Umass no longer playing FB in MAC?

[woomba]

Rumor is that the Sun Belt is interested in them as a FB-only member...probably the second most plausible option out there (after dropping back down to FCS)

 

[dayooper]

I think they play in the new league that formed after the B1G formed their own league.

Bowling Green joined the WCHA (where Minnesota and Wisconsin - Madison were from). Miami - Ohio and Western Michigan joined the NCHA (which formed from the ashes of the CCHA, where Michigan, Ohio State, and Michigan State were in). All three were previously with The CCHA

 

[nadav]

They should just go Independent and play a few national TV games on FOX every year and have NESN pick-up the rest. It's a no brainer.

 

[btstimpy]

UMass brings nothing to the table. Even less than Tulane. Heck, at least Tulane is building a stadium and seems to have a plan.

UMass is uncooked mystery meat. It could be rat, it could be a rancid woodchuck but it won't be good for you when it's done.

Is UMass really this bad? UVA played them a few years back in the Men's Lacrosse National Championship game, so they must have decent lacrosse. I think they have decent men's basketball. I don't know much else because they don't get coverage this far south other than some basketball games with VCU. I know they are struggling a bit with transitioning to FBS football. They kind of have Temple's problem with playing in a NFL stadium. Tulane also had this problem, but Tulane is addressing it.

 

[huskypantz]

UMass is betting the house that we are out of the AAC in 2 years.

If they are - why bother? The MAC penalty for withdrawing can't be too significant. They have to have another option. Independence would sink the ship.

 

[btstimpy]

Who ever said above they may replace UConn when they head for greener pastures make's good sense if they(UMass) thought a midwestern conference's traveling expense's is "a bad fit".....is the AAC not more spread out and travel more expensive and time consuming? I smell something's up only those in the know know about !?!

Seems that they only want to find a home for football. They like keeping everything else in the A10 for travel.

 

[whaler11]

UMass is betting the house that we are out of the AAC in 2 years.

Or they are betting Navy falls through.

 

[Vuce]

Is UMass really this bad? UVA played them a few years back in the Men's Lacrosse National Championship game, so they must have decent lacrosse. I think they have decent men's basketball. I don't know much else because they don't get coverage this far south other than some basketball games with VCU. I know they are struggling a bit with transitioning to FBS football. They kind of have Temple's problem with playing in a NFL stadium. Tulane also had this problem, but Tulane is addressing it.

Yes they are that bad. They made the NCAA tourney this year for the first time in 16 years and haven't won a game in it in 18 years. No one outside of folks in western Mass really follow them so the people that are touting then bringing in the Boston market don't know what they are talking about. Obviously lacrosse doesn't count for anything in conf realignment so no reason to even comment on that. In football they play in the Patriots stadium which is TWO HOURS from their campus. They are actually much closer to Uconns home field. They just spent a few million dollars improving their on campus stadium but didn't add any seats. Just some stuff with the press box and other things. They would be a drag on an already putrid conference.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Interesting. A flagship state school decided to not drag down their entire athletic department just because it would be easier to fill out a football schedule in a far flung league where they don't fit.

 

[whaler11]

Well the MAC isn't really anymore far flung than the A-10. Unless St Louis moved a few hundred miles east.

 

[gorskic]

Is UMass really this bad? UVA played them a few years back in the Men's Lacrosse National Championship game, so they must have decent lacrosse. I think they have decent men's basketball.

UMass is a lacrosse power. That is true. Unfortunately that's about where their athletic programs end.

I won't belabor basketball, but their other programs are pretty atrocious. Let's take the example of men's hockey (ice hockey to you southerners). They've been in Hockey East for what, 15 years now? They started off at the bottom of the league and have only gotten worse since. In all that time they've sent only one notable player to the NHL--Jonathan Quick (from Connecticut).

In many ways UMass is substantially where UConn was 25 years ago or so. The campus is still kind of run down and most of the buildings are of the 60's and 70's vintage. Because they're out in Western Massachusetts they don't get a lot of attention and support from the state legislature. Remember, Bostonians (who run the state) are mind-blowingly provincial. To them, UMass Boston is UMass, despite Amherst's alleged flagship status.

To be honest, I don't see things changing for UMass in terms of state support the way they have for UConn.

Sorry for the long reply.

 

[whaler11]

They could in theory be #12 for the Sun Belt.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

That is funny. Seems strange to look at state flagship schools in highly populated states and see an AD that plays in A-10 type conferences. There is really no other part of the country that does this.

Mass is an unusual state
The greater Boston area is home to a plethora of Schools ,and a good deal of the state population barely acknowledges UMass. When you have Harvard,MIT,BC,BU, and Northeastern all within subway distance a school 90 miles away has very little impact. I think The UConn campus is closer to Boston than UMass.
Connecticut 40 years ago was somewhat similar with Yale, but UConn managed to win the entire state. The number one sport in Boston is Hockey.
UMass Lowell is usually better in Hockey than UMass Amherst.

 

[UConnJim]

Unfortunately, UMass does not have support within their own state and they are a geographical outlier in Massachusetts. I don't know how many times it has to be said, but people do not care about UMass athletics, especially the people who live close to Boston.

They are a bad fit for FBS football and I predict they drop down to FCS in 2 to 5 years.

 

[CL82]

The AAC has 12. The only way umass gets an invite is if we leave for the ACC/Big 10.

If that's the case then they are not a terrible fit and I no longer care.

 

[Fishy]

UMass has always been in a tough spot - they're the flagship university in a state that refuses to recognize a flagship.

They're 100 miles from Boston in the hills of western Massachusetts and I'd almost characterize the state's relationship to UMass being almost hostile.

It's kinda f---ed up, actually.

 

[okielite]

The number of private schools in the northeast makes it so the state flagship schools aren't the same as they are in other parts of the country. Notice that both BC and Syracuse are in power conferences and draw considerably more fan support than their respective states' flagship universities.

And the football support for Cuse and BC is marginal at best as many power conference programs draw at least double what these schools do.

 

[btstimpy]

The number of private schools in the northeast makes it so the state flagship schools aren't the same as they are in other parts of the country. Notice that both BC and Syracuse are in power conferences and draw considerably more fan support than their respective states' flagship universities.

My observation is that major college football in the Northeast has 2 teams (Notre Dame and Penn State). Everyone else plays football for their home alumni, has smaller stadiums, travels rather poorly, and gets more bang out of basketball in terms of passion. Football in the northeast is primarily played in the NFL.

The former Big East football schools in the Northeast, of which the ACC now has 3, compete at the FBS level as does Army and Navy. They were the regional rivals that Penn State beat up on for years after the Ivys de-emphasized football. Then there are a bunch of FCS schools like New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, Lehigh, Delaware, Fordham, Villanova, the Ivy League, etc. UMass wants to get up to that FBS level where the AAC is and the MAC is. I don't know why the MAC didn't want to continue to allow them to keep doing what they were doing for a while longer. Something must be up with that.

 

[Gregory Koch]

I hope they go to the AAC. By which I mean I hope UConn leaves the AAC for a better conference, in which case UMass seems like a logical team to replace us.

 

[whaler11]

My observation is that major college football in the Northeast has 2 teams (Notre Dame and Penn State). Everyone else plays football for their home alumni, has smaller stadiums, travels rather poorly, and gets more bang out of basketball in terms of passion. Football in the northeast is primarily played in the NFL.

The former Big East football schools in the Northeast, of which the ACC now has 3, compete at the FBS level as does Army and Navy. They were the regional rivals that Penn State beat up on for years after the Ivys de-emphasized football. Then there are a bunch of FCS schools like New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, Lehigh, Delaware, Fordham, Villanova, the Ivy League, etc. UMass wants to get up to that FBS level where the AAC is and the MAC is. I don't know why the MAC didn't want to continue to allow them to keep doing what they were doing for a while longer. Something must be up with that.

Because 13 is a stupid number of teams in a football league, when the 13th is 2-22 and keeps their better programs elsewhere.

 

[NickyNewark]

Yes they are that bad. They made the NCAA tourney this year for the first time in 16 years and haven't won a game in it in 18 years. No one outside of folks in western Mass really follow them so the people that are touting then bringing in the Boston market don't know what they are talking about. Obviously lacrosse doesn't count for anything in conf realignment so no reason to even comment on that. In football they play in the Patriots stadium which is TWO HOURS from their campus. They are actually much closer to Uconns home field. They just spent a few million dollars improving their on campus stadium but didn't add any seats. Just some stuff with the press box and other things. They would be a drag on an already putrid conference.

Lax is important to bstimp because his Cav's are pretty decent in the sport and he's all about the Director's club. He's not really "in touch" with the mindset of NE college sport's fan but at least he's consistent, snobbishly stubborn and unflappably ignorant .....the other ACC plant play's his white knight !! I find listening to them a lesson in the Art of War(pyschological) amusingly hilarious. Their both wearing an invisible innocent "halo" and strive to school us on the greatness of the ACC as some super-P5 conference whilst saying all the thing's they think we want to hear. I've come to the conclusion after much thought though stimp is the more sincere and less deceptive than his compadre. Interesting "deadly duo" ha ha from the south san's the buggy whip.

 

[NickyNewark]

And the football support for Cuse and BC is marginal at best as many power conference programs draw at least double what these schools do.

Stimp has marginal understanding of CFB in the NE as he consider's SU and BC as some kinda of eastern power's or "rival" of PSU yet ask him SU's record against PSU in the last(or only) 24 times they played...I believe w/o checking PSU 22 and SU 2 ? Maybe his view is jaded by the fact he's a longtime member of their board.

 

[pj]

Being from the Midwest I dont' know much about UMass but it seems like a state flagship school in a highly populated state would be much more valuable. Heck in the whole country there are not that many state flagship schools who are not in a power conference and most of those are in low population states like Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico. There is also a concentration in the NE with schools like UConn, UMass, Rutgers(for now), Delaware, New Hampshire, Vermont, and NY. Clearly UConn has teh best AD in that list by a wide margin. Those states dont' have the population issue that the mountain states do but for some reason they are not in power conferences and in some cases are in mid major conferences and leagues. Why is it that there are so many NE state flagship schools with mid major athletic departments? Is it just another situation where people in the NE dont' care about college football? $? No talent in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Delaware? Is high school football popular up there?

Traditionally private colleges got 90% of the students in New England and 75% in NY-NJ, while the Ivies got 90% of the federal research funding, so states didn't invest much in the public universities, they were small at both the undergrad and grad level. Whereas in the Midwest, West, and South, state universities got most of the middle-tier students and most of the research funding, which the federal government had to spread around to every state. As research funds provided income, universities were able to grow quite large.

 

[junglehusky]

MassLive article

McCutcheon stressed that the decision to leave the MAC does not indicate a desire to leave the FBS and return to the Football Championship Subdivision, despite a sentiment among some fans and school personnel that the team should make a move back down.

"We're focused on our commitment to the FBS level, which we are resolute about," he said. "We will aggressively be exploring alternate options for football and the entire athletic program."

McCutcheon wasn't concerned that the decision to leave the MAC might appear to some as a wavering of support for the move to the FBS.

"We can't control what some people are going to think or how they're going to view this," he said. "The only thing we can say is that we're committed to football at the FBS level. We think it's the appropriate position for us to position football as the state's flagship campus."

McCutcheon said any speculation as to potential conference fits – Conference USA or the newly-formed American Athletic Conference have been rumored for some time – or whether the football team would proceed as an independent program after 2015 in the case a new home isn't found would be "premature at this point."

"We have been exploring other opportunities – and again, it would be premature to talk about which particular conferences or which type of alignments those may be – but now that we are in this position, we can more aggressively and openly go out and and explore and pursue and talk with folks about what might be available to us," he said. "I think the overall university, the tradition and national respect there is for the University of Massachusetts and our athletic programs across the board will make us a very attractive brand that many conference will want to affiliate with.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

UMass has always been in a tough spot - they're the flagship university in a state that refuses to recognize a flagship.

They're 100 miles from Boston in the hills of western Massachusetts and I'd almost characterize the state's relationship to UMass being almost hostile.

It's kinda f---ed up, actually.

Too many in Massachusetts and Boston in particular, Massachusetts ends at I-495 or maybe Worcester, tops. Amherst is in New York or Ohio to the politicians on Beacon Hill. It serves as a safety school in the eyes of most parents, just like UConn was 20/30 years ago, and its support and funding reflects such. Plus, the academic side of the school is very liberal and conformational and would like nothing more to sink the entire athletic program, especially football as their program has been in the red for decades.