Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up
All Scores
Odds by

UMass fires coach Walt Bell after 2-23 record over 3 seasons

NCAA Football: Massachusetts at Pittsburgh

Sep 4, 2021; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Massachusetts Minutemen head coach Walt Bell looks on from the sidelines against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the second quarter at Heinz Field. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

AMHERST, Mass.- Massachusetts has fired coach Walt Bell after he went 2-23 over three seasons with the Minutemen.

The 37-year-old Bell took over one of the the toughest jobs in major college football in 2019, but showed few signs of turning it around. UMass fell to 1-8 on Saturday, losing 35-22 to FCS school Rhode Island. The lone victory for UMass this season came against Connecticut (1-8), which made a coaching change earlier this season.

The Minutemen played only four games last season, losing them all, after the school initially canceled the fall football season because of the pandemic.

Bell had been an offensive coordinator at Arkansas State, Maryland and Florida State before landing his first head coaching job in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The Minutemen have not won more than four games in any season since moving up to FBS in 2012. UMass has been playing as a football independent since 2016.