Report: UMass fires head coach Walt Bell
The Massachusetts Minutemen fired head football coach Walt Bell after Week 10 of the 2021 football season, according to Pete Thamel. Bell amassed a 2-23 record in three seasons as the head coach at UMass.
The Minutemen suffered their eighth loss of the season on Saturday. Rhode Island won 35-22. UMass’s only win of the season came versus 0-7 UConn, 27-13, on Oct. 9.
As Walt Bell departs from the program, offensive line coach Alex Miller will be the interim coach, according to Thamel.
Alex Miller is a UMass alum and former offensive lineman for the Minutemen. He spent 2011-2020 at the University of New Hampshire before coming back to Amherst as run-game coordinator and OL coach.
Walt Bell brought 12 years of FBS coaching experience to the Minuteman program, including five seasons as the offensive coordinator at three institutions: Arkansas State (2014-15), Maryland (2016-17) and Florida State (2018).
In addition to his tenures at Arkansas State, Florida State and Maryland, Bell also worked with the North Carolina (2012-13), Southern Miss (2010-11), Oklahoma State (2009) and Memphis (2007-08) programs prior to his arrival at UMass.
Bell, a native of Dickson, Tennessee, was a four-year letterman at Middle Tennessee State. He played wide receiver for the Blue Raiders. He graduated in 2005 with a bachelor’s in criminal justice administration and again in 2006 with a master’s in sport management.
Bell signed a five-year contract when he was hired that was scheduled to pay him $625,000 per year.
Defensive coordinator Tommy Restivo is also out, according to Chris Vannini of the Athletic.
Bell announced the hiring of Tommy Restivo as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach on Jan. 31, 2019. He came to UMass from South Florida.
UMass joins 2021 coaching search
With the departure of Walt Bell, UMass joins the 2021 coaching carousel.
LSU, USC, UConn, TCU, Akron, Texas Tech and Washington State are all also looking for new coaches with three weeks left in the regular season.
Georgia Southern also had an opening but filled it with recently fired USC head coach Clay Helton.
The UMass job is one of the toughest in the nation given the Minutemen haven’t had a winning season in the modern era.