In hopes of building on the program's recent success, the University of Massachusetts is hiring a coach who enjoyed quite a bit of it in Amherst.
At a 6 p.m. press conference at Curry Hicks Cage Wednesday, UMass will announce the hiring of Derek Kellogg as the school's new men's basketball coach.
Kellogg, a Springfield native and 1995 UMass alumnus was part of four Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament championships in his four years as a Minuteman.
He's spent the last eight years as an assistant under John Calipari at Memphis, where he's earned a reputation as one of the best recruiters in the country. Kellogg's efforts have been largely credited for Memphis' signing of Derrick Rose, the freshman point guard who led the Tigers to the NCAA finals and Tyreke Evans, the No. 1 high school player who announced his intentions to attend Memphis last week.
UMass athletic director John McCutcheon wouldn't confirm that it was Kellogg, choosing to wait until the press conference, but did say he was happy with the result of the search.
"I couldn't be more excited about the candidate we've chosen," McCutcheon said.
Kellogg replaces Travis Ford, who left UMass after three years for Oklahoma State last week.

...one day til the press conference...