Louisville basketball: Could NBA teams eventually pursue Chris Mack?

Chris Mack is only in his second year as head coach of the Louisville basketball program, but if he is able to sustain a high level of success could NBA teams come calling down the road?

Just when you thought the 2019 college basketball coaching carousel had come to a standstill, the biggest bombshell move of the offseason happened out of nowhere. It was announced Monday that Michigan head coach John Beilein was packing his bags and leaving Ann Arbor after 12 seasons to become the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, making him the latest coach to jump from the collegiate ranks to the pros. That left me thinking, could the same thing happen in the future to Louisville basketball with Chris Mack?

Last offseason Beilein began putting feelers out that he could be potentially interested in moving from the college ranks to the NBA, interviewing with the Detroit Pistons, who ultimately ended up settling on Dwayne Casey as the man to replace Stan Van Gundy.

Beilein became the latest college basketball coach to jump to the pros, following behind names like Rick Pitino, Billy Donovan, Freid Hoiberg, Brad Stevens, amongst plenty of others. While success has been fleeting for some, others like Donovan and Stevens have been able to achieve at a high level.

While there’s always talk around those guys potentially leaving for the right opportunity to go back to the college level, it seems that both have been able to use their likable personality and high level of basketball knowledge and turn it into NBA success.

Jumping from Xavier, his alma mater and the place he spent over 15 years coaching, to Louisville Mack made it clear this was his dream job. No matter who came calling, whether it was Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, or any other professional team, he isn’t leaving.

In his opening press conference as the Louisville basketball head coach, Chris Mack didn’t waste time mentioning his intentions to make this his last job.

"“This is my final stop. You’ll never see Coach Mack coach at another university or an NBA team, or high school team.”"

That comment is rather bold, and I’m inclined to 100 percent take him at his word. But if Mack goes on to have the success at Louisville that we all expect, why wouldn’t NBA teams start considering him?

Think about it. Mack is still extremely young in terms of coaching at just 49 years old, and while most college coaches who have left for the NBA have done so in their mid-to-late 40s, that doesn’t mean that the NBA would be turned away by Mack being in his mid 50’s if the time came.

His system, the 4-in-1-out, is an ideal fit at the NBA ranks due to teams emphasizing shooting and spacing. While there’s only a few seasons worth of numbers at a Power Five conference at this time, we all believe that Mack will have a lot of success at Louisville, and could be a perennial top five coach and frequenter of Final Four’s over the coming years.

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Team’s like Boston (behind Brad Stevens), Oklahoma City (behind Donovan) and plenty of others utilize this same style of play quite often, with much success. With an emphasis on getting out in transition, taking good shots (even if they are 3’s), crashing the glass, and allowing his best players to do what they do best, Mack’s style is what NBA teams are looking for.

Then there’s the type of person that Chris Mack is, one that is the polar opposite of what Rick Pitino was during his time in the NBA and in college. Mack without question is a “players coach,” meaning he caters to his player’s skills, needs, and wants rather than sticking with a system in a dictator manor, watching over every single little detail waiting for the opportunity to criticize and teach.

Mack demands a lot out of his players, as would any good coach, but what makes him so special is his ability to build relationships and be “one of the guys,” on a daily basis. Whether it’s celebrating a big win, not being afraid to show his personality, and also not being afraid to speak up when his players aren’t playing at the standard they should be, he is by definition a player’s coach.

In year one at Louisville Mack’s style won his players over quickly. While the talent wasn’t up to par with what we have seen in years past, Mack made it work. With motivation as his primary weapon, Mack squeezed every single ounce of talent out his roster last season, one that was literally glued together in the offseason after he took over, and he turned them into a 20 win team.

His ability to develop players and help them see just what they can become is what I believe will mark him as one of the greats in college coaching when his career is finished. Whether it’s taking an under-recruited player and turning him into an All-American, or taking a four or five-star recruit and helping them become great, talent development is a specialty for Mack.

If you need proof of this just look at guys like Christen Cunningham and Jordan Nwora. One an underrecruited talent, who willed a team when it looked like they couldn’t go anymore while truly becoming an extension of Mack on the floor. While the other was a former highly recruited player who underachieved as a freshman and became one of the nation’s most improved players under Mack as a sophomore.

But that’s not it. His ability to manage personalities, build relationships, and motivate people makes him even more special.

In the NBA coaches are there to do a couple of things, but none more so than managing egos and running the team.

The players at that level of course still need coaching and development, but when you’re managing the personalities of multi-millionaires who are at some points bigger than the game, having a firm understanding of who you are and what you expect is crucial.

Don’t believe me? Steve Kerr had one of the best quotes of recent memory on what it was like coaching the Golden State Warriors, a team with three future Hall of Famers and Draymond Green:

"“They call the coaches ‘managers.’ From now on, I’d like to be known as a manager, if you guys don’t mind. Everyone calls me a coach. I’m a manager. It’s all part of it."

That quote from The Ringer was just the beginning of what NBA coaches go through when it comes to Superstars. John Gonzalez went on to say,

"“Being good at basketball obviously goes a long way, but quality chemistry matters, too, when trying to find the right mix of players. What happens between their ears is every bit as important as the X’s and O’s between the lines. Which is why Kerr believes proper management—of disparate personalities and egos—is paramount. Not just for his five All-Stars, but for all 15 guys on the roster. And not just for the Warriors, but for all 30 teams.”"

One coach who didn’t do this and failed miserably in the NBA after years of success at the college level is one we know well; Rick Pitino.

Bill Simmons, now with The Ringer formerly of Grantland, wrote about Pitino’s struggles as an NBA coach and why his style was meant for College. He wrote:

"“I saw Pitino adhere stubbornly to his system: shuttling guys like chess pieces, micromanaging every second of every game, sticking with presses the team couldn’t possibly sustain over a full season—in short, slowly sucking the life from his players.”"

While playing the role as head coach, former Mack assistant and now Xavier head coach Travis Steele described Mack’s style as “almost like a CEO instead of a coach.”

He went on to say:

“He has the ability to be the same guy every day, which as we know is really hard in this world to do with so many outside factors. He’s very meticulous, always dots his I’s and crosses his T’s in everything he does. … I think his teams take on that personality.”

This conversation is all a moot point because at this time there’s no interest and Mack and there’s no interest in the NBA from Mack, but could that ever change?

Sure.

John Beilein coached college basketball for over 30 years before finally deciding he wanted a new challenge. While it seemed shocking to us fans who watched him put quality teams out on the floor year-after-year, to those who knew him it wasn’t. He had had enough.

With the shoe companies getting overly involved, agents constantly snooping around looking for ways to get their foot in the doors with players, and all the other elements of recruiting, could even a coach as clean as Chris Mack one day say, “I’ve had enough.”

How many coaches are willing to fly across the country to visit with a recruit’s mom? Answer: not many. This is one of the things in a long list that makes Mack special as a college coach.

Yes, Mack has said he won’t leave Louisville for the NBA. But I also said I wouldn’t give my daughter her pacifier, only moments later to give it to her because she wouldn’t stop fussing at me.

That’s a joke, clearly. But my point is the NBA is a special place that presents a special opportunity for 30 of the best basketball coaches in the world. Could one day, the right opportunity present itself for Mack the way it did for John Beilein? Absolutely.

On March 28, 2018, Chris Mack made it pretty clear that he had no intent to leave for another job. But he ended the press conference with something that could one day open the door to an exit. I’m not saying that’ll happen, but to rule it out because of a comment made just days after he took his dream job would be silly.

We know that coaches say things all the time, which has been deemed as “coach speak.”

“I’m never afraid of a challenge.”

The NBA is a challenge that has ripped many coaches to shreds and a challenge that has brought the best in some of the top college coaches. Could we one day see Mack there? Who knows. But it’s something that John Beilein’s decision should make us consider.

For now, we can rest easy knowing the program we know and love is back to where we knew it should be way ahead of schedule. For that, we have no one else to thank than Chris Mack.