Just read the following article from Paul Daugherty from May 6th (missed it earlier):
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/columnists/paul-daugherty/2015/05/06/daugherty-chris-mack-xavier-florida/70905768/I'm not posting this as a follow-up to the Donovan job at Florida. I'm posting this because of the comments that Doc made in the article about the Xavier program, which I would apply to every Big East program. Specifically, the ability to pay very well, provide the so-called peripherals (jets at the coach's disposal for recruiting, charter flights, etc.), and membership in a conference that is actually more highly regarded overall than some of the P5 conferences off and on and here and there.
With the possible exceptions of Georgetown and Villanova, every accomplished coach in the Big East is subject to being lured away by more money at a football school. Even though he's from Cincinnati and played basketball for Xavier, Chris Mack remains firmly planted in that group, in part because of Xavier's track record with coaches (which has proven to be mutually beneficial for Xavier and those coaches) and in part because of the fact that it is pretty well known that he has listened to "offers" in the past. Still, especially with last year's recruiting class and therefore with the roster he's looking at for the next few years, in particular, he should be pretty comfortable right now. He can even count on receiving some golf instruction from his new assistant's father along the way while otherwise laughing his butt off in the process.
Overall, I continue to really look forward to where we're headed. We have the staples in Wright and JTIII. Mack at Xavier. We have Cooley proving himself at Providence. Butler's Chris Holtmann is looking like a brilliant hedge strategy on the part of Butler, or whatever you want to call that effective solution. Greg McDermott is a class act and solid coach. I believe Wojo will be lights out at Marquette and Marquette should be able to keep him around for a few years, at least. Chris Mullin in New York is going to be fun to watch, and probably scarry for the rest of us. We'll see what happens with Williard, but he had the Hall clicking for a while last season - I suppose this is the make or break season coming up for him. We'll otherwise have to wait and see what happens with DePaul, but they most certainly have to kick it up a notch once the new building comes on line.
That's stability and results/positive trending in 7 conference coaching positions, with Mullin most likely proving himself a solid 8th in that group in short order. Not bad. The carrousel most likely cranks up again next year. The overall point is that we're better positioned to hold serve in this area. As Doc noted:
The bigger job, the fatter wallet, the ego stroke that comes with saying, "I'm the head basketball coach at (XYZ P5 School)''? Or the quality of life that comes with...working for an employer who understands the value of what you do? And that coupled with coaching in the Big East Conference, which is about basketball as its flagship sport.