Luke Murray, Dino Gaudio out as Louisville assistant coaches

Chris Mack hinted at a staff shake-up during his season ending press conference earlier this week. Now we know what he was referring to.

U of L has confirmed that Mack informed two assistant coaches on Wednesday that their current contracts would not be renewed when they run out at the end of next month. Sources tell Card Chronicle that those two coaches are Luke Murray and Dino Gaudio.

Murray is out after spending the last six seasons — three at Xavier and three at Louisville — as an assistant on Mack’s staff. Murray has appeared to be on the precipice of landing a head coaching gig in each of the last two offseasons. If that doesn’t happen over the immediate weeks ahead, he’ll need to find a new staff to work for in 2021-22.

Gaudio is also out after leaving a job as an analyst at ESPN to join Mack’s staff at U of L. The former Wake Forest head coach had been out of the game entirely since being fired at Wake in 2010 after leading the Deacons to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances. While there was an initial plan for Gaudio to remain on the Louisville staff in a new role, it appears that plan will not be coming to fruition.

As for the replacements coming to the end of the bench, while nothing is set in stone at the moment, seeing Kahlil Fennel promoted to assistant is a move that would surprise no one. Fennel has spent the last three seasons as Mack’s director of basketball operations, and is wildly popular with the players.

However this winds up playing out, it marks the first major staff shake-up since Mack arrived at U of L. For the last three seasons it’s been Mack, Murray, Gaudio and Pegues sitting in the same spots on the bench (well, not this season, but you know what I mean).

Missing the NCAA tournament has consequences.