Xavier promotes Travis Steele to associate head coach

While the step from assistant coach to associate head coach can seem like the kind of semantic shuffling that kept Dwight Schrute happy, the reality is that this is big news for Xavier. Steele is a talented coach and recruiter who has been instrumental in helping Xavier lock down top players from Ohio and the neighboring states. He was heavily involved in bringing Semaj, Jalen, and Trevon to X.

I'm guessing there's also a boost in compensation involved, which is a nice little bit of recognition for Coach Steele. His name is one of those that is always floating around at this time of year when struggling programs look to fill head coaching vacancies with up and coming assistants. Xavier held onto Steele this year, and this promotion should hopefully keep him at X for a little while longer.

The Muskies have lost assistant coaches to conference rivals Villanova and DePaul recently. A little but of stability and retaining one of the top members of the staff is worth a promotion. Steele has been with Xavier 7 years, starting in basketball ops before being promoted to assistant by Coach Mack.