Patrick Kelsey is an American college basketball coach. He is the current head coach of the Winthrop Eagles men's basketball team. Kelsey began his career as an assistant coach at Wake Forest University and later Xavier University. During his time as an assistant coach, his teams earned five NCAA Tournament berths, an NIT berth, a No. 1 national ranking in two different seasons, and an ACC regular season championship. In 2010, College Bound Hoops ranked Kelsey eighth in the nation among college basketball assistants. He was sought after by some of America's top programs and has been a candidate for multiple head coaching positions. Chris Mack, former A-10 and Big East Championship head coach considered him to be one of the best assistant coaches in America. As head coach at Winthrop University, Kelsey has resurrected a winning tradition and has become one of the winningest coaches in the history of the Big South Conference. During his seven seasons, no other Big South program has more wins overall or more conference wins. The program made four straight Big South Conference Tournament title games and the Eagles claimed the 2017 Big South Conference Championship. The 2017 team claimed a share of the Big South regular season championship and then defeated Campbell to earn Winthrop’s 10th trip to the NCAA Tournament. Under Kelsey, the program has broken multiple school records and produced some of the best players in its history, including Keon Johnson, Winthrop's all-time leading scorer, and Xavier Cooks, Winthrop's all time leading rebounder and shot-blocker. Kelsey has coached a number of players who went on to have successful professional basketball careers - including NBA All-Stars Chris Paul and Jeff Teague.He coached Ish Smith, an All-ACC selection and player for the Houston Rockets, James Johnson, a two-time All-ACC selection and overall number 17draft pick by the Chicago Bulls in the 2009 NBA Draft, and Al-Farouq Aminu, a McDonald's All-America who was drafted eight overall by the L.A. Clippers in the 2010 NBA Draft.
In December 2012, after a game against Ohio State, Kelsey gave an impassioned speech about the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting that had occurred just days prior. During the game's press conference, Kelsey spoke out about the tragedy and said "Parents, teachers, rabbis, priests, coaches, everybody needs to step up. This has to be a time for change.” After a clip of the conference aired on ESPN, parents of a victim of the shooting reached out to Kelsey. He later participated in an event put on by the CMAK Sandy Hook Memorial Foundation. The family was honored at an Eagles basketball game on March 1, 2014. At the game, each Winthrop player wore the name of a child killed at Sandy Hook on the back of their jersey.
UMass Affair
In 2017, Kelsey was hired as the head coach at Massachusetts, but returned to Winthrop two days after accepting the position, citing personal reasons. Kelsey informed UMass Athletic DirectorRyan Bamford of his decision 25 minutes before the scheduled press conference to formally introduce Kelsey to the press and university community. Two days prior, Kelsey had signed an MoU with the university, which included a $1 million buyout clause should Kelsey leave before two years.
