By Kevin Sweeney

Just 2 days after accepting the UMass head coaching position, Pat Kelsey has had a change of heart and will not take the job, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN. It is unclear whether he will return to his previous position as Winthrop’s head coach or if he will explore other head coaching vacancies.

The hire of Kelsey was greeted with praise by much of the media when it was announced. He is a young coach who was highly successful at Winthrop, including taking the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament this year. He also has experience in the Atlantic 10, where he spent time as an assistant under Chris Mack at Xavier.

However, what was supposed to be a celebratory affair during today’s opening press conference in Amherst quickly turned solemn, as the event was cancelled and media/fans were told to leave the building. Here’s a thread of tweets from Matt Vautour of the Daily Hampshire Gazette, who was there covering the press conference when everything went down.

Obviously, UMass is now headed back to square one in the coaching search. A few candidates who were mentioned during the process before the hiring of Kelsey were Florida Gulf Coast head coach Joe Dooley, Monmouth head coach King Rice, and Celtics asssistant Micah Shrewsberry.