Mentioned this one back on 4/10 (Daily Dirt)…It’s now official. Here’s the release from Creighton on the hiring of Derek Kellogg as an assistant coach:
Derek Kellogg has been named an assistant coach for the Creighton Men’s Basketball program, head coach Greg McDermott announced. Kellogg has coached at the Division I level since 1997 and boasts 14 years of head coaching experience.
“Coach Kellogg is a terrific addition to our staff,” said McDermott, who has won 300 games in his first 13 seasons on The Hilltop. “He is a proven recruiter and tactician. His experience as a head coach will be invaluable for me and our coaching staff. We can’t wait to have Derek and his family join us in Omaha.”
Kellogg spent last season at his alma mater, Massachusetts, where was an assistant coach on Frank Martin’s staff that won 15 games and earned the Myrtle Beach Invitational title.
It was at UMass where Kellogg first became a household name, serving as the point guard for John Calipari’s Minutemen from 1991-95. UMass went 111-24 during those four years, winning four straight outright regular-season titles and four straight league tournament crowns. The Minutemen went 30-5 and reached the Sweet 16 his freshman year and 29-5 while advancing to the Elite Eight his senior campaign, when he was also named Third Team All-Atlantic 10. Kellogg was a two-time team captain and three-time All-Atlantic 10 Academic selection, closing his career with 712 points, 453 assists and 344 rebounds while shooting 38.1 percent from three-point range.
Kellogg joined the coaching ranks in 1997, working two seasons for Jim Larrañaga at George Mason before serving as an assistant coach at Youngstown State in 1999-2000. He then spent eight seasons working for Calipari as an assistant coach at Memphis from 2000-08. The Tigers won at least 21 games and advanced to the postseason all eight campaigns, including four trips to the Sweet 16, three trips to the Elite Eight and a spot in the 2008 national championship game. Among the staff he worked with at Memphis from 2003-06 was current Bluejay assistant coach Ryan Miller.
Kellogg earned his first head coaching job at Massachusetts in 2008, starting a nine-year run that saw the Minutemen go 155-137, including three 20-win seasons and a trip to the 2014 NCAA Tournament. He was named head coach at LIU in 2017, reaching the NCAA Tournament in his first campaign with the Blackbirds. Kellogg spent five overall seasons in Brooklyn, going 74-74 overall and 49-41 in Northeast Conference play, before returning to UMass last summer.
“First of all, I’d like to thank Coach Martin for giving me the opportunity to spend a year with him at UMass,” said Kellogg. “When this opportunity presented itself to come to a basketball-centric school like Creighton and work with Coach Mac and his staff, I just felt like that was an opportunity that you dream about. I’m really look forward to getting on board and trying to help them win a BIG EAST championship and get to a Final Four.”
Kellogg and his wife, Nicole, have one son, Max (14).
Creighton finished the 2022-23 season with a 24-13 record after reaching the Elite Eight and is already being projected as a top-10 team in early preseason polls for the 2023-24 campaign. Kellogg replaces Alan Huss on the Bluejay staff, as Huss was hired as head coach at High Point University on March 27th.
