Mario Mercurio is in his ninth year working with the men's basketball program and his fourth as Xavier University's first-ever Director of Basketball Administration under head coach Sean Miller. He spent three years working with Thad Matta's staff and also worked two years under the late former head coach Skip Prosser.

Miller said Mercurio's passion for Xavier makes the program better. "Mario is a Xavier graduate who also earned his MBA here and has been a part of Coach Prosser's staff, our staff with Coach Matta for three years and our current staff for three years. He has been a part of our success in many ways. He is in constant communication with our players and they rely on his experience as a Cincinnati native and Xavier graduate. Mario knows what the Xavier mission statement is all about because he has lived it. His positive influence over our players has a significant impact on their success as people in our program."

Among other things, Mercurio's responsibilities include non-conference scheduling and coordination of all team travel. He has served as the budget administrator for the men's basketball program for the past four years. In addition, Mercurio served for the past five years as Xavier's liaison to Nike Basketball.

Since taking over scheduling with Miller in 2004, Xavier has added games with Illinois, Virginia, Kansas State, Arizona State and Auburn. Xavier also participated in the 2006 Paradise Jam, in addition to signing contracts to participate in the 2008 ESPN Puerto Rico Classic and the 2010 Paradise Jam.

In addition to his work at Xavier, Mercurio has also been a part of Larry Brown and John Calipari's yearly basketball retreat. Twice over the last five years, Mercurio was selected to produce a book compiling notes from the retreat. The hundred-plus page book is distributed only to members of the retreat, and consists of ideas, thoughts, philosophies, and plays from some of the greatest basketball minds today. Attendees of the retreat over the past three years have included Jerry West, Isiah Thomas and Jeff Van Gundy among others.

A Cincinnati St. Xavier High School graduate, Mercurio, 27, graduated in 2003 from Xavier with a double major in finance and marketing. He has graduated with his MBA at Xavier and currently resides in Oakley. Mercurio was born on December 7, 1979 in Cincinnati.