Coach Chris Mack was officially announced as the head coach at College of Charleston today and Chris Harriman is rumored to be an assistant. He has a decent bit of history but looks to have been part of some pretty awful stretches of basketball. St Louis fans had positive stuff to say, but with his stint here under Fox (I know, that name is probably blasphemy here), I wanted to see what your groups take on him might be.

How was Chris Harriman in his time at Cal? Does the record tell the whole story? Was Chris a brighter spot in a pretty dark time?

Thank you all for any insight you're willing to offer!

CharlestonCougar said:

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Coach Chris Mack was officially announced as the head coach at College of Charleston today and Chris Harriman is rumored to be an assistant. He has a decent bit of history but looks to have been part of some pretty awful stretches of basketball. St Louis fans had positive stuff to say, but with his stint here under Fox (I know, that name is probably blasphemy here), I wanted to see what your groups take on him might be.

How was Chris Harriman in his time at Cal? Does the record tell the whole story? Was Chris a brighter spot in a pretty dark time?

Thank you all for any insight you're willing to offer!

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Hardly remember him. He was not a bright light and we don't miss him

CharlestonCougar said:

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Coach Chris Mack was officially announced as the head coach at College of Charleston today and Chris Harriman is rumored to be an assistant. He has a decent bit of history but looks to have been part of some pretty awful stretches of basketball. St Louis fans had positive stuff to say, but with his stint here under Fox (I know, that name is probably blasphemy here), I wanted to see what your groups take on him might be.

How was Chris Harriman in his time at Cal? Does the record tell the whole story? Was Chris a brighter spot in a pretty dark time?

Thank you all for any insight you're willing to offer!

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Mark Fox did not allow his assistants to speak with the press or generally allow observers into practices, so most of us have no real insight into him other than from that he must be a good yes man and be OK with authoritarian coaching styles. He may have been responsible for some of our overseas recruiting, though he never brought in anyone from Australia.

A couple insiders may have more insight.

Hello CC,

As mentioned already, Fox kept a very tight lid on the program. Us fans wanted info on his assistants and it never came. The only things I can say about Harriman was that he had good energy... stayed loyal to Fox as the program was in shambles and ...was a decent dresser. We never found out what his x and o's responsibilities were (defense? big men?) and never really knew which players he was lead recruiter for.

What's your opinion on the Mack hire? Last year when we were conducting our coaching search, I was a big fan of his. There isn't much not to like---impressive tournament appearances and record. Sidenote: Do you know why he was on hiatus? Was it a buyout contingency?

I was able to observe a couple practices and liked Harriman. He had great energy and I think will do well in the right environment.

I am loathe to use Covid excuses but in my opinion that definitely had an impact on his ability to recruit internationally. Combine that with a program in decline and there's only so much to expect realistically.

If he was at Cal to learn under head coach Fox he should be about one job away from unemployment.

Were pretty pleased with the hire. To be honest, we're thrilled. It's an uncommonly good hire in the mid major ranks and is a harbinger of our move to the A10.

We don't know who his staff will be yet as he's coming in from the wings without a staff in place right now. It's not a great situation with the portal time remaining but we have to imagine he will be able to recruit quality mid major players even on short notice. Add in that we aren't in a particularly deep league right now and he just rerecruited our 1st team all conf player from last year, we expect to compete in our conference in year 1. Harriman may have helped already as Ante hails from Croatia. No telling though.

Mack took some time off for family largely, or at least that's how he is telling it. I tend to think it's probably the truth.

He has no offset language in his settled contract from all the nonsense that ended his career at Louisville and had a few power offers but said he was just waiting on the right place. Vandy is confirmed to have offered him this cycle before we did and he turned them down, this the Byington hire.