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UMass fires head coach Derek Kellogg

Graham HootenBy 2 Comments1 Min Read

PITTSBURGH- Multiple sources reported Thursday afternoon that UMass has fired head coach Derek Kellogg. This news broke less than an hour following the team’s 73-60 loss to St. Bonaventure in the Atlantic 10 tournament. Kellogg, who was named head coach in 2008, compiled a 155-138 record over his nine-year tenure with the program.

UMass struggled this season, closing out the year with a 15-18 record and a 4-14 record in the conference. They have not made a postseason appearance since the NCAA tournament in 2014 and have finished the last two seasons under .500. The Minutemen have never finished higher than 5th in the A-10 with Kellogg at the helm.

The program has no recruits signed for the 2017 class and there has been speculation for a while now that Kellogg could be on his way out. For the Massachusetts program, this hopes to be a new start that will vault them back into contention within the Atlantic 10. As the university announced, a national search for the next head coach is now under way.

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Huge college basketball fan. Co-owner/writer @ A10Talk.com (@A10Talk). Formerly ran The Groce Report (@TheGroceReport), wrote for SB Nation’s BT Powerhouse, and SB Nation's The Champaign Room. Davidson Wildcat, forever bleeding Orange and Blue.

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2 Comments

  1. Robert Golden on

    Mid major names to watch for in moving up to Power 5 + 3 (Big East, American, A-10) jobs:

    Kevin Keatts – UNC Wilmington

    Joe Dooley – FGCU. Former KU assistant. 2nd straight NCAA bid.

    John Becker – Vermont. 67% winning percentage overall and 81% in the league over 6 years. Playing for a Tournament championship and NCAA bid.

    Pat Kelsey – Winthrop. Former assistant at Xavier and Wake Forest. 64% WP overall, 65% in league. Won regular season Big South titles the last two years and just won their Tournament on Sunday to earn his first NCAA trip.

    King Rice – Monmouth. Second straight year he’s won the MAAC regular season and failed in the tournament, so probably not going to be dancing. Still, I would think he’s a name which will pop up on some openings.

    Dan Muller – Illinois State. Regular season co-champ in the MVC. 62/63% WP in 5 years on the job and steady improvement every season. Have to think he’s at least a second tier candidate at Missouri and Illinois if that job opens up.

    Eric Musselman – Nevada. Great results in two years in Reno but have to think most would be suspicious about long term goals, given his extensive NBA/CBA/DLeague background. That said, he was an ASU assistant for two years and an LSU assistant for a year prior to getting the Nevada job. 52 years old, so probably still young enough that age isn’t a negative.

    Leon Rice – Boise State. Not as hot as some of the other names here because his team didn’t win its league or anything, but he continues to put up strong seasons (3rd this year in the Mountain West) and he’s done it long enough that I think he’d make sense for someone, especially West of the Mississippi.

    Nathan Davis – Bucknell. He’s only had two years there but they’ve been very strong in the regular season (29-7 over those two years) and just won their Tournament on Wednesday to earn his first NCAA trip. Before that, he was head coach at D3 Randolph Macon and had a 78/80% WP over 6 years, making the NCAA Tournament in every season and getting to one Final Four and an Elite Eight. Maybe more risk than some other names here because of the short period in D1 but you can’t argue with the W/L record.

    Brett Reed – Lehigh. A native of Waterford. He’s got a good record 58% both overall and in the conference over 10 seasons. Still remarkably young given how long he’s been a head coach (only 44). He doesn’t have the knockout year in, year out consistency that some other guys here have but he’s made two NCAA Tournaments already.

    Steve Forbes – East Tennessee State. Sort of similar to Davis in that he’s only got two years as a D1 head coach but they are really impressive ones…24-12 and then 27-8 with back to back 14-4 years in the conference. Just won a Tournament bid yesterday. Crazy good record at the JUCO level and then Gregg Marshall hired him to be an assistant at Wichita State. He’s also done time at Tennessee and Texas A&M, so D1 power conference basketball is not unfamiliar territory at all.

    Scott Cross – UT Arlington. Has a Sun Belt Tournament coming up but his record at UT-A is pretty sterling regardless. 14-4 and regular season champs this year, 3rd place last year. Overall he’s “only” at 55% WP but he’s young at 42 and I think he’s going to be an appealing name based on recency of winning.

    I’ve eliminated some guys whose records would indicate they’d be candidates but who are a bit old to get the nod… Kermit Davis at MTSU, Tim Cluess at Iona, Rick Byrd at Belmont, etc.