The University of Louisville called a meeting of its joint board of trustees and athletics board for Wednesday amid reports that Chris Mack’s future as the Cardinals’ head coach is in jeopardy.
The purpose of the meeting given by the school was to “discuss proposed or pending litigation and personnel matters.”
Sports Illustrated and WDRB-TV in Louisville reported Tuesday that while nothing has been finalized, the school and Mack were in discussions about his future. Mack’s weekly radio show for Tuesday night was also canceled.
Later Tuesday night, ESPN and The Athletic reported that Mack and Louisville were finalizing a separation agreement that would then need to be approved at the trustees’ meeting. Per ESPN, Mack has a $12 million buyout in his contract but the two sides could negotiate something lower.
Mack, 52, is in his fourth season as coach of the Cardinals. Louisville (11-9, 5-5 ACC) lost to Virginia by 12 points Monday night, its fourth double-digit loss in its past five games. That hasn’t happened at the school since 1940.
Further, second-leading scorer Malik Williams answered “no comment” on Saturday — after a 12-point loss to Notre Dame — when asked if the team was tuning out the coaching staff.
Overall, Mack is 68-37 at Louisville and led the Cardinals to the NCAA Tournament in his first season, 2018-19. Mack took Xavier to the NCAA Tournament every season except one during his tenure there (2009-18).
Mack is 283-134 overall as a head coach.
Mack was suspended six games without pay by the school to start the season for his failure to follow university guidelines and procedures in handling former assistant Dino Gaudio’s alleged extortion attempt.
Louisville is next scheduled to host No. 9 Duke on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
