USF makes statement hires with Chris Mack and Kristy Curry

This week, USF introduced Chris Mack and Kristy Curry to lead a new era of Bulls basketball.

Many times, mid-major programs like USF look to the next young, upstart head coaches. Usually, the Bulls would have to turn to unproven candidates with a cloud of uncertainty surrounding them.

This week, USF showed the world that it’s not like other mid-major programs by hiring two cemented winners to lead its basketball programs.

“You don’t see a lot of programs like USF,” CEO of Athletics Rob Higgins said at Mack’s introductory news conference. “Winners win, and that’s what we’re going to do here at the University of South Florida.”

Kristy Curry has a 554-322 record in 27 years as a college head coach. She made the Final Four in 2001 and won three Big Ten regular-season titles at Purdue. She has 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, taking Purdue, Texas Tech and Alabama to the Big Dance. Curry is one of only ten coaches to win 100 games or more at three different programs.

“To have an icon and trailblazer as great as Kristy Curry want to come here was an incredible testament to not only where we are, but also where we’re going,” Higgins said at Curry’s introductory news conference.

Curry didn’t move from Alabama due to a lack of success. The Crimson Tide made the NCAA Tournament in each of the past four seasons. Still, Curry chose to leave the SEC for Tampa Bay.

“It’s special — the support. They care here. They care about women’s basketball. They’re a champion for women’s sports,” Curry said Monday afternoon.

Curry is USF’s first women’s basketball coach hired since 2000. Jose Fernandez led the Bulls to ten NCAA Tournament appearances and two American Conference regular-season titles during his 25-year tenure.

Curry is hoping to have a long tenure with the Bulls. “This is a destination, not a stepping stone,” she said, adding that she looks forward to USF being her “last chapter” of coaching.

USF men’s basketball hasn’t had the same luck keeping coaches around. Mack will be the Bulls’ fifth head coach in as many years.

Mack also comes to Tampa Bay as a highly decorated head coach. He has a 323-153 record in 15 years of coaching at Xavier, Louisville and Charleston. He has three regular-season titles (two in the A-10, one in the Big East) and nine NCAA Tournament appearances on his résumé. In 2017, Mack led the Musketeers to the Elite Eight.

“We wanted to make sure we had a really proven leader with something left to prove,” Higgins said on the hiring of Mack.

USF has won the American Conference regular-season title twice in the past three seasons. The Bulls are coming off their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012.

Both Mack and Curry spoke highly of Higgins in their introductory news conferences.

“Rob has done it at the highest level in the biggest sporting events in the world. He understands what professional sports looks like. He understands the crossover of what amateur athletics was and what it’s becoming. Who wouldn’t want a person like that?” Mack said.

“Rob Higgins is the best recruiter that I have ever been associated with,” Curry said.

Higgins has had a busy year filling head coaching vacancies for the university’s three biggest revenue-making sports. He hired Brian Hartline as USF’s head football coach, along with Mack and Curry.

“It gives me chills,” Higgins said of the quality of coaches USF has hired during his tenure. “We are going to do anything and everything we can to continue to elevate our programs.”

Both Mack and Curry will have to get busy quickly. The women’s basketball transfer portal opens Monday, April 6, with the men’s opening the next day, April 7.

The leading scorer on the men’s team, Wes Enis, has already announced his intention to enter the portal. Enis will likely not be the only player to leave the program over the next couple of weeks.

But with Mack and Curry stepping in, Higgins and the Bulls hope they can be the long-term leaders of successful programs on the hardwood.