The UMass Minutemen basketball team represents the
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...
in
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...
, in
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
men's college
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
. They play their home games in the
William D. Mullins Memorial Center
The William D. Mullins Memorial Center, also known as the Mullins Center, is a 9,493-seat multi-purpose arena (10,500 for 360 concerts), located on the campus of the University of Massachusetts, in Amherst, Massachusetts. The Mullins Center is t ...
. The Minutemen currently compete in the
Atlantic 10 Conference
The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...
.
History
The men's basketball program has a history of over 100 years. The Minutemen, as they have been called since 1972, celebrated their 100th season in
2008–09. Though the program's first game was played on January 10, 1900, there were several years in which no team was assembled.
![Julius_Erving_UMass](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Julius_Erving_UMass.jpg)
The program's first coach was
Harold M. Gore, who in 11 seasons compiled a record of 85–53 (.616 win percentage), highlighted by a 12–2 season in 1925–26. In 1933–34, Massachusetts was the only undefeated team in men's college basketball, going 12–0. For the 1948–49 season, Massachusetts joined the
Yankee Conference
The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. From 1947 to 1976, it sponsored competition in many sports, but was a football-only league from mid-1976 until its dissolution in 1996. It is essentially the an ...
to mark the first time they participated in conference play. UMass would go on to be 10-time champions of the Yankee Conference.
The 1960s and 1970s were prosperous for the program. The 1961–62 team went 15–9 and participated in the
NCAA tournament for the first time in program history. They would go on to win 4 Yankee Conference titles in the 1960s, and played in the
NIT at the end of the 1969–70 season. Though not a nationally recognized name, the program's coach with the most wins was
Jack Leaman
Jack Leaman (December 22, 1932 – March 6, 2004) was an American college basketball coach, best known as the head coach of the UMass Minutemen basketball team from 1966 to 1979. He would become the school's all-time winningest coach, compiling an ...
. Leaman guided Massachusetts to 217 wins, and coached players including
Julius Erving
Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player ...
,
Al Skinner
Albert Lee Skinner Jr. (born June 16, 1952) is an American men's college basketball head coach and a former collegiate and professional basketball player. He was formerly the head coach of the Boston College Eagles men's basketball team and was t ...
,
Rick Pitino
Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA D ...
and
Tom McLaughlin. The program compiled a record of 142–103 (.580) in the 1960s. The 1969–70 team featured Julius Erving. In his first game with the varsity team, a 90–85 win over Providence College, Erving scored 27 points and grabbed 28 rebounds.
In the first eight seasons of the 1970s, the Redmen/Minutemen compiled a record of 152–65 (.700). They won 5 Yankee Conference titles, and played in 5 NITs (the Yankee Conference did not have an NCAA Tournament automatic bid). The early 1970s teams featured players such as Erving,
Al Skinner
Albert Lee Skinner Jr. (born June 16, 1952) is an American men's college basketball head coach and a former collegiate and professional basketball player. He was formerly the head coach of the Boston College Eagles men's basketball team and was t ...
, and
Rick Pitino
Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA D ...
. Jack Leaman, who coached the team for 13 seasons, hung it up after the 1978–79 season, with a record of 217–126 (.632). Though Leaman's last season as coach of the men's team was 1978–79, he remained a key part of the UMass Athletic Department until he died in 2004.
John Calipari era 1988–1996
The Minutemen fell on hard times in the late 1970s and 1980s, but would rebound under the direction of rookie coach
John Calipari
John Vincent Calipari (born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach. Since 2009, he has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's team, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2012. He has been named Naismith College C ...
, perhaps the school's most recognizable coach, who took the head coaching job in 1988. Calipari took over a program that was on a streak of 10-straight losing seasons and had not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1962. Calipari led UMass to the
NIT in his second season as head coach. In his fourth season, UMass won the A-10 regular season and tournament championships. Over the next few seasons, Calipari took the team to new heights and frequent #1 rankings in the AP weekly poll. In 1996, the Minutemen reached the Final Four for the first time. After the 1995–96 season, Calipari left UMass for the
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
as the new head coach of the
New Jersey Nets
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
. The 1990s were the defining decade for UMass basketball. Calipari helped the Minutemen become
A-10 Tournament Champs five consecutive times (
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
,
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
,
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
,
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
,
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
), and appeared in the NCAA Tournament seven times, including two appearances in the
Elite Eight
In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...
(
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
,
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
) and a
Final Four appearance (1996), the only appearance ever for the Minutemen. However, NCAA sanctions stripped the Minutemen of their 1996 NCAA Tournament victories. The sanctions, based on star
Marcus Camby Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to:
* Marcus (name), a masculine given name
* Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name
Places
* Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44
* Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl ...
admitting he took money, clothes, and jewelry from an agent during the season, removed the Final Four from the record books. Additionally, 45% of tournament revenue had to be returned to the NCAA. Camby reimbursed the school for the $151,617 in lost revenue.
![John Calipari (15536413759)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/John_Calipari_%2815536413759%29.jpg)
After Calipari resigned in 1996, his associate
Bruiser Flint
James "Bruiser" Flint (born July 23, 1965) is an American men's college basketball coach, currently an assistant coach at Kentucky. He was most recently the head coach at Drexel University in west Philadelphia, where he was born and raised.
Col ...
coached from 1996–2001, and
Steve Lappas coached from 2001–2005.
Travis Ford era 2005–2008
In 2005,
Travis Ford
Travis Ford (born December 29, 1969) is an American college basketball coach, who is currently the head coach of the Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball team. He was also previously the head coach at Campbellsville University, Eastern Kent ...
replaced Lappas. Though the Minutemen struggled with a 13–15 record in Ford's first season of 2005–06, he quickly improved the team in the next two seasons. In
2006–07, the Minutemen were co-champions of the Atlantic 10 (along with
Xavier), reached the second round of the
NIT, and finished with a record of 24–9. In
2007–08, the Minutemen reached the
NIT championship game where they lost to
Ohio State
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
92–85 and finished with a record of 25–11. Following the
2007–08 season, his third with the Minutemen, he left to take the head coaching vacancy at
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
.
Derek Kellogg era 2009–2017
On April 23, 2008, former Minutemen player
Derek Kellogg
Derek William Kellogg (born June 20, 1973) is an American college basketball coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for UMass. Kellogg previously served as head coach of the Minutemen, his alma mater, being named to the position on Apri ...
returned to Amherst and became the 21st coach of the program. In
2011–12 the Minutemen appeared in the
NIT after a successful season with a 22–11 record, reaching the semifinals, where they lost to
Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
. The Minutemen were again invited to the
NIT in following the
2012–13.
The
2013–14 season was a massive success, as the Minutemen qualified for the
NCAA tournament for the first time in 16 years. The team started off the season 10–0 and then 16–1, while reaching as high as #13 in the AP poll, and #12 in the Coaches poll. However, the Minutemen, a #6 seed, were defeated in their first game against #11 seeded
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
.
In the
2014–15 season, the Minutemen again struggled, falling to 17–15 on the season. Struggles continued the
following season as UMass finished 14–18.
Kellogg was fired on March 9, 2017.
Matt McCall era 2017–2022
Shortly after Kellogg was fired, the school announced that
Winthrop head coach
Pat Kelsey
Patrick Kelsey (born May 15, 1975) is an American college basketball coach. He is the current head men's basketball coach at the College of Charleston.
Playing career
Kelsey played high school basketball at Roger Bacon High School in Cincinnati ...
had been hired as the new head coach at UMass. However, shortly before the press conference to announce his hiring, Kelsey announced he would not accept the position. On March 31, the school announced they had hired
Chattanooga
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
head coach
Matt McCall.
McCall's tenure was not particularly successful, finishing with a 60–81 overall record at the school before being fired at the end of the 2022 season.
Rivalries
Through 2009, Massachusetts and the
Rhode Island Rams
The Rhode Island Rams are the athletic programs of the University of Rhode Island, based in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. The Rams compete in the NCAA's Division I as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The football team, howev ...
have played over 130 times and at least once a year every year since 1950. The Atlantic 10 regularly pairs UMass and URI in a home-and-home series each season.
Starting in 1995, Massachusetts and
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
played annually for the Commonwealth Cup, in the "
Commonwealth Classic". Following the 2011–2012 season (in which UMass defeated the Eagles 82–46 in Chestnut Hill), Boston College discontinued the series in part due to changes to the ACC conference schedule and canceled their return trip to Amherst in late 2012.
UMass and
Temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
had an intense rivalry in the 1990s, during which time the schools were coached by John Calipari and
John Chaney. The two coaches had to be restrained from each other during a 3-overtime game in 1990. After a game in 1994, Chaney charged at Calipari during a post-game press conference, and in front of reporters and television cameras, threatened to kill Calipari.
From 1996 to 2005, Massachusetts and
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
played in the "Mass Mutual U-Game", a reference to the two schools' nicknames, UMass and UConn, respectively. UConn won nine of the ten games. UMass won the 2004 game, in which the Huskies were the defending national champions.
Season-by-season results
Source
Postseason results
NCAA tournament results
The Minutemen have appeared in the
NCAA tournament nine times. Their combined record is 11–9. Their 1996 victories have been vacated by the NCAA thus their official tournament record is 7–8.
vacated by NCAA
NIT results
The Minutemen have appeared in the
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...
(NIT) 13 times. Their combined record is 13–14.
Prominent alumni
NBA players
Several Massachusetts alumni have gone on to play in the
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
:
*
Marcus Camby Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to:
* Marcus (name), a masculine given name
* Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name
Places
* Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44
* Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl ...
*
Julius Erving
Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player ...
*
Gary Forbes
Gary Orlando Forbes (born February 25, 1985) is a Panamanian former professional basketball player for the Saigon Heat of the ASEAN Basketball League. He played college basketball initially at the University of Virginia, then transferred to the Un ...
*
Tony Gaffney
Anthony Joseph Gaffney, Jr. (born November 14, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player who most recently played for Ironi Nahariya of the Israeli Basketball Premier League, Israeli Premier League. He played college basketball ...
*
Lari Ketner
Lari Arthur Ketner (February 1, 1977 – October 10, 2014) was an American professional basketball player. A , forward/center, Ketner played college basketball at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and was selected by the Chicago Bulls wit ...
*
Stephane Lasme
*
Lou Roe
Louis Marquel Roe (born July 14, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Spanish Liga ACB, among other leagues. He was an All-American college player at the Unive ...
*
Al Skinner
Albert Lee Skinner Jr. (born June 16, 1952) is an American men's college basketball head coach and a former collegiate and professional basketball player. He was formerly the head coach of the Boston College Eagles men's basketball team and was t ...
International league players
*
Raphiael Putney
Raphiael Rashad Putney (born April 21, 1990) is an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the UMass Minutemen.
High school career
Putney attended Woodbridge High School in Lake Ridge, Virginia for coach Chad A ...
(born 1990), basketball player for
Maccabi Haifa
Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...
of the
Israeli National League
Retired numbers
Five former players and one coach have had their names hung on banners in the rafters of the Mullins Center.
UMass Athletic Hall of Fame
Many former members of the basketball program have been elected into the school's Hall of Fame.
Class years listed in parentheses.
*David Bartley (1956)
*George "Trigger" Burke (1956)
*Lou Bush (1934)
*
John Calipari
John Vincent Calipari (born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach. Since 2009, he has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's team, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2012. He has been named Naismith College C ...
(coach)
*Marcus Camby (1996)
*Joe DiSarcina (1969)
*Ray Ellerbrook (1970)
*Frederick "Fritz" Ellert (1930)
*Julius Erving (1972)
*Jack Foley (1957)
*Harold "Kid" Gore (coach)
*Emory Grayson (1917)
*Doug Grutchfield (1961)
*Ned Larkin (1959)
*Jack Leaman (coach)
*Joseph Lojko (1934)
*Jim McCoy (1992)
*Edward McGrath (1949)
*Bill Prevey (1952)
*Lou Roe (1995)
*Al Skinner (1974)
*John Stewart (1936)
*Billy Tindall (1968)
*Rodger Twitchell (1964)
*Harper Williams (1993)
The Hall is officially named "The George 'Trigger' Burke UMass Athletic Hall of Fame" in recognition of Burke's generous support of UMass Athletics and student scholarships.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Umass Minutemen Basketball