Pat Kelsey hired as new UMass head coach

Pat Kelsey has been hired to become the head coach at UMass after five seasons in the same capacity at Winthrop. Kelsey is a proven winner, going 102-59 during his time with the Eagles and earning an NCAA Tournament berth this past season.

UMass has been to just one NCAA Tournament since 1999 and fired Derek Kellogg earlier this month after finishing towards the bottom of the A-10 for the second straight year.

In contrast, Kelsey never finished lower than 5th in the Big South, winning conference regular season titles each of the past two seasons.

The 41-year old coach has familiarity with the A-10, playing and coaching at Xavier under Skip Prosser and Chris Mack. He also spent eight seasons at Wake Forest under Prosser and Dino Gaudio.

UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford had this to say Tuesday: “Coach Kelsey has a detailed plan for every phase of our program and a passionate work ethic providing fuel to reach our goals of building a championship-caliber program.”