Travis Ford's brief run as the head coach at the University of Massachusetts helped the Minutemen back to respectability. His teams won more than 20 games each of the last two seasons and the program returned to the top of the Atlantic 10. He left for Oklahoma State, though, and the team faced a difficult decision about who would do the best job of keeping them at a level unreached since John Calipari left the school. They could hire a second-tier coach with a winning pedigree, promote an assistant from within or reach into the past for a guy who represents that proud era mentioned above. The Minutemen appear to have chosen door number three and will announce former UMass guard Derek Kellogg as their next coach tomorrow.
Kellogg will be a popular hire. He's a local celebrity and has been an assistant at Memphis for the last eight seasons. UMass obviously hopes the recruiting skills he used to help the Tigers to the finals will keep the talent flowing to Amherst. You have to wonder if the Minutemen couldn't have accomplished all that and brought in a guy with head coaching experience to boot.
