Pat Kelsey -- the perfect hire for Mack

In his final move to complete his coaching staff Xavier men's basketball coach Chris Mack is expected to announce the hiring of former Wake Forest assistant coach Pat Kelsey in the coming days as the new Associate Head Coach of the men's basketball program.
Kelsey, a 1998 Xavier graduate, had a stellar recruiting resume at Wake Forest, reeling in top talent such as Al Faruq-Aminu, Tony Woods and Ari Stewart.
In addition, Kelsey has been noted as an excellent in-game tactician, and excels in post instruction--both areas of concern for the Xavier staff after James Whitford departed for Arizona along with Sean Miller.
While unlikely to pay immediate recruiting dividends in the 2009 season because of the timing of the hiring--after the spring contact period with recruits--Kelsey's contacts in the Southeast, combined with the effort that Mack has been putting into the area, could produce talent as early as 2010. The hiring will certainly give Xavier a boost with previous southern prospects, such as Atlanta's Donte Williams.
The hiring of Kelsey gives Xavier one of the most formidable staffs in the country on the recruiting trail, consisting of a four man team with impressive resume's in different regions of the country.
'Bino' Ranson has strong connections in the talent-rich Baltimore area from his time as an AAU coach in the region, and also possesses the ability to parlay those ties to strong relationships in the Northeast. Travis Steele has roots in the Indiana AAU circuit, as he was a head coach for the preeminent Indiana grassroots program, Indiana Elite, for six years. Kelsey is one of the most respected recruiters in the country, able to draw from the Southeast for Wake Forest, but also extending his web incrementally as his stature grows.
To top it off, Xavier has a zealous recruiter as their head man. Mack has been able to produce talent from Xavier's immediate recruiting pipeline--Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania--in his time as an assistant, and has ties to each of the other hotbeds that his assistants will be dipping into from his tenure on the Xavier staff.
Aside from the future concerns of the program, bringing in Kelsey makes Xavier a better team on the court in 2009-10 by easing the in-game burden on Mack's shoulders. Mack is an excellent in-game coach, but had two fairly inexperienced assistants on his staff already in Ranson and Steele. Kelsey has been through the fire as an assistant in the ACC for five seasons, and will be a strong voice in Mack's ear during critical situations in 09-10.
With a strong foundation now in place on the sidelines, Xavier can focus on completing their roster for next season--highlighted by efforts to land previous commitment Kevin Parrom--and get to work on living up to Final Four-level expectations.
In the meantime, Mack is breathing a sigh of relief. He has landed his first big-time recruit... and potentially his most important.