Richard Pitino Jr is the next head coach.

[D-West & PO-Z]

I'm generally curious to hear from the people who say this is a "home run hire" and "has more upside than Mack." He has 13 years of head coaching experience has been to a whopping 4 NCAA tourneys and won a grand total of 2 games. Not getting to the 2nd weekend twice but the 2nd round. Twice in 13 years. Where is all this upside and home run hire coming from? I see a guy who would have been fired years ago had he put up these results at Xavier and he was already fired from Monnesota. I think this is a terrible hire on a guy who will either be fired in 4 years or leave for a bigger program in 4 years. Either way we're starting over.

Mack left for Louisville and everyone knew that would always be a possibility with his wife from there and wanting to move back there to be closer to her family. Mack has also said he wants to retire at a young age in mid to late 50's which he is there now. If Mack missed coaching that, bad I trust him a lot more than Miller or Pitino to be at X for 8-10 years before officially retiring.

Also watching Pitino on Red Storm rising, I get the impression he does not want to work as hard as his dad to have that kind of success. Seeing him there versus his dad was very telling and not in a good way. I remember walking away from that thinking, I'm really glad he's not our coach...and now he is.

1. He was 30 years old when he got the job at Minnesota. 30! Think about how young that is.

2. It's Minnesota, they've only been to 14 tournaments in their history and Pitino took them to two of them. He got them their 2nd highest seed ever since the tourney expanded in 1985. Won the NIT in his first year.

3. New Mexico had not been to the tournament in a decade before he got there. He just went to the last 2.

4. He is pretty young still (42) and eager for high major success that he has never had. He is not on the last leg of his career like Mack.

5. Plays at a fast tempo and was 20th and 23rd in KenPom defensive efficiency the last 2 years.

6. The talent he recruited to NM has been pretty astounding. 2 guys were transfers this past year and ended up as AA's. Then he had Dent the POY in the conference this year. The guy clearly has an eye for finding talent with lesser resources.

7. Beat UCLA, Marquette, Colorado State (twice) this year and gave MSU all they could handle.

8. I am excited for a new perspective and a fresh start in our program.

9. We are going to get National attention at times throughout the season like we have never seen.

I was getting pretty excited for Mack but that would have been a safe, boring hire. Before we turned Mack down I was on record worried about his motivation. He has always been a guy who has made it clear he isn't a lifer coach and he's already 55. By other accounts as well his assistant did all the heavy lifting with recruiting. A LOT has changed since Mack was a high major coach.

Mack also literally had ZERO other suitors this offseason with a lot of pretty good jobs open. If he wasn't a former Xavier coach, and winningest coach in our programs history, none of us would have been interested.

Too often our program has taken the safe route. Most of the time that has worked out but it has also burned us bad. I like taking this new route and I think it presents us with a much higher ceiling even though the floor may be lower as well.

[D-West & PO-Z]

We desperately needed a high floor guy after what Steele did.

This is much too often the mindset of Cincinnati fans and exactly why Marvin Lewis got to spend a decade and a half basking in mediocrity, while any other NFL coach would have been fired in 1/3rd of the time.

[Xavier]

I would’ve been happy with Mack. Hell, he was who I wanted. But overall, X has taken the safe route ever since Mack left and look where it brought us. The idea that a fresh face is needed to elevate the program makes sense to me. I can buy that. I don’t know if he’s the right guy, there’s a lot to like.

With less resources and a smaller program, he did more at NM than Miller did at X the past two years. If X does have to do more with less (as Sean puts it) at least Pitino has shown that he can do just that in his rebuild of NM.

[Dblue]

Agree with every word. I hope I eat crow.

I mean, you can't NOT hire the best candidate because he left us once already. Most posters here are saying Pitino is gone in 3 to 4 years either because he's great or horrible. How is that better than rehiring an alum with past SOLID results who MIGHT leave again.

Instead of a high floor and a middle ceiling, we hired a low floor with a high ceiling. We desperately needed a high floor guy after what Steele did.

Again I truly truly hope I'm eating crow in 1 to 2 years.

Serious question because I don't know the answer...has there ever been a coach return to a school and matched or improved the second time there? Small sample size, but Miller, Matta, Dave Leito all had less success when they returned.

[IM4X]

Agree with every word. I hope I eat crow.

I mean, you can't NOT hire the best candidate because he left us once already. Most posters here are saying Pitino is gone in 3 to 4 years either because he's great or horrible. How is that better than rehiring an alum with past SOLID results who MIGHT leave again.

Instead of a high floor and a middle ceiling, we hired a low floor with a high ceiling. We desperately needed a high floor guy after what Steele did.

Again I truly truly hope I'm eating crow in 1 to 2 years.

Pitino is no Steele. Great recruiter but Steele didn’t take his team to the dance and then beat a good team like Marquette.

The more I think about this choice the better I feel.

X is bigger than any one coach we’ve had. Good on Greg for saying “No more coaches are welcomed back who walked out on us.” We are no longer interested in the prodigal son coming home expecting opened arms.

Nope. Our message moving forward is this: If you leave us for what you believe to be greener pastures, don’t even think of come back. If you fail, go find some other place to try to resurrect your career. We are now only going to be loyal to those who are loyal to us. We will keep moving forward and upward.

I believe Pitino is going to be a very pleasant surprise.

[drudy23]

This is much too often the mindset of Cincinnati fans and exactly why Marvin Lewis got to spend a decade and a half basking in mediocrity, while any other NFL coach would have been fired in 1/3rd of the time.

Exactly right.

It's a risk, but what isn't? We're taking a swing. I'm also ready for a fresh perspective and some new ideas. It's time.

As I said previously, if you continue to grasp the safe Midwest mentality, this is probably going to be frustrating for you. But I'm excited to see what's possible from a new player, new scheduling, and especially a new defensive perspective.

People in this city cannot get out of their own way with fear of something new. It 100% holds this cities sports programs back.

Nothing is guaranteed, but at least someone shot their shot.

[Tim]

Man I hope you are all correct. I definitely have major PTSD from Steele. But the comparison to Marvin Lewis is completely wrong. I was screaming for his head before anyone else lol. And for that matter, for zac Taylor's too.

[xudash]

1. He was 30 years old when he got the job at Minnesota. 30! Think about how young that is.

2. It's Minnesota, they've only been to 14 tournaments in their history and Pitino took them to two of them. He got them their 2nd highest seed ever since the tourney expanded in 1985. Won the NIT in his first year.

3. New Mexico had not been to the tournament in a decade before he got there. He just went to the last 2.

4. He is pretty young still (42) and eager for high major success that he has never had. He is not on the last leg of his career like Mack.

5. Plays at a fast tempo and was 20th and 23rd in KenPom defensive efficiency the last 2 years.

6. The talent he recruited to NM has been pretty astounding. 2 guys were transfers this past year and ended up as AA's. Then he had Dent the POY in the conference this year. The guy clearly has an eye for finding talent with lesser resources.

7. Beat UCLA, Marquette, Colorado State (twice) this year and gave MSU all they could handle.

8. I am excited for a new perspective and a fresh start in our program.

9. We are going to get National attention at times throughout the season like we have never seen.

I was getting pretty excited for Mack but that would have been a safe, boring hire. Before we turned Mack down I was on record worried about his motivation. He has always been a guy who has made it clear he isn't a lifer coach and he's already 55. By other accounts as well his assistant did all the heavy lifting with recruiting. A LOT has changed since Mack was a high major coach.

Mack also literally had ZERO other suitors this offseason with a lot of pretty good jobs open. If he wasn't a former Xavier coach, and winningest coach in our programs history, none of us would have been interested.

Too often our program has taken the safe route. Most of the time that has worked out but it has also burned us bad. I like taking this new route and I think it presents us with a much higher ceiling even though the floor may be lower as well.

Spot on D-West with every one of your points. I'm not sure Point #4 is registering fully enough around here. In this new era of big money, high pressure, transitory basketball, it just seems that a younger, full-of-energy, talented coach is what is needed. I would have been fine had the decision been about Mack. I'm actually ecstatic that Greg went with Richard Pitino. The 42 years old thing coupled with his deep experience and recent resume at UNM seals it for me. I'm not suggesting that any coach is over the hill once they hit 50, but I just feel that the passion and energy level will be fully present in someone in their 40's who otherwise eats, breathes and sleeps college basketball.

It's rather ridiculous to factor Pitino's Minnesota experience into this. It's a backwater B1G job, and he went into it when he was 30 years old. MN had funding issues for basketball when he was there. They play in a building that is close to 100 years old - it opened the same year as Schmidt Memorial Fieldhouse (1928). It's last major renovation was in 1950. It makes Hinkle look nice.

One other thing. Whether you believe it or not - and you should believe it - this move is going to present a unique and wild marketing/PR opportunity for Xavier. The television executives behind our media agreement are salivating over this news. We just blew up their inventory pecking order. National Fox broadcasts for this coming year probably had UCONN, UCONN and UCONN at or close to the top of their scheduling list. Not anymore. When these two go at each other in MSG and the Cintas Center, national interest will be in play.

Hiring Pitino was a masterstroke by Greg.

Richard Pitino succeeding at Xavier, coupled with the changing landscape of college basketball, especially on the funding advantages side, should advance our standing. The glass is very much half full.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Man I hope you are all correct. I definitely have major PTSD from Steele. But the comparison to Marvin Lewis is completely wrong. I was screaming for his head before anyone else lol. And for that matter, for zac Taylor's too.

But that’s why Marvin got so long. His floor was high despite his ceiling being low. People shouted “remember what it was like before Marvin?! I don’t want to go back to that!”

Even if that’s not what you did that’s what hiring someone with a high floor, middle ceiling would have done.

I think we were at a point where it’s worth the risk.

I also love we got a guy not from a low major but a true upper kid major multi bid league who got an at large birth.

[American X]

We had a douche, then we had a prick, and now we have a Dick. At least we did not hire another Butler guy.