A Jersey Guy: UMass at Crossroads

The next UMass basketball coach will be a game changer.

Ryan Bamford is a busy man.

The University of Massachusetts athletic director is dealing with the active end of the season for the Minutemen women's basketball team and the defending national champion men's hockey team.

He is also involved in a coaching search in men's basketball, the latest chapter in getting the :Minutemen back to respectability in the Atlantic 10.

The five year tenure of Matt McCall didn't work out the way Bamford or UMass fans wanted.

Bamford, as much as anyone, knows, this is a game-changer for UMass and for Bamford's career at UMass and his future.

Athletic directors are known for their success on the field and who they hire as coaches in the primary revenue producing sports of  football and men's basketball 

UMass has floundered in both sports for the past several years, but men's basketball remains a crown jewel because John Calipari proved that anything is possible 26 years ago when the Minutemen reached the promised land of the Final Four.

The expectation are no where near that, but what is not asking too much is for UMass to be relevant in the A10.

McCall, a rising star import from Chattanooga, couldn't do it.

So UMass is searching again.

Bamford knows he has to get this hire right. 

He is also dealing with a dilemma. 

Look for a rising star as a coach who can still be molded, with most observers  saying fits the profile of St. Peter's coach Shaheen Holloway?

Or go for a bigger splash at a coach who has proven they can win at the highest level such as Frank Martin, who was fired on Monday at South Carolina, a program which Martin elevated to the Final Four five years ago?

It is more complicated than that, of course.

What were calm waters a few days ago, are now swells of waves, with more than 30 openings and more expected.

Holloway is a prime contender, but everything is on hold until St. Peter's presumably finishes its season this week when it takes on No. 2 Kentucky in an NCAA East regional first round game.

Martin is available now.

 He is a proven commodity and would immediately make the Minutemen relevant in the A10. He would undoubtedly bring some of his South Carolina players with him, via the transfer portal.

Can Bamford do better than that?

 Holloway may hold out for more bidders than UMass. 

Bamford has a strong interest in UConn associate head coach Kimani Young, but has had to overcome two obstacles in making it work: lack of experience as a head coach and a background which includes a drug related .conviction.

   Not necessarily deal breakers, but  obstacles which slowed the process down.

Word out of UMass is that the process could take a few more days to be completed.

But if a decision is made on Martin, it could be wrapped up by the end of the week.
Bamford's stance is to take as ;much time as needs to make his selection

Whether it will be the right one remains to be seen.

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Keep an eye on South Carolina. Sources continue to place Boston College coach Earl Grant as a prime person of interest in South Carolina's search for a replacement for Frank Martin.