University of Massachusetts Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford has announced Matt McCall as the new head coach of the men’s basketball program.
“It is my pleasure to welcome Matt McCall and his family to the University of Massachusetts,” Bamford said. “Matt is a rising star in college basketball coaching who has been a key piece of three successful programs in his career. He has earned a reputation as a relentless worker, a great teammate and colleague and a confident leader of young men. Matt has worked with some of the most respected coaches and administrators in the country, who loudly sing his praises. Coach McCall’s appointment begins an exciting new chapter for our tradition-rich men’s basketball program at UMass.”
Spending the previous two seasons at Chattanooga, McCall holds a head coaching record of 48-18 with marks of 25-11 in league action and 24-4 at home. Under his tutelage, Justin Tuoyo was a two-time Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Pacing the Mocs to a 19-12 record in 2016-17, Tuoyo led the conference in blocks while ranking sixth nationally at 2.9 per game.
In his first campaign at Chattanooga, McCall’s squad set a school record with 29 wins, captured the SoCon Regular Season and Tournament Championships and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The 29 wins were the most in the nation by a first-year head coach in 2015-16. The total is tied for seventh-best since 1962.
The tourney crown and NCAA appearance were the first for UTC since 2009. The regular-season league title was the Mocs’ first since 1994. The previous wins record of 27 dated back to the 1982 season (27-4), matching the total the 1977 NCAA Division II National Champions posted (27-5).
In 2015-16, the Mocs generated momentum with victories at Georgia, Illinois and Dayton. The win over the Flyers snapped their 26-game home winning streak. McCall earned Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors as the squad featured All-SoCon performers in Tuoyo and Tre’ McLean.
“My family and I always said it would take something extremely special to move us away from Chattanooga and that’s what we have here at UMass,” McCall said. “The tradition and resources that are in place not only make this one of the best basketball jobs in the Atlantic 10 Conference, but one of the best jobs in the country. We couldn’t be more excited about becoming part of the UMass family and look forward to building upon the rich tradition that has been established here in the past.”
McCall spent 11 seasons, over two stops, with Billy Donovan at Florida. After five seasons as a manager and graduate assistant, he was named Director of Basketball Operations (2006-08) before returning to Gainesville as assistant coach prior to the 2011-12 season.
In total, McCall was part of four SEC titles, four SEC Tournament titles, two NCAA Elite Eights, a Final Four and two NCAA titles. The 2013-14 Gators won 30-straight games, with an 18-0 SEC ledger, before a loss to eventual National Champion UConn in the Final Four.
In four seasons with the Gators’ coaching staff, he helped land a top-five recruiting class in 2013, which included two McDonald’s All-Americans in Chris Walker and Kasey Hill. The Gators also had a top-10 group in 2014. McCall was instrumental in adding All-SEC guard Michael Frazier and DeVon Walker in the 2012 class.
Between stints in Gainesville, McCall was an assistant under Mike Jarvis at Florida Atlantic for three seasons. The Owls went just 6-26 in that first season (2008-09), accumulated 14 wins in 2009-10 and put together the school’s best Division I campaign with a 21-11 mark in 2010-11.
FAU’s 2010-11 squad won the Sun Belt Regular Season title and earned just the second postseason berth in FAU history (2011 NIT). McCall’s recruiting efforts netted such notables as Greg Gantt, Dennis Mavin and Raymond Taylor. Gantt ranked among the league and national leaders in scoring and three-point shooting during his Owl career.
McCall and his wife, Allison (Rios), are the parents of daughters Brooklyn and Kylie. He earned his undergraduate degree in exercise and sports science from Florida in 2004 and went on to earn a master’s degree in the same concentration in May 2006, also from Florida.
