Okay...I guess it's fair to beat up on UMass a little here. In some ways I guess we deserve it in the way we went about this move to FBS. This is a dangerous time indeed for UMass football and I'm a glass half-full kind of guy. You should hear some of the morons over on UMasshoops.com with all the doom and gloom stuff.
My take is UMass football will undoubtably get better under Whipple. We've got 2 years left in the MAC to show some life. It will help a lot when we stomp BC on Aug 30th. Okay, seriously, I believe UMass will be a replacement into the AAC. In my opinion there is no way UConn stays in the AAC. I believe you guys have a legitimate shot at your 4th NC this year and even a final 4 run will make you far too valuable to the ACC for them to continue to ignore you. As far as the BIG, I don't really know that much about UConn to make that assessment. But what I do know is you guys are a perfect fit for the ACC and would be in the upper echelon from day 1.
Two years may not be enough for us however. I see the possibility of UMass going to the Sun Belt as football only until we can get the program on solid footing. Going independent would be disastrous and more than likely the end of the program. Supposedly Carr and Assoc. , the firm UMass has hired, has reached out to the Sun Belt and got positive feedback as far as a football only membership.
One thing I am positive about through people in the know here on campus is that going back down to FCS is not an option. I guess you can say that we are going "all in" on FBS. Have to wait and see what happens
