 minutes that he has been on the bench."

[IM4X]

Louisville is where they are primarily b/c of very poor leadership and a bunch of very poor decisions......

Mack screwed up the Gaudio situation that brought further scrutiny to an already beleaguered program

Ticking time bomb........NO

Hold on.

I realize some of you may be bigger fans of Mack than me and may not have been nearly as disturbed by the way he handled his exit from X as I was. Still, I did not mean it as a direct shot at Mack. It is not that Mack was exclusively the ticking time bomb. One could argue that a different coach hired by Louisville could potentially have become a ticking time bomb as well, had that coach also struggled to win and then proceeded to make some of the same poor decisions.

Mack became a ticking time bomb as the pressure was thrust upon him from the school.

First, pressure to win quickly. [tick]

Then pressure to make changes to his staff when winning did not happen quickly enough for them. [tick]

Then more pressure when one of those assistants he let go threatened him, saying he was told he’d have employment as long as Mack was employed. [tick]

Then more pressure when Mack made the decision to record the conversation with that assistant as he threatened to expose Chris for improper practices [tick]

Then further pressure was created because of Mack’s decision to hand over the recording to the school [tick]

It finally became too much pressure when that decision to hand over the recording backfired [BOOM]

It took down both Mack and his AD… cost the university tens of millions of dollars and left things far worse for the program than it was before Mack took the job.

[Blue Blooded-05]

All your flaws are ignored when you win and magnified when you lose.

Mack's personality can be abrasive. We all heard the stories when he was here. When he was winning, he was considered an eccentric genius. When he started losing, he was considered a melodramatic prick.

At this point, the schadenfreude of Mack falling on his face has worn off. I wish the guy well and hope he lands on his feet somewhere, so long has his success does not conflict with ours. Unfortunately for him, I doubt his phone is blowing up with offers right now. I think his ticket back to the top is going to require him swallowing his pride and rebuilding his reputation at a MAC school.

[D-West & PO-Z]

All your flaws are ignored when you win and magnified when you lose.

Mack's personality can be abrasive. We all heard the stories when he was here. When he was winning, he was considered an eccentric genius. When he started losing, he was considered a melodramatic prick.

At this point, the schadenfreude of Mack falling on his face has worn off. I wish the guy well and hope he lands on his feet somewhere, so long has his success does not conflict with ours. Unfortunately for him, I doubt his phone is blowing up with offers right now. I think his ticket back to the top is going to require him swallowing his pride and rebuilding his reputation at a MAC school.

Oh, I think he could get a better job than that. I am not sure he wants to coach again though, or move his family again. Especially while his older kids are still in school. He always talked about retiring from coaching young.

[Masterofreality]

Louisville stole their best player from Xavier. Check out this tweet: https://twitter.com/RealCardGame/status/1597782759589961728?s=20&t=_arEJGR_pN6ZlePMB1kBGA

"Louisville has lost by 1 point in the 76 minutes that Hercy Miller has played this season and lost by 104 points in the 204 minutes that he has been on the bench."

Hahaha! How’s Hercy feeling right about now?

[Masterofreality]

Oh, I think he could get a better job than that. I am not sure he wants to coach again though, or move his family again. Especially while his older kids are still in school. He always talked about retiring from coaching young.

This is truth. I think he’s done. He got his big payday.
Now things change in 5 years and you never know, but I never got the impression that he was a lifer coach anywhere. He was basically “55 years old and out” in mindset.

[xubrew]

With all the things that are wrong with Louisville, I don't think Chris Mack has ANYTHING to do with any of it. I'd actually argue that getting rid of him was a mistake, or at the very least had they stayed with him they'd be MUCH better off now. He isn't the one that drove them over a cliff. During the non-COVID portion of his career, he actually did pretty well. I'm not going to go so far to say that he did great, but he certainly didn't do bad.

Louisville is what's wrong with Louisville. Until they fix that they've got no chance.

In general, I cannot think of too many (or really ANY) cases where a school fired a coach in the middle of the season, and ended up better off than they would have been had they just waited until the end and seen how it played out. But, if the school knows who they want, and they want to expedite the process of getting that person, then I can see how going ahead and making a change mid-season and finishing with an interim would make some sense.

But to fire a coach midseason, in an unusual season like the COVID one was, after he'd actually had top 25ish level success prior to COVID, and have NO PLAN WHATSOEVER as to what direction you were going to go after firing the coach....that is perhaps the DUMBEST administrative move OF ALL TIME!

Lousville's biggest problem is more of a general one than a specific one. It's inexperienced leadership within the athletic department that is far too heavily and easily persuaded by boosters and donors who have no more knowledge or experience than the average idiot/drunken fan who calls in to talk radio. That's why they are where they are. It's very possible, and perhaps probable, that Louisville will fail to win five games this year, and will be in the midst of a fifty game stretch where they lost 45 of them. That's not on Chris Mack. AT ALL! And as far as schadenfreude for Chris Mack? Really?? I mean...If anything, I bet he's enjoying this season more than anyone!!

[GoMuskies]

Louisville hired a new President today. She is currently the President of Towson University in Baltimore. All should be fixed now!

[drudy23]

Mack knows basketball - sounds like he let the Louisville circus show get too close. He could land a good job if he wanted to.

It's been proven time and time again that there's just something corrupt and greedy down at the U of L - cesspool that's hard to escape once you get there.

[xubrew]

Louisville hired a new President today. She is currently the President of Towson University in Baltimore. All should be fixed now!

Well Towson certainly has a MUCH better basketball coach (and team) than Louisville.

[zippin']

The whole Louisville-Mack thing makes 0 sense to me.

With Padget at the helm in 2018, they lose in the 3rd round of the NIT to Mississippi State and finish the season 22-14. Obviously not where Louisville fans want to be, but not a dumpster fire season by any means. Padget is then let go and Mack is hired.

Mack has a decent team to start with and makes the tournament as a 7-seed but loses to Minnesota in the first round. Still not ideal if your a Louisville fan but the improvement can already be seen as Mack made the tournament in his first year which would have matched fans' expectations.

In year 2, Louisville starts the season ranked #3 on KenPom and goes on to have a 24-7 record before the season is cancelled from COVID. This team was good and probably would have made a nice run in the tournament had it happened (obviously impossible to say, though). I am not a Louisville fan but I would have to assume they were feeling good about this season and where they were headed before COVID happened. Mack was only in year 2 and had already produced solid results and a very highly rated team.

Year 3 could probably be thrown out due to it being the COVID season, but Louisville still finished 13-7 with two wins over Duke, but they lost in the 1st round of the ACC Tournament (to Duke), and did not make the tournament.

The wheels really fell off in year 4, where Louisville went 13-19 and Mack was fired. Despite starting the season highly rated on KenPom, the team did not play well and pretty much nothing good can be said.

My point is that Mack basically had one bad season and was fired. The argument could be made that his firing of assistants and the mess that came from that was not ideal since the program was already under NCAA investigation, but it is still wild that he was fired after literally one bad year. Now they are stuck with El Ellis and no one else.

[GoMuskies]

He wasn't fired after one bad season. He was fired midway through one season that turned out to be terrible. The Cards were 11-9 when he was fired. Granted, they had lost 5 of 6 at the time.

That 1-5 stretch, follwed by 2-10 under Pegues and the 0-7 start this year means Louisville is 3-22 in the last 25 games.

[xubrew]

He wasn't fired after one bad season. He was fired midway through one season that turned out to be terrible. The Cards were 11-9 when he was fired. Granted, they had lost 5 of 6 at the time.

That 1-5 stretch, follwed by 2-10 under Pegues and the 0-7 start this year means Louisville is 3-22 in the last 25 games.

And based on what we've seen so far, it wouldn't shock me at all if they went 3-22 in their next 25 games. If they can even do that well.

[X-band '01]

Louisville hired a new President today. She is currently the President of Towson University in Baltimore. All should be fixed now!

I wonder if the same President would have chosen Louisville had she known An Ohio State University was about to have a vacancy for their President.

[Masterofreality]

Louisville is what's wrong with Louisville.
Lousville's biggest problem is more of a general one than a specific one. It's inexperienced leadership within the athletic department that is far too heavily and easily persuaded by boosters and donors

And knowin that school and town, because numerous family went to U of L, the Boosters & Donors comment hits home big time.
Under Jurich the passion to move up into a big league (The ACC) dwarfed what SucKS did to finally make the Big 12. I mean, they just didn’t renovate Fairgrounds Stadium like The Borecats did, they built an entirely NEW one for football. Freaking Idiot Pizza Guy was a big driver and others who had vested interests. The YUM Center is a financial disaster and could have only been built if U of L was “Big League” so all kinds of Politicians were in that mix too along with developers. Add to that the unending envy Louisville feels in the shadow of SEC member UK cannot be discounted.
Even my UL honk cousins say that they are in big trouble long term. Hiring their highly desired Payne may be the boosters Waterloo though.