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.
Source told me Pat Kelsey "realized UMass wasn't the place for him" and pulled out of the job. Plans to head back to Winthrop.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 23, 2017
"It's my impression that he's going back to Winthrop." – Bamford who said he didn't think it was his place to speculate on other openings
— Matt Vautour (@MattVautour424) March 23, 2017
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.
The other guys that were on UMass AD Ryan Bamford’s list: Joe Dooley, Micah Shrewsberry, John Becker, Chris Caputo, per sources.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 23, 2017
But it appears the search to find Derek Kellogg’s replacement has been far from ideal, to say the least.
This UMass search has been a mess. Sources told @CBSSports AD Ryan Bamford was targeting Mike Rhoades Monday night. But then VCU opened …
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) March 23, 2017
… and took Rhoades off the board. Bamford quickly moved on to Pat Kelsey. But now Kelsey has backed out. So it’s been a rough few days.
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) March 23, 2017
But, since I am a UMass grad, let’s end this on a positive note.
https://twitter.com/UMassADBamford/status/845058594911522818
Thumbnail photo via James Lang/USA TODAY Sports Images
