The drama of the UMass coaching search came to an end on Wednesday when the school announced the hiring of Chattanooga head coach Matt McCall. The program originally hired Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey to replace Derek Kellogg, only for Kelsey to back out of the contract a day later.
“We couldn’t be more excited about becoming part of the UMass family and look forward to building upon the rich tradition that has been established here in the past,” McCall said in a statement.
At just 35, McCall is a young head coach but a proven winner during his two-year tenure at Chattanooga. McCall led the Mocs to the NCAA Tournament last year via SoCon regular season and Tournament titles. His teams were a combined 48-18 (25-11) over two years.
UMass is looking to return to the prominence in the Atlantic-10, as the proud program has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2014 and finished 10th or worse in each of the last two seasons.
Prior to Chattanooga, McCall spent four seasons as an assistant under Billy Donovan at Florida. McCall is also a UF alum, working as a student manager while he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the school.
