New UMass coach Matt McCall

[MikeUMA]

All signs are pointing to this being official any minute now.
https://twitter.com/MattVautourDHG/stat ... 5519149057
https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status ... 1462600705

Let's go ahead and get a true McCall thread started. And if we have to blow it up for some crazy reason, well, we know how to do that

[TheChamp]

Some quotes from FANS of Chattanooga. Who have WATCHED his team...

Wow, if this is true Matt should be ashamed! To blackball a player for doing what he feels is right in honoring his country is inexcusable. This staff just seems to get worse by the day. They have clearly lost this team.You have players that are out of control and are just playing for themselves at this point. Maybe Matt wasn't ready to run his own team yet...

1) This team has no heart. Talent, but no heart. Hate to say it... Doesn't help that we throw weak passes and can't hit a basket

I can see us losing our first game in the 4/5 matchup vs. Wofford. Offense is embarrassing.

Not sure this coach knows the x's and o's yet. Time will tell.

i thought this team would be better than last year's, but they seem to have lost their way

There are clearly issues going on with the team. London has taken huge steps back. Woods is being blacklisted for something non basketball related. Our bench has no scorers. We jack up too many NBA range 3s.

Starts at the top, so staff isn't impressive lately. Next year I'm thinking big step back due to youth and no experience. .500ish in SoCon, hopefully the next year back to the top. Will Wade recruits will be gone. We find out how well McCall recruited the last 2 years

I can tell you about Woods. His playing time went away after he refused to lock arms with team and coaches during national anthem. Some players threatened to kneel for the anthem so coach came up with idea to lock arms and protest police brutality. (Only road games , if you've noticed team is in locker room during anthem at home games) Woods refuses so he's paid the price. I went to the same high school and that guy has always been one to stand for right things when others won't. It happens every road game. Never around a guy that works every single day at basketball like him. Just kills me how this staff has treated him. They lost control of this team a long time ago.

Some more quotes from Chattanooga fans. There is NO shortage.

I for one am very disappointed in the coaching and trajectory of this team. Though I've certainly missed a number of games over the years, it doesn't really matter how many games folks attend in a lifetime, unless you intend to support some semblance of a petty argument. As is well known, McCall certainly is not impressing many at this point.

A coach that has lost control of the team will just suspend him for one game vs easy win at Citadel and then let him back with open arms for the tourney.
How did the coaches let the players start telling them how things will be run.

Ok we have a player who did not play second half last night, ie., refused to play... so much for this groups hope, it has evaporated into hype.

Punched locker, broken hand.........and the hits just keep on coming...

What a frustrating and strange year. What a cluster****. Let us hope this mess can be cleaned up in 7 months.

Be interesting to see which current players and recruits jump ship after this...

What caused a talent-laden team packed with seniors to implode? If you've addressed it, I've missed it. Of course the coach and the sports information dept. are downplaying it, what else would you expect? A veteran team with a proven track record doesn't just stop playing for no reason.

There has been a lot of negativity on here and MocNation about the men's BB team the past couple of months, some of which may be warranted and some probably isn't. Yes, this was a disappointing ending to a promising season and the high expectations that we had were not met. Let us not forget however that nobody is more disappointed than the team and the coaching staff and these are still OUR team.

"People who are shareholders in your program deserve to know what happened. School officials down to the boosters and season ticket holders are left bewildered and searching for anwers. It's time for someone to step up and offer an explanation. A truthful accounting of the Mocs great collapse could prove to be beneficial."

I did not see Chattanooga, in the last two weeks, come any where close to matching the intensity level that these teams are showing. I have seen a lot of hungry teams this time of year. Chattanooga was not one of them.

WHAT A MESS!

[bunkerhill87]

We all have to set aside our issues and rally around the coach. Whats done is done! Lets be optimistic!!

[umassfan.com]

Now that's a dumpster fire can't wait till he is here.

[Happy Hazel '96]

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em and celebrate the new hire... Welcome, Matt McCall.

[uz2b-len]

Wow. Surprise me, Matt. (In a good way.) Can't say I'm feeling celebratory.

[Berkman]

We just have to trust the AD judgement. After all he made a great pick for the women's coach and from what others said about the hockey coach also.

[uz2b-len]

Doug Gottlieb‏Verified account @GottliebShow 37m37 minutes ago
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Matt McCall is a really good young coach. Billy D disciple, UMASS bounced back nicely from Kelsey deal

[MJatUM]

Now that's a dumpster fire can't wait till he is here.

Lunch break at the bowling alley huh

[Max11]

Could have done better, could have done worse. I'll take it I guess, and move forward with cautious optimism.

Good luck Coach McCall, and here's to a brighter future for UMass Mens Basketball.

[UMassbball14]

While not yet official, I'm looking forward to hopefully now having our coach of the future. I was more excited about Kelsey, but that could be a good thing. Hopefully he'll surprise us and lead us back to the tournament, and I'll reserve judgment until we actually see him coach this team (or whatever is left of it).

Anything that happened before now, any posts on other message boards, etc. it's all irrelevant. Bamford got his guy, and I trust him completely as of now. Let's see how it turns out.

[Crank]

I’m not completely sold on him, but in the interest of fairness (from 2016):

"University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball coach Matt McCall was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year by both the coaches and the media.
In his first season as head coach, the 34-year old McCall led the Mocs to a 26-5 regular-season mark and a 15-3 record against SoCon competition that was the league's best for the Mocs' first conference title since 1994.
He guided the Mocs to road wins over Dayton and Georgia, as well as Big Ten member Illinois in a neutral site game. In league play, the Mocs swept Mercer, Wofford and East Tennessee State — teams expected to challenge UTC in the preseason — and split with Furman, who finished third in the league."

[Old Cage]

From the "folks who know before we do" column:

#Gonzaga4Champ‏ @MidnightCampus 48 seconds ago

Matt McCall (Chattanooga) très certainement en direction de UMass. Ascension fulgurante pour le leader de la génération dorée des HCs. #CBB

[Uminuteman]

Surprising things can happen...today. For instance I just went to Tree House Brewery and in 10 minutes was in and out with 6 cans of Green and 6 cans of Julius!!

Welcome aboard Coach!!

[sldrums]

^
That's the real winner today. Maybe we should be luring coaches with Tree House, special runs of King Julius for their interviews.