LIU Brooklyn hires Derek Kellogg as new head coach

LIU Brooklyn introduced Derek Kellogg as the Blackbirds’ new basketball coach on Tuesday. Kellogg spent the last nine seasons as the head coach at his alma mater, UMass, where he went 155-137 overall.

The LIU search was a long one, as the school cut ties with former head coach Jack Perri almost a month ago. But athletic director Brad Cohen is optimistic that they hired the right man.

“I’m going to have an unrelenting focus to make this a program that will contend for NCAA Tournament bids every year and be at the top of the NEC,” Kellogg said during his introductory press conference. “That’s going to be our goal as a team and I think that should be our goal as a community.”

Kellogg is a prominent member of the John Calipari coaching tree, playing for him at UMass and then spending eight seasons as one of his assistants at Memphis. He has also coached under Jim Larrañaga and John Robic.