UMass expected to hire West Virginia defensive assistant Tre' Bell as a defensive backs coach

The UMass Minutemen are bringing in former West Virginia Mountaineers defensive assistant Tre’ Bell as a defensive backs coach, per Matt Zenitz.

This comes as both UMass and West Virginia are in the middle of staff changes. The Minutemen moved on from head coach Don Brown during the regular season, replacing him with Joe Harasymiak, a former Big Ten defensive coordinator. Meanwhile, West Virginia moved on from head coach Neal Brown following the regular season and is still looking for its next head coach.

This season, Tre’ Bell was West Virginia’s pass specialist and spears coach. He has previously been the cornerbacks coach at Akron. He had been with the Mountaineers since February of 2024.

Prior to his time with Akron, Bell spent time with Florida State and Mississippi State as a graduate assistant. He has also been with Eastern Kentucky as a quality control coach. That comes after he played in college for Vanderbilt before transferring to UConn where he finished his playing career in 2017.

UMass is coming off a 2-10 season where both wins came over FCS opponents. Despite that, UMass had a solid pass defense in 2024, finishing 13th in the country in passing defense, averaging 176.6 yards per game allowed through the air. On top of that, the Minutemen forced six interceptions. Still, UMass’ 35.5 points allowed per game was just 125th in the country in scoring defense. So, there is work to be done on that side of the ball.

Notably, next season UMass will be joining the MAC in all sports, a move that the athletic department made to emphasize football and take the program away from Independence. On top of that, when Joe Harasymiak was hired by the Minutemen it was reported that the school was ready to invest financially.

Going into 2025, the staff salary pool is set at more than $2.7 million, which projects to be the highest in the MAC. That gives Harasymiak an opportunity to put together a talented staff within the conference. On top of that, the Minutemen will have nearly $2 million in NIL/revenue share for the 2025 season and $3 million for 2026. That’s guaranteed money, meaning the program already has it and won’t need to raise the funds.

UMass has yet to have a winning season at the FBS level. Now, the hope is that financial investment can turn things around quickly.