Xavier Fills Coaching Vacancy

Richardson, no doubt planning something amazing.

Xavier filled the spot vacated by Pat Kelsey's departure today, adding former Drake assistant Kareem Richardson to the staff. Richardson, like Coach Mack, was once a point guard at Evansville, though his playing days came after Mack's had ended. More recently, Richardson has been an assistant at the University of Indianapolis, Indiana State, Wright State, Evansville, and Drake. Richardson served as recruiting coordinator at Drake, and put together the top class in the conference for two of his three years there.

Prior to his time at Drake, Richardson also served as the recruiting coordinator at Evansville. In his four years there, he had three players he recruited make the All-Conference Freshman team. In a 2009 interview with College Insider, Richardson said he advocated up-tempo offense, aggressive, man-to-man defense, and relentless effort on the glass. He also said that he believes recruiting is the life-blood of a program and that he'll "get up the earliest, stay up the latest, and work the hardest" to land the right players. Richardson is noted to have a handle on Chicago and the surrounding regions as a recruiter, which may help X with the likes of highly-rated combo guard Kendrick Nunn and others from that area.

Someone with sources at Drake reported that Richardson is well-liked over there for his basketball acumen as well as his general decency as a person. He is also a family man who likes having his son alongside him whenever possible. Hopefully his boy can spark up a little romance with one of the Mack girls and keep Kareem and Coach Mack in town for a couple of extra years.

From the looks of things, Xavier landed a great young coach who is an excellent fit with the program. He is committed to the things that Xavier stands for - he has never had a player go academically ineligible, for instance - and seems to be a hard worker with a good basketball philosophy. I think Richardson is eventually going to go on and be a head coach somewhere, but his tenure at Xavier should be profitable for both the school and himself.

Also, he made it to the Final Four of a "Best Dressed Coaches" competition in 2009. That's the kind of talent we like to see coming in.