Pat Kelsey backs out of UMass contract, returns to Winthrop

iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Pat Kelsey has backed out of his contract to coach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, just two days after signing the deal.

“For personal reasons, I have asked the University of Massachusetts to allow me to be released from the offer I accepted to be the head men’s basketball coach,” Kelsey said in a statement Thursday. “To be clear, this decision is entirely personal and in no way an assessment of the commitment UMass made to me personally or to the resources available at UMass to have a nationally-recognized program.”

“I apologize to Chancellor [Kumble] Subbaswamy, Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford, members of the basketball program and the UMass community who embraced my appointment this week and made me feel welcome since arriving on campus yesterday,” he added.

Kelsey, 41, announced later Thursday that he will instead head back to Winthrop University, where he has been the head coach since 2012.

“I realized that at this point in my career Winthrop and Rock Hill is the best place for my family and me,” he said in a news release.

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