UMass Fires HC Matt McCall After Five Seasons
In a somewhat surprising move given its timing, UMass has announced they are parting ways with head coach Matt McCall after five seasons in Amherst. He will remain coaching the team through the end of the season, per release. Rather than name an interim coach, McCall will coach two remaining regular season games (vs Fordham, at George Mason) and continue as the HC through UMass’ run in the Atlantic 10 tournament next week in Washington DC.
Latest Updates:
March 1st
4:16 PM
Jeff Borzello of ESPN reports UMass “has made the decision to part ways with head coach Matt McCall after five seasons. The report also notes McCall will continue to coach until the end of the season, through the Atlantic 10 tournament.
Possible replacement candidates mentioned in the report include John Becker (Vermont), Dana Ford (Missouri State), Bashir Mason (Wagner), James Jones (Yale), Jared Grasso (Bryant) and former Indiana coach Archie Miller.
UMass has made the decision to part ways with head coach Matt McCall after five seasons, sources told me and @PeteThamel. McCall will coach against Fordham tomorrow and, at this point, is expected to finish out the season. Minutemen currently 12-16 overall, 5-11 in the A-10.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) March 1, 2022
5:42 PM
UMass Basketball officially confirms ESPN’s report, releasing a statement from AD Ryan Bamford.
“I want to thank Matt for his five years of service to UMass and our basketball program,” said Bamford. “Matt poured himself into this role and has been a great teammate and partner as we worked to build a championship program. Unfortunately, we have not met the results we desire on the court and I believe a change at the end of the season is in the best interest of the program. I am grateful that Matt and I shared a mutual desire to have him finish the 2021-2022 campaign with the men in our program over the coming weeks.”
Massachusetts Athletics announces change in men’s basketball leadership following the 2021-22 season.#Flagship 🚩https://t.co/DxzvufbNYp
— UMass Men’s Basketball (@UMassBasketball) March 1, 2022
March 2nd
12:00 PM
AD Ryan Bamford holds a press conference addressing the future of the men’s basketball program.
UMass AD Ryan Bamford will be holding a press conference at 12pm today regarding the future of the Men’s Basketball program.
— Michael Bergman (@MLBergman_) March 2, 2022
Here are some of the more important quotes from the press conference:
“Ultimately we’re in the business of winning. It’s important that our community feels great pride in this basketball program, as they have in our history.”
“The results have been mixed. People have felt that. I just thought it was the right time to say to everyone we need to hit a release pressure valve on this program. Everyone needs to understand we’re making a change, we need to go forward.”
“I needed to start having conversations outside of this building about what’s next. I have a great relationship with Matt and I needed to be honest with him.”
“I think you can anticipate we have the ability to go beyond where we’ve been in head coaching and coaching pool salaries. We’re not going to spend foolishly. We’re going to be good stewards of the resources we have.”
“We have the ability to go beyond where we’ve been in the past [financially]. It could be significantly above where we have been. We’re going to be in the top 4 in this league…in terms of our commitment to resources in this program.”
“Having connections with AAU grassroots programs, prep schools, high schools, people in this area is very important to this role.”
“That’s the goal to be in that top 5 conversation. When Loyola joins, now we got to figure out how to complete with them. We’re a multi-bid league. We need to be in the top 5, I think that is a realistic goal.”
“I thought that happened yesterday when we made the announcement. I appreciate Matt’s willingness and wanting to see this though. That was certainly desire of mine as well.” (2/2)
— Michael Bergman (@MLBergman_) March 2, 2022
UMass will be using the search firm Turnkey, led by Chad Chatlos and Katy Young Staudt, to fill the vacancy.
Turnkey has filled a ton of high profile openings across high D1 programs.
— Nathan Strauss (@NathanPStrauss) March 2, 2022
For live updates follow Michael Bergman and A10 Talk on Twitter. This story will continue to be updated as we learn more information. Stay tuned.
