In an announcement today at Barclays Center, LIU Brooklyn announced the choice of Derek Kellogg to serve as the 14th head men’s basketball coach in the program’s history.
Kellogg previously served for nine seasons as the head coach of the University of Massachusetts in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Before that, he served for eight seasons as an assistant under head coach John Calipari at the University of Memphis, including an appearance in the NCAA Tournament Finals.
“Coach Kellogg has a proven track record as one of the nation’s top recruiters who understands player development and how to build a winning program,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “The future is bright for LIU with Derek Kellogg at the helm. I have witnessed firsthand his heart and love of the game as a player and a coach.”
In 2008, Kellogg took over a struggling UMass basketball team which had not been to the NCAA Tournament in a decade, and within six years put the Minuteman program back on solid ground. Highlights as head coach of the University of Massachusetts men’s basketball team:
- Three-consecutive 20-win seasons from 2011 to 2014 (70 wins, 33 losses)
- Three-consecutive postseason tournaments
- An NCAA Tournament Second Round and top-20 national ranking
- 100 percent increase in home attendance from 2013-2016
“Brooklyn is the beating heart of basketball and is a great place to build a championship caliber program,” Kellogg said. “I take a tremendous amount of pride in this opportunity and the challenge of taking Brooklyn to the next level. I want to make this program a consistent title contender, year in and year out. That begins with recruitment, and I have already begun.”
“This is also a great opportunity for my family,” Kellogg continued. “My wife Nicole is a native New Yorker, and after many years in my native Massachusetts, she is excited to come home. My family looks forward to making Brooklyn our home for many years to come and bringing lots of success to Blackbird basketball.”
“Coach Kellogg has experienced success as both a coach and a player at the highest levels of college basketball,” LIU Athletic Director Brad Cohen said. “Derek Kellogg is exactly the kind of coach we were seeking to elevate Blackbirds basketball and create a championship program for years to come in Brooklyn.”
“This was a smart choice by LIU Brooklyn to hire Derek Kellogg,” former NBA head coach and current NBA TV analyst Vinny Del Negro said. “He is well respected in major conferences across the country and instantly enhances the program.”
“Since Barclays Center opened in 2012, LIU Brooklyn has been a great partner,” CEO of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment Brett Yormark said. “We’re proud to be aligned with such a first-class institution and we are looking forward to seeing Derek Kellogg on the sidelines for LIU basketball at Barclays Center next season.”
“I’m absolutely thrilled about the new coach, not just from a basketball perspective, but from a community perspective and I’m sure he’ll assist the university on many fronts,” Senior Vice Chair of the LIU Board of Trustees Michael Gutnick said.
“The legacy of Brooklyn basketball is back,” LIU Trustee Alfred Kahn said. “When you think about basketball and its legacy, so much is Brooklyn. There are so many four and five star recruits comes out of this area, and we’re giving kids who want to stay closer a program they can be a part of at a great University. There are so many opportunities available through LIU.”
Kellogg also served as an assistant coach for eight years at the University of Memphis. The energetic and hard-working Kellogg is largely credited for recruiting many of the Tigers that helped Memphis reach the NCAA Championship game in 2008 and eight consecutive 20-win seasons and eight consecutive postseason berths, and he continued his strong recruiting efforts at UMass, where he compiled a 155-137 record in nine seasons.
Off the court at UMass, Kellogg infused life into the community relations campaign among the entire basketball program. He serves as the Honorary Co-Chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for the Northern Connecticut/Western Massachusetts chapter, while participating with the entire team in the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes. He also helped with events for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and involved the program with charitable events with St. Brigid’s Church in Amherst, including the parish’s annual Lasagna for the Needy as well as dedicating a renovated basketball court.
“LIU takes pride in giving back to our community through initiatives like the LIU Cares program,” LIU Chief of Administration and Student Affairs Joseph Schaefer said. “Not only are we impressed by the success Coach Kellogg has had on the court, in many ways, we’re more impressed by what he does off the court.”
As a four-year letter winner at Massachusetts from 1992-95, Kellogg played on four Atlantic 10 Conference regular season and tournament championship teams. The Minutemen were just the second team in NCAA history to win four-straight outright season and tournament championships. During his four-year career at UMass under Calipari, the Minutemen were 111-24, including 51-11 in the Atlantic 10, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament each year, including the Elite Eight in 1995. Kellogg was named the team’s captain as both a junior and senior. He was named a 1995 Atlantic 10 All-Conference selection and was a three-time All-Atlantic 10 Academic honoree. On UMass’ career lists, he is fifth in assists (453), seventh in all-time three-pointers (138), as well as seventh in three-point percentage (38.1). Kellogg played his high school basketball at Springfield Cathedral where he was a two-time Massachusetts All-State player and McDonald’s honorable mention All-American.
Kellogg spent eight years on the Memphis staff under Calipari where he brought his “coach on the floor” mentality at UMass to the sidelines, and it has paid huge dividends for the Tiger program. In Kellogg’s eight seasons in Memphis, he helped lead the Tigers to eight-straight 20-win seasons and eight-consecutive postseason berths (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 NCAA; 2001, 2002, 2005 NIT).
Kellogg was an off-campus recruiter for the Tigers, and also assisted in scouting opponents. His hard work — especially on the recruiting trail — gained him national recognition. In the summer of 2007, Rivals.com listed Kellogg (No. 7 spot) as one of the nation’s 10 assistants “ready to move up.” A year earlier in 2006, the same web site named Kellogg as one of the nation’s top 25 recruiters, and HoopScoop magazine tabbed him as one of the nation’s top assistant coaches.
Prior to joining Calipari’s staff, Kellogg spent one season at Youngstown State. In his lone year at Youngstown State, Kellogg was a member of a coaching staff led by former UMass assistant John Robic that re-energized a community about Penguin basketball. Youngstown State finished fourth in the Mid-Continent Conference regular season standings, but were in first place in the league before losing their top scorer, Elmer Brown, with seven games left in the regular season. Youngstown State signed a freshman class which included three top-100 recruits during Kellogg’s tenure.
Kellogg joined the Youngstown State staff after two seasons at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., where he worked for Jim Larranaga. The Patriots posted a 19-11 record during the 1998-99 season, captured both the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season and tournament championships and earned an automatic bid to the 1999 NCAA Tournament.
Kellogg began his coaching career at his alma mater. He was a graduate assistant and part-time radio broadcaster at UMass for the 1996-97 season. Kellogg also played a season with the Connecticut Skyhawks in the United States Basketball League in 1995. Kellogg, 43 (born June 20, 1973), is a 1995 graduate of Massachusetts with a degree in Real Estate/Finance. In May of 2005, he married Nicole Flory, who graduated from UMass in 1997. The couple welcomed their first child Maximus Antonio Kellogg on April 28, 2008.
