No secret here, as I’ve talked about this one for a while – the hiring of Allen Edwards at UMass is now official. Here’s the press release from the school:
Massachusetts basketball head coach Frank Martin announced the addition of Allen Edwards, contingent upon the successful completion of a background check, as an associate head coach on his staff Thursday afternoon. Edwards joins the Minutemen with four years of head coaching and 16 years of assistant coaching experience and most recently spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Loyola Marymount.
“Super excited to once again line up with Allen Edwards on my side,” said Martin. “I was fortunate enough to coach him in high school and watched him grow as a coach after completing his unbelievably successful playing career. He brings unbelievable experience as a former head coach and as a lead assistant coach for tremendous coaches in his background. Allen and his family will be a tremendous addition to UMass and the Amherst communities.”
At Loyola Marymount, Edwards helped the Lions to a top-three finish in the West Coast Conference in 2020-21 and helped them secure their first winning record in conference play since 2011-12. The squad finished in the top-100 in the NCAA NET rankings at No. 95, the highest finish in NET or RPI since the 1990 season.
Prior to arriving at LMU, Edwards spent nine seasons at Wyoming and was the head coach of the Cowboys from 2016-10. Edwards’ teams recorded 60 wins over four seasons, including back-to-back 20-win seasons while winning 23 games in 2016-17 on the way to the CBI Championship. As an assistant at Wyoming, Edwards helped the 2015 team to the NCAA Second Round and coached Larry Nance to a first-round draft pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.
Edwards also spent time as an assistant coach for a year each at Western Kentucky and Towson after three years at VCU as an assistant under Anthony Grant. VCU reached the NCAA Tournament twice from 2006-09 and picked up an upset win over Duke in 2007. Prior to arriving at VCU, Edwards spent three seasons at Morehead State in his first full-time assistant coaching role following a year as a special assistant coach under Tubby Smith at Kentucky during the 2002-03 season.
As a student-athlete at Kentucky from 1995-98, Edwards was part of two national championship teams in 1998 and 1996 and helped the Wildcats to a runner-up finish in 1997 and an Elite Eight appearance in 1995. The Miami, Fla. native played high school ball at Miami Senior High School.
