Pat Kelsey Cites 'Personal Reasons' For Backing Out Of UMass Job
BOSTON (CBS) -- The UMass Minutemen will have to fire up their coaching search again.
Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey was announced as the school's 22nd head basketball coach on Tuesday, but had a change of heart just a few minutes before the school was set to introduce him on Thursday.
Winthrop's Pat Kelsey has had a change of heart and will not take the UMass job, sources told ESPN.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 23, 2017
UMass has just cancelled Pat Kelsey press conference
— Matt Vautour (@MattVautour424) March 23, 2017
Fans and media were welcomed in, then ushered out
— Matt Vautour (@MattVautour424) March 23, 2017
Kelsey cited personal reasons for stepping down.
"For personal reasons, I have asked the University of Massachusetts to allow me to be released from the offer I accepted to be the head men's basketball coach," Kelsey said in a statement. "To be clear, this decision is entirely personal and in no way an assessment of the commitment UMass made to me personally or to the resources available at UMass to have a nationally-recognized program."
Winthrop announced Thursday evening that Kelsey would return as head coach of their basketball program.
The Minutemen are now left searching for Derek Kellogg's replacement once again. Before UMass made the Kelsey announcement on Tuesday, Celtics assistant Micah Shrewsberry was reportedly in the running for the job. We'll see if his name resurfaces as a potential candidate.