Matt McCall, UMass Basketball Head Coach: The Transition From Assistant Coach To Head Coach

My guest today is Matt McCall, head coach for the UMass men’s basketball team. Previously, he was the head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he took them to an NCAA tournament in his first year. He also spent years working under Billy Donovan at the University of Florida, where he won two national championships while working as the Director of Operations and earned a trip to the 2014 Final Four as an assistant coach.

In this episode, we discuss what it was like to spend so many years at Florida including the back-to-back national championship seasons, what made some of those teams special, and what his biggest lessons were from Billy Donovan. We also touch on what it was like to go from an assistant coach to head coach and what he would do differently looking back on his time as an assistant coach. If you are an assistant hoping to make the leap to head coach in the near future, this episode is a must-listen.

Show Notes:

(1:26) — Episode begins with his early career at UF as a student-manager, GA, and Director of Operations

(6:22) — What he did to earn Coach Donovan’s trust early on

(8:40) — What the experience was like being part of back-to-back national championships in 2006/2007 and making the Final 4 in 2014

(14:30) — Coach Donovan helping older players not be frustrated with sophomores Joakim Noah & Al Horford starting unexpectedly

(16:30) — How he witnessed Coach Donovan evolve

(19:45) — Lessons he learned from being on staff with so many former or future head coaches

(22:05) — Why he started taking notes in his career

(25:40) — His approach to being hired as the head coach at Chattanooga

(34:00) — Being hired at UMass

(39:00) — How he handles the stress of the job

(51:00) — How he handles work/life balance

(52:30) — Lessons he’s learned in hiring at both UTC and UMass

(54:50) — What are the most important traits for a head coach

(57:00) — Advice for assistant coaches now that he’s been a head coach

(59:20) — How he remains humble while experiencing personal success at a young age

(1:01:05) — End of episode questions

End of Episode Questions:

1. What’s 1 book every coach should read?

2. Who is one person you’d want to hear as a guest on this podcast? Billy Donovan

3. What’s one area you’re looking to improve in over the next year? Improve in end of game execution with simplicity.

4. What’s popular advice you hear people say that you think is wrong? You have to recruit great players. No — you need to recruit the right players for your head coach and the program.

5. What advice do you have for young coaches who are listening to this? Work hard, value relationships you have with other staff members, and embrace your current role.

6. What’s the darkest moment you experienced professionally and how did you overcome it? Struggling to have the right culture during his first two years at UMass and got through it by seeking advice and talking to people.

Favorite Quotes:

“That’s what Coach Donovan does, he treats everyone the right way.”

“Coach Donovan hired me back at Florida because during my time there I took a tremendous amount of pride in establishing relationships, treating people the right way, and working hard.”

“Did I get hired as a head coach because I was the best assistant coach in the country? No. I got hired as a head coach because of the success we were having at Florida. Success breeds opportunity.”

“The instilling of your culture, the getting everybody to buy into your culture, that’s what you have to spend more time on the first year you take over a job, especially a job that’s a rebuild situation, and you can’t sacrifice anything for the ball to go into the basket.”

“You have to be true to yourself. Who are you? What are the things you value? How do you want things to operate every single day?”