Thursday was a tough day for UMass and its fans.
Less than an hour before Winthrop’s Pat Kelsey was supposed to be introduced as the new head coach of the men’s basketball team, he had a “change of heart,” as ESPN’s Jeff Goodman put it, and turned down the Minutemen.
“For personal reasons, I have asked the University of Massachusetts to allow me to be released from the offer I accepted to be the head men’s basketball coach,” Kelsey said in a statement, via ESPN.com. “To be clear, this decision is entirely personal and in no way an assessment of the commitment UMass made to me personally or to the resources available at UMass to have a nationally-recognized program.
“I apologize to Chancellor (Kumble) Subbaswamy, Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford, members of the basketball program and the UMass community who embraced my appointment this week and made me feel welcome since arriving on campus yesterday.”
This stunning news comes just two days after UMass announced Kelsey had agreed to be the new head coach, and he was supposed to be introduced at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday. Now it appears he’s heading back to Winthrop.
So where does this leave UMass? Well, Celtics assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry was rumored to be on its short list before it went with Kelsey, and Goodman provided some other names the Minutemen were looking at.
But it appears the search to find Derek Kellogg’s replacement has been far from ideal, to say the least.
But, since I am a UMass grad, let’s end this on a positive note.
Thumbnail photo via James Lang/USA TODAY Sports Images
