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Head coach Derek Kellogg, a former UMass player, brought the Minutemen to their first NCAA Tournament in 16 years in 2014.
By 2017, after the program’s first losing season since 2010 mercifully came to an end, Kellogg was fired.
Since then, with other coaching vacancies popping up around the country, some buzz has centered around UMass. Tuesday afternoon, ESPN’s Jeff Goodman broke the news that Winthrop’s Pat Kelsey would become the 22nd head coach in UMass history.
UMass has hired Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey, sources told ESPN. Heck of a move by athletic director Ryan Bamford. https://t.co/hml9a0sPZk
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) March 21, 2017
This is certainly a step up for Kelsey, who did a tremendous job in five seasons with the Eagles. Winning 102 games, a pair of regular season Big South titles, and making the NCAA Tournament this season (losing to 4 seed Butler) is no small feat.
It seemed like only a matter of time before a bigger school came calling for the young coach.
And, no matter what success Kelsey may or may not find while at UMass, no one can ever take away his No. 3 spot in Mid-Major Madness’s 2017 sexiest coaches ranking.