Two former South Carolina assistants are following new UMass men’s basketball coach Frank Martin to Amherst.
The school announced Monday that Will Bailey and Brian Steele are joining the Minutemen’s coaching staff. Both worked for Martin during his decade leading the Gamecocks.
Bailey was at South Carolina for two years following four years at Saint Louis coaching under former UMass head man Travis Ford in the Atlantic 0. He has 15 years of Division I coaching experiences and was on the La Salle staff when the Explorers reached the 2013 Sweet 16.
“Will Bailey started his coaching career in his hometown of Chicago and moved on to the University of Maine where he spent time recruiting New England,” Martin said in a release. “He is a relentless worker that has a great eye for talent and builds unbelievable relationships with players. Over the past two years, he has been very instrumental with individual player development and assisting our teams with scouting reports.”
Steele served as the Gamecocks’ video coordinator last season before being promoted to an assistant coach. He played under Martin at South Carolina and also was an assistant at Queens University.
“Brian Steele is a future star in the coaching profession,” Martin said in a release. “ He has an unbelievable enthusiasm to help players improve and for continuing to grow his knowledge while he teaches the game.”
Martin is creating something of a pipeline from South Carolina to Amherst. Freshman forward Ta’Quan Woodley announced he was transferring to UMass over the weekend.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.