Fan Rating Coach Mack in 2016

We've already asked you to rate the players' individual performances on the year, and many thanks to those of you who did. (Check the 2016 Season in Review to see them all). Now we're going to move on to the head man. The "student-athletes" are generally (but not always) insulated a little bit from the harshest criticism by virtue of the fact that they're essentially just college kids, but the head coach is an adult being handsomely compensated for his efforts.

People generally feel free to let the coach have it early and often, regardless of whether or not he has done anything to deserve it or they know what the heck they're talking about. From now through the end of the week we'll have a poll up to allow you to quantify your feelings for Coach Mack much the way you did for his players. It's a little different, so I'll spend some time in largely needless explanation of each category.

For offense, take some time to think about how Xavier looked compared to the rest of college basketball. Was Xavier's offense smooth, did they look good on out of bounds plays, did they have a plan when faced with adversity, what about when faced with a change of defense? Xavier's offense finished the year ranked 17th in the nation in offensive efficiency. The high offensive point probably came in a 95 point romp over WKU or in the road win at Georgetown. On the other hand, the offense completely vanished in an away loss to Creighton, posting an efficiency of 75.8.

To grade Coach Mack on defense, consider how he did with what he had. Clearly, Xavier lacked the guards to play an attacking man to man. Do you think that Coach Mack adjusted to that well with the 1-3-1 or that something else should have been done? Xavier's defense ended the season ranked 20th in the nation.

A lot of this comes down to man management. This is how the roster was constructed and used. Coach Mack can't be entirely blameless for the man to man deficiencies since he's the one who put the team together. On the other hand, he's also the guy who brought in one of the best rebounding squads in program history. Beyond that, should JP have seen more time? Should Sean O'Mara have played more in the post? Those are the kinds of questions that go into answering this question.

Finally, the overall. How satisfied are you with Coach Mack? This team was in the top five in the nation near the end of the season and in the top ten for so long it started to feel routine. On the other hand, they crashed out of the tournament in the second round. Was Chris Mack a success this year?