Press Conference Transcript March 28, 2018 Interim President Dr. Greg Postel “Good afternoon; wow, what a crowd. Thank you so much for joining us here this afternoon. We can’t tell you how thrilled we are to have such an amazing crowd for us to tell a truly wonderful story for the next chapter of the University of Louisville. What an outstanding two-week period this has been for UofL and for Cardinal athletics. Let’s think back over just a few successes from the past two weeks. Our men’s swimming and diving team finished ninth in the NCAA Championship, which is their best finish of all-time. During that championship, Marcelo Acosta earned All-America honors, so special accommodation to him. Our women’s swimming and diving team finished fifth in the country. I will note that Mallory Comerford swam the second fastest 200 freestyle in history, as she won her second NCAA championship, so truly an amazing achievement for her. But there’s more, our women’s basketball team has now earned a coveted spot in the Final Four this week in Columbus, Ohio. And just two days ago, with many of you present, I had the distinct honor to introduce our new athletics director, Vincent Tyra, who will lead our program into the future. Vince took the reins of one of America’s best athletic programs. One that is committed to top performance both on and off the court. Through his work as interim athletic director, he has shown that he will continue to push for that level of excellence. Today’s announcement only confirms this commitment we as Cardinals have, as we welcome individuals the caliber of Vince Tyra and Chris Mack to our program. We are sending a clear message to our fans in Louisville and across the country that we are determined to maintain and enhance our stature among the nation’s elite programs. It’s no secret to anyone that coach Chris Mack has been considered one of the finest coaches in the America. It’s also not surprising that it was no small task to pry him away from his alma mater, a school that he loves and a community that had embraced him. It was going to take a special situation, a special place to get him to believe, and despite our recent issues in the Louisville community, the University of Louisville is in fact a very special place. Before I turn our program over to Vince, I want to personally welcome coach Chris Mack and his family to the University of Louisville. And to Christi Mack, a graduate of Holy Cross High School, I want to add welcome home. We are so pleased to have both of you and your lovely children join our Cardinal family, and there’s one we don’t want to lose. As I said, getting coach Mack to leave his previous position was no small task. It took a great effort, a little luck, and the right person to make this happen. Vince Tyra is the right person. Vince promised that he was going to find an elite coach to lead the Cardinals into the future and I think today we can all agree that he fulfilled that promise. With that, our athletic director, Vince Tyra.” Louisville Athletic Director Vince Tyra “This is what makes it fun. Chris brings his family here today and it makes it enjoyable. Obviously, I've gotten the chance to meet the family and the kids, but making them a part of this is special for him and certainly special for us as we get to know him. Welcome to the future of Louisville Cardinal Basketball right here; this is our family. Today is certainly a new day for us and a brighter day and we're excited to have Chris and his family join us and I'm certainly excited to introduce him. I don't have to introduce Christi to the city, but I really don't feel that I have to introduce Chris to our program and he certainly knows that. I think that us having the kids here, Hailee, Lainee, and wherever Brayden is now, he’s probably searching something out, we welcome you and we're certainly glad to have you here and you're going to get a warm reception while you are here everyday for the rest of your career while you are here and when you retire here. I'm also equally excited about all that their family brings to our basketball program, the athletic department, and our community. When I think about this, the university, the community, this is what we want; this is what we explained to our board of trustees, this is a family that fits. Chris is a coach that fits what we want and there’s a number of reasons why and I’ll get to those but we’re terribly excited to have him here. Chris knows basketball and has excelled in his career both as a player and as a coach. He’s worked his way through this from coaching high school girls basketball to where he is today to be introduced as head coach of an elite basketball program here at the University of Louisville. His nine years as head coach at Xavier produced terrific success. His 215 wins are the 11th most in the NCAA of any coach in their first nine seasons of coaching. He joins the ranks with the likes of Roy Williams, Jamie Dixon, Mark Few, Thad Matta, Sean Miller and one of our own Denny Crum. His most recent team achieved a record of 29-6, won the Big East Conference, and was awarded the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. We now have the No. 1 seed [coach] in both women and men’s basketball at the University of Louisville. Chris has been honored with the 2018 Big East Coach of The Year, the NABC District 5 Coach of the Year and became the all-time wins leader in Musketeer history. This year’s team finished No. 3 in the AP Polls, so we got to see quite a bit of him on ESPN and other channels throughout the year. But also in 2016, Chris won the Henry Iba Award for the US Basketball Association as National Coach of the Year, when his team received the No. 2 seed for the NCAA tourney and was ranked No. 5 in the final AP Poll. Chris has guided Xavier to NCAA Sweet 16 or better in four of his nine years as head coach. I think he fits at a number of things that we looked at in terms of the criteria when we were in search of somebody the key criteria not only to honor our past but embraces our future. He hit on many of these points, if not all of them. We had criteria to meet on and off the court, the person has to want to be here and here only. This person has to love everything that the city of Louisville and that the University of Louisville represents and has to offer. This person has to become a key part of our community going forward. This person has to represent the highest of integrity in athletics and in life. This person has to be competitive and a proven winner; you get where I’m going with this. This person has to attract talent to not only fill the scholarships but to fill the staff position. This person has to respect our legacy of winning basketball and those that played a role in our success and thank you, many of you are here today, and I know that Chris appreciates that. We have like feelings about the legacy of this program. This person has to be comfortable with high expectations to include replacing two lost banners with new ones. We both agree on this. This person has to have all of these qualities and that person is sitting on the stage today. I'm going to give him a treat that matches my history with his, which is what we do in this town [hands Mack a Louisville Slugger baseball bat]. Cards fans, please join me in welcoming our next men’s head basketball coach at the University of Louisville, Mr. Chris Mack.” Louisville Head Coach Chris Mack “I want to thank Dr. Postel and Vince (Tyra), for allowing me to be your head coach. This is an awesome and exciting day for me and my family, and it’s an opportunity of a lifetime. I’m not going to make a lot of promises today. The one thing I’ll promise is that you’re going to get my best -- my very best. I’m standing here before you, representing a school that’s had two permanent head basketball coaches since 1961. I don’t take that lightly. We have two Hall of Fame coaches, multiple Final Fours, multiple national championships, multiple All-Americans, some are here today and I appreciate that. For coach (Denny) Crum to be here - I’ve got to share a funny story about coach Crum. I don’t know how funny you’ll think this is after I tell the story. My first year in college basketball, as the director of basketball operations, was at Xavier. My very first road trip was the Great Alaska Shootout in 1999. We played Louisville in the first round of the Great Alaska Shootout. During that time, they still do it today - you guys did it - they use experimental rules.