Travis Steele Named Xavier HC After Chris Mack Leaves for Louisville

Xavier University announced Saturday that Travis Steele has been hired as the Musketeers' new men's basketball head coach to replace Chris Mack, who left to accept the same position at the University of Louisville.

Steele, who previously served as the team's associate head coach under Mack, posted a message on Twitter confirming his promotion:

Xavier athletic director Greg Christopher said in the announcement the vacant position generated "tremendous interest ... including several successful Division I head coaches," but they opted to hire from within:

"As we completed our national search process, it became clear that the best head coach for our program is the person we knew the best, Travis Steele. Travis has impacted the Xavier basketball program in a variety of ways during his time at Xavier, whether in the office, on the court or in recruiting. Travis brings passion, personality and organizational leadership skills to our head coaching position, which is really the CEO of our basketball program. He has earned a reputation as one of the brightest young offensive minds in the game and one of the future stars in this profession."

Christopher told Matt Norlander of CBS Sports the sides agreed to a five-year contract.

Steele joined the Musketeers program for the 2008-09 season as the director of basketball operations under Sean Miller. He became an assistant after Mack took over the program the following season and was promoted to associate head coach three years ago.

He worked at Indiana University, Ohio State University and Wabash Valley College as well as the Indiana Elite AAU Basketball Association before arriving at Xavier.

Steele inherits a program that posted a 29-6 record during the 2017-18 campaign and has qualified for the NCAA tournament in 12 of the past 13 years.