Editor’s note: This story is breaking and will be updated as information becomes available.

According to a statement released by the athletic department, the University of Massachusetts has fired head football coach Walt Bell.

Defensive coordinator Tommy Restivo has also been relieved, leading to the athletic department assigning offensive line coach and run game coordinator Alex Miller the role of interim head coach.

The firing comes after a 35-22 loss to the University of Rhode Island Saturday evening. The Rams are a Division I-A (FCS) team that was currently on a three-game losing streak.

Bell finishes his UMass head coaching tenure at 2-23, both wins coming to teams that had not won a game at the time of playing the Minutemen.

The former Florida State offensive coordinator was hired by UMass in December of 2018. He signed a five year, contract worth $625,000 annually when he was hired.

As reported by the Daily Hampshire Gazette, “The University owes Bell a buyout of 100-percent of his total remaining compensation for Year 3 and 75-percent of the $625,000 ($468,750) due in each of the next two seasons for a total of $937,500.”

Miller was hired in 2021 after acting as an offensive line coach and run game coordinator at the University of New Hampshire, he was a coach there from 2011-2020. Miller also served as a graduate assistant at Oregon from 2008-2010.

Miller was an offensive lineman for the Minutemen from 2004-2007, where he was awarded multiple FCS All-American honors. He was also part of the 2006 team that lost in the FCS national championship to Appalachian State.

Athletic Director Ryan Bamford and Miller take part in a press conference Monday at 11 a.m. to discuss the moves to media via Zoom.

Joey Aliberti can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @JosephAliberti1.