UMass hires Chattanooga’s Matt McCall after previous candidate backs out

UMass has hired Chattanooga head coach Matt McCall.

UMass has hired Chattanooga head coach Matt McCall on Wednesday, the university announced.

He replaced Derek Kellogg, who was fired three weeks ago. UMass initially hired Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey but he backed out before the introductory press conference.

"My family and I always said it would take something extremely special to move us away from Chattanooga and that's what we have here at UMass," McCall said in a statement. "The tradition and resources that are in place not only make this one of the best basketball jobs in the Atlantic 10 Conference, but one of the best jobs in the country. 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."

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McCall is 48-18 record in his two seasons with Chattanooga. He previously coached at Florida Atlantic from 2008 to 2011 under mike Jarvis and at Florida from 2011 to 2015 with Billy Donovan.