Tony Bergeron no longer a UMass basketball assistant coach

By KYLE GRABOWSKI

Staff Writer

Published: 03-21-2021 1:26 PM

Tony Bergeron will no longer be a member of the UMass basketball coaching staff moving forward, the school confirmed Saturday.

He’s the latest member of the program to exit after Tre Mitchell and Carl Pierre entered the transfer portal last week.

The Boston Globe reported that UMass bought out the final year of Bergeron’s contract. He initially signed a one-year contract when he joined Matt McCall’s staff in 2019 and added a two-year extension after last season.

He was due $232,000 next season and received a $10,000 signing bonus. The contract required UMass to pay 25 percent of that salary ($58,000) to buy him out.

Bergeron spent two years at UMass after two years at Woodstock Academy in Connecticut. He was instrumental in bringing most of the Minutemen’s roster to Amherst. Eight of UMass’ 14 scholarship players attended Woodstock at one point or another.

Bergeron, a Springfield native, also had stops at Commonwealth Academy and East Longmeadow in his coaching career.

UMass went 8-7 last season, 6-4 in the Atlantic 10. The Minutemen reached the conference quarterfinals for the first time since 2016.

SANTOS ANNOUNCES RETURN – Preston Santos will return to the Minutemen next season, he announced Friday.

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The sophomore guard took a leave of absence from the team this season to focus on his mental health.

Santos played in all 31 games as a freshman and started 12. He averaged 4.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per game and was one of UMass’ top perimeter defenders.

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