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Message: [QUOTE="Towney007, post: 2563774, member: 5832"] Honestly, I probably know more about the inner workings of the UMass Athletics Department than even UConn's, so... There isn't a single, solitary person who wants to be in the Big East at that entire university. From anyone in football or hoops, to alumni, to boosters. I'm good friends with basically everyone, know Bamford well, their marketing director worked for me for three years. I talk them a lot. They want to get into the American. Period. End of discussion. Most of them have stated - outwardly at that - that their best chance of that would be UConn leaving the AAC and leaving a gap in their northeastern footprint. And honestly, they're not wrong. They simply don't pull the kind of market that would be remotely attractive to the P5, their football program is a debt-ridden albatross right now, but they're giving it their best possible go with what they've got and the current crop of AD officials are still trying to dig their way out of a whole swath of terrible decisions that the previous group made. And that's not discounting their own (admitted mistakes) an a whole other variety of fronts. Their hoops program is their best shot. McCall is a really good coach. To get what he's got left over after the scraps left over from an actually good recruiting class that Kellogg brought in - is pretty remarkable - AND with what they've got coming in next year by way of transfers - they're all hands on deck for the NIT. They're optimistic that's a realistic goal. Depending on how long they can keep McCall, in three years, they should have a real, legitimate shot at winning the conference and getting into the tournament. They're doing all the right things right now on that front. Ticket sales are a headache. They hate having such a big venue in the Mullins Center. Even when they draw 5,000 fans, the arena is like sitting in an echo chamber. But even in spite of that, they've still got a strong following. As a department - their sponsorship revenue is a real issue. They've got Lierfield in to help, but the Department is actually signing more deals than they are. They're at about $300k in sponsorship revenue and that's gotta change. They've started by targeting better coaches. McCall is an obvious win. Their hockey coach is really good. They finally convinced their baseball coach to retire and are considering the program's future. Right now they only have three scholarships in the program and it's you know what or get off the pot, there. Their women's programs are solid, but unspectacular. There's an active effort to expand back into the Springfield market and repair some of the burnt bridges from the previous group. There's just a lot. A lot of things that have to be sorted out before they're even thinknig about realignment. So take them off the board for the forseeable future, but there's signs of life there for the first time in years and they deserve credit for that. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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