Kelsey gets UMass hoop job
AMHERST — UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford made the most difficult and important decisions of his two-year tenure during the swirl of March Madness.
Bamford fired basketball coach Derek Kellogg on March 9 after the Minutemen were blown out, 73-60, by St. Bonaventure in the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
Yesterday, Bamford named Pat Kelsey the 22nd head coach in the program’s history. Kelsey takes control of the UMass program after five productive seasons at Winthrop University. He will be formally introduced tomorrow at a press conference at the Champions Center.
“I am thrilled to welcome Pat Kelsey and his family to the University of Massachusetts,” Bamford said in a prepared statement. “Pat has been an important piece of some highly successful programs throughout his career including the past five years leading the basketball program at Winthrop University. Coach Kelsey has a detailed plan for every phase of our program and a passionate work ethic providing fuel to reach our goals of building a championship program.”
The 41-year-old Kelsey was selected from a short list of candidates that included Celtics assistant coach Micah Shrewsbury and Florida Gulf Coast head coach Joe Dooley.
Kelsey amassed a 102-59 record at Winthrop that included the 2017 Big South championship and an atlarge berth in the NCAA tournament. The Eagles were 26-7 (15-3 Big South) and qualified for the big dance for the first time since 2010.
“Lisa and I are thrilled to be joining the UMass family and the Amherst community,” Kelsey said. “UMass is a national college basketball brand with a proud powerful tradition.”
The UMass brand peaked in the 1990s under current Kentucky coach John Calipari and maintained a level of consistency under Bruiser Flint. UMass began gradually losing ground in the Atlantic 10 while led by coaches Steve Lappas, Travis Ford and Kellogg.
UMass had a 155-137 record under Kellogg, but the Minutemen were 15-18 and 4-14 in conference play this season. Kellogg’s only NCAA tournament appearance was in 2014, when UMass was beaten in the first round by Tennessee.
Kelsey has an ingrained understanding of the A-10 having served as an associate head coach at his alma mater, Xavier, for two seasons. He was a backcourt fixture for Xavier from 1996-98 and competed in two NCAA tournaments.
The Musketeers recorded consecutive 20-win seasons and NCAA appearances in 2009 and 2010. Prior to Xavier, Kelsey spent eight seasons as an assistant at Wake Forest.
“As a player in the A-10, I saw firsthand what the potential is there,” Kelsey said. “I look forward to the challenge of making UMass a major factor on the national level once again.”