Reports: UMass hires Frank Martin as new head coach

By CHUCKIE MAGGIO

St. Bonaventure men’s basketball fans have withstood another coaching search rumor mill, this time involving an in-conference foe. The University of Massachusetts, after reportedly pursuing Bonnies head coach Mark Schmidt, has reportedly hired Frank Martin to replace the recently fired Matt McCall. ESPN’s Pete Thamel and MassLive.com’s Matt Vautour reported Friday that Martin and UMass are finalizing an agreement this morning.

Martin brings a winning pedigree to the Atlantic 10 Conference, most notably guiding South Carolina to the 2017 Final Four. The Gamecocks fired Martin on March 14 after the 56-year-old compiled a 171-147 record over 10 seasons. He previously won 68 percent of his games at Kansas State from 2007-2012, reaching four NCAA Tournaments in five years.

UMass is the second A-10 school to make a splashy hire this month, as Rhode Island announced former Dayton and Indiana coach Archie Miller as its new coach last Friday. Miller led the Flyers to two regular season championships and earned the 2017 A-10 Coach of the Year award. Martin and Miller have combined to record 323 more career wins than McCall and former URI coach David Cox.

Schmidt has been linked to open jobs since 2014, when he interviewed at alma mater Boston College. He was rumored to be a candidate for BC again last year before the Eagles hired Earl Grant. A two-time A-10 Coach of the Year, Schmidt also interviewed at Central Florida in 2016 and Pittsburgh in both 2016 and 2018 but is nonetheless in his 15th season at Bonaventure, preparing for the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) Final Four in New York City next week.

Martin will be UMass’s fourth head coach since Schmidt accepted the SBU job in 2007.