Any space for UMass football in all this conference madness? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Any space for UMass football in all this conference madness?

UMass fan and have different opinions than the administration, but my feeling is UMass must move in the next two years and before coach Don Brown is done coaching. Personally feel the new Big East made the A10 nothing special with declining NCAA bids, wins and $$. So I'm in the minority camp that is growing some, we should find a partner and go all sports ot the MAC. They have good bones and have multiple NIT bids in both women's and men's basketball. The MAC funding will make that UMass employee happy as well. Doubt the A10 or UMass will reach it's old glory days and we need to build new rivaries in the stable MAC. The A10 has 3 other public universities and 14 others. Spliting a small pie 15 ways just doesn't make sense to this guy.
 
Steve1981 said:
UMass fan and have different opinions than the administration, but my feeling is UMass must move in the next two years and before coach Don Brown is done coaching. Personally feel the new Big East made the A10 nothing special with declining NCAA bids, wins and $$. So I'm in the minority camp that is growing some, we should find a partner and go all sports ot the MAC. They have good bones and have multiple NIT bids in both women's and men's basketball. The MAC funding will make that UMass employee happy as well. Doubt the A10 or UMass will reach it's old glory days and we need to build new rivaries in the stable MAC. The A10 has 3 other public universities and 14 others. Spliting a small pie 15 ways just doesn't make sense to this guy.
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This is pretty sensible. The A10 isn’t a big March brand anymore and I wouldn’t mind watching the Minutemen play on Tuesday nights
 
Zissou said:
I’ve stated many times if UConn gets a P5 invite it takes it in a heartbeat. No question.

But if UConn doesn’t get an invite, would this be better or worse than a fully independent schedule?
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I don't think so.
 
UCONNJACK said:
Stay independent. I believe only one 1AA win counts towards a bowl invite. Nova and Delaware are both 1AA so only one win would count towards a bowl invite if UConn defeats both.
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The scenario would be UD and Nova as independents like UMass, UConn, and Army. No P5 aspirations for Nova.
 
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noeynox said:
Why do you say that? I'm curious.
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Isn't it self-explanitory? There was no outcry for UMass football. They didn't have a realistic plan for success. Now it just exists like the diseased old tree in backyard. If it falls, no one would care.
 
I think they saw UConn's early success and figured they could come close. However, no one had the advantage we did in upgrading into a BCS league. I think that works against us these days. A lot of bitter haters out there.
 
Waquoit said:
Isn't it self-explanitory? There was no outcry for UMass football. They didn't have a realistic plan for success. Now it just exists like the diseased old tree in backyard. If it falls, no one would care.
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Bingo. The whole problem with the UMass scheme was that they thought they could force their way to being important by moving up. The gambit is a play to get the state to care about the football program. The gambit failed.
 
Zissou said:
UMass, UConn, Navy, Army, Temple, Villanova, Delaware form a 7 team alliance for a TV contract and scheduling. That’s 6 scheduled games with room for each program to schedule the balance independently.

Temple would need to go A10 for this arrangement. I’d take Temple to the Big East but the conference isn’t likely ready for that addition.
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Please stop with imbecilic conference scenarios that no one wants and no network would pay for. You look stupid.
 
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Waquoit said:
Isn't it self-explanitory? There was no outcry for UMass football. They didn't have a realistic plan for success. Now it just exists like the diseased old tree in backyard. If it falls, no one would care.
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They made the jump with no league, no stadium, no plan, no clue. It was a knee jerk reaction to us moving up and haven't funded the program either. There's no rhyme or reason for them to play FBS football.
 
uconnric said:
They made the jump with no league, no stadium, no plan, no clue. It was a knee jerk reaction to us moving up and haven't funded the program either. There's no rhyme or reason for them to play FBS football.
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It’s the UMass way. I don’t dislike UMass or working there but poor decisions abound. UConn and UMass are similar schools but the approach and support for athletics is different.
 
Fishy said:
Please stop with imbecilic conference scenarios that no one wants and no network would pay for. You look stupid.
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I also thought it was far fetched, but now that you have weighed in I’m thinking it’s more plausible. I remember well your keen insight when I was campaigning for UConn to the Big East.
 
uconnric said:
They made the jump with no league, no stadium, no plan, no clue. It was a knee jerk reaction to us moving up and haven't funded the program either. There's no rhyme or reason for them to play FBS football.
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There was a dozen years between the move to FBS, hardly knee jerk that took that long. It was totally about the Chancellor of the time want us to be like our peers and the success of the first NH vs UMass game at Gillette. It was the Chancellor order to the AD to find a FBS conference. That said it was poorly timed, with terrible HC coaches, and underfunding the program severely in response to on campus opposition. Today the Administratration is still provide 1M less support today than when we were a FCS program.

That said the football program has grown from 7M to 10M, with more donations, increased ticket prices, and paid parking and especially body bag games. That former AD killed us with the schedule as we were playing 3-4 SEC games early with fcs scholarship numbers. After those games we were starting walk ons. It was ugly. The new transfer rules has helped and should start seeing a difference this year. Regarding the facilities, some said you need to invest 100M. We have invested around half that so far, with the Performance Center with Hunt Hospitality suite and patio, Press and Sky Box, IPF, new video board and sound systems and additional bathrooms, and little things as south end zone area, and clocks etc.

First win, then sellout and then we will look at expanding the stadium. <--- This is a New England practical approach.
 
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Waquoit said:
Isn't it self-explanitory? There was no outcry for UMass football. They didn't have a realistic plan for success. Now it just exists like the diseased old tree in backyard. If it falls, no one would care.
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UMass has a great football tradition, better than UConns. They were great in 1AA. The move to 1A made sense. The problem is money. Mass won’t invest like CT in football.

I am a firm believer that strong north east football helps UConn. I want UMass, Cuse, and BC to win-and get their guts stomped out by UConn.
 
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UMass jumped to DI because they a) were already losing their ass in FCS, and b) rightly guessed, way too late, that D1 football will eventually be some kid of dividing line.

They did have a conference - the MAC - and I think they hoped that would last longer than it did.

Unfortunately, I think they are lost; there’s no league for them. They will not want to leave the A10 in all sports and I can’t see anyone offer a football-only spot that they can live with. Maybe the AAC is desperate enough if they lose one more, but I suspect they would backfill from the southwest again.

Just a bad spot.
 
UMass somehow couldn’t convince CUSA to offer them membership over multiple other FCS teams/programs last go round. They are apparently behind Tarleton State, Jacksonville State, etc.

They are screwed.
 
UMass could get invited to a conference. With the revenue given from the G5 conferences it might not be advantageous to them just like UConn. I’d be darned if they got into a high paying conference.
 
I don't know if UMass can be successful in the two main sports given how far behind they are now, but if they are going to really make a push, now is the time. The existing revenue and conference models are getting hit with a Category 5 hurricane between the Transfer Portal, NIL, the College Football Playoff, and the impact of Streaming. I am not sure what is coming out the other side, but it will be different, and chaos is a ladder.
 
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Bongo Fury said:
UConn won a natty but couldn’t beat Marquette. Let’s not diminish championships
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Twice in regular season football. Who loses to someone twice in football? Why do you say pointing that out "diminishes"?
 
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