State of the Progam
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minutefanjsf
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Re: State of the Progam
Being in the same conference for all sports is only ideal if it is the right conference. Right now our football independence is the thing that is making us a better football team. Recruiting is up because we can sell guys on playing P5 teams and name brand big boy, P5, football schools for most of a season and not directional state schools. As as others have said, A10 hoops is historically a better league than MAC and well Hockey East is the best league in the country. I know you all like to bash Steve Maz, but if the athletic department gets on a winning streak and the P5 expands we are a natural fit for the Big10. We would have to move down a notch hockey wise and everything else would be a step up. Our Lacrosse programs and soccer programs as well as crew and a few other olympic sports (field hockey for example) have us better suited for a P5 than G5, along with being the flagship. Many of the schools that used to be in in the A10 are in the P5, due to their football history and the emergence of the P5 football conferences in the early 90’s and late 80s. Penn State, Rutgers, WV, Vtech, etc. were all A10 hoops teams.
Re: State of the Progam
In terms of a conference affiliation. The best fit currently and for the near future would seem to be AAC.
As far as the state of the Football program specifically is concerned its pretty neat to be able to say that after the tumultuous Morris/Molnar era and having to reset the upgrade for the first few years of Whipple - we have arrived at a place of relative stability with good prospect for future growth and development. We seem to have some stability and depth in several key areas such as OL and our recruiting is slowly and steadily improving. Yes he occasionally makes some head scratching play calls, but Coach Whipple has done a very good job of building what he inherited from Molnar into a pretty competitive football program. We need to take everything to another level however.
In my view we need to improve the facilities and the seating in the stadium - at least on the home side. Speaking of which we need to decide which side should be the home side - are we the only school in the country whose band plays their halftime show w/their backs to the home crowd ? Is the band paying homage to miles davis (played half the concert w/his back to the audience) or does our band just hate us? Would the band like us more if we went back to the west side stands? We need to address this issue - the rapport w/the band is important and when they go out there and play with there backs to us it really doesn't help the band, the fans or the program. Once we decide which side the home side should be on and how to get the band to play for us - can we get some seat back chairs for season ticket holders? is that too much to ask for 2018? We need to see continuing tangible improvements and investments in the program. In that regard - a multi-sport indoor practice facility adjacent to McGuirk is absolutely necessary.
Next season we get to play both BC and UKon on the schedule as well as BYU at Gillette - I wish we had another Fenway game - that should be an annual tradition. But for all of the above reasons the state of the program is on the upswing and better days are ahead.
It was at times a difficult season but we have seen significant improvement and it was a lot of fun at the games. The program is improving and I am definitely looking forward to 2018. Go UMASS !!!
As far as the state of the Football program specifically is concerned its pretty neat to be able to say that after the tumultuous Morris/Molnar era and having to reset the upgrade for the first few years of Whipple - we have arrived at a place of relative stability with good prospect for future growth and development. We seem to have some stability and depth in several key areas such as OL and our recruiting is slowly and steadily improving. Yes he occasionally makes some head scratching play calls, but Coach Whipple has done a very good job of building what he inherited from Molnar into a pretty competitive football program. We need to take everything to another level however.
In my view we need to improve the facilities and the seating in the stadium - at least on the home side. Speaking of which we need to decide which side should be the home side - are we the only school in the country whose band plays their halftime show w/their backs to the home crowd ? Is the band paying homage to miles davis (played half the concert w/his back to the audience) or does our band just hate us? Would the band like us more if we went back to the west side stands? We need to address this issue - the rapport w/the band is important and when they go out there and play with there backs to us it really doesn't help the band, the fans or the program. Once we decide which side the home side should be on and how to get the band to play for us - can we get some seat back chairs for season ticket holders? is that too much to ask for 2018? We need to see continuing tangible improvements and investments in the program. In that regard - a multi-sport indoor practice facility adjacent to McGuirk is absolutely necessary.
Next season we get to play both BC and UKon on the schedule as well as BYU at Gillette - I wish we had another Fenway game - that should be an annual tradition. But for all of the above reasons the state of the program is on the upswing and better days are ahead.
It was at times a difficult season but we have seen significant improvement and it was a lot of fun at the games. The program is improving and I am definitely looking forward to 2018. Go UMASS !!!
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Miami (Oh) Yeah !
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Re: State of the Progam
Hockey East is a good league and fits well with UMass but C'mon, The NCHC has dominated National Championships and have had an overall best out of conference record over all the leagues since its existence. We had the #1, #2, and #3 ranked teams for several weeks just this year alone and lead all leagues in attendance and revenue. There is no way you can seriously debate that the NCHC isn't better in every metric over Hockey East.minutefanjsf wrote: ↑Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:45 am ...and well Hockey East is the best league in the country.
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Miami (Oh) Yeah !
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Re: State of the Progam
https://cdn2.sportngin.com/attachments/ ... -11-17.pdf
The NCHC has dominated every other conference every year:
http://www.uscho.com/stats/interconfere ... 2017-2018/
archives for the past 5 years above at that link. Its not even close.
The NCHC has dominated every other conference every year:
http://www.uscho.com/stats/interconfere ... 2017-2018/
archives for the past 5 years above at that link. Its not even close.
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Berkman
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Re: State of the Progam
Can't connect
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minutefanjsf
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Re: State of the Progam
You may not have looked at what you posted too carefully. Hockey East has a winning record against NCHC every year aside from one .500 season last year and this year since 2012. I just looked to see what you posted. from the USCHO site.Miami (Oh) Yeah ! wrote: ↑Sat Dec 16, 2017 10:42 am https://cdn2.sportngin.com/attachments/ ... -11-17.pdf
The NCHC has dominated every other conference every year:
http://www.uscho.com/stats/interconfere ... 2017-2018/
archives for the past 5 years above at that link. Its not even close.
Re: State of the Progam
Grasp your minds around the concept that when the Big Ten expands it is going to go to 18 or 20 schools..
Re: State of the Progam
who will then? make a prediction
Re: State of the Progam
Under the current climate Umass will not be invited to any P5.
Give me a new Stadium then maybe we can talk........ Until then, the best they could get is the AAC and by the time that comes around, that conference will have been pillaged to the point that it will be an undesirable destination anyways....
Re: State of the Progam
Says who, you. The AAC will always be as strong if not stronger than the A10. Football wise it will mainain being a top G5 conference. There are many scenarios but only one has UConn leaving. The AAC would still have have a strong East Coast presence. How is this undesirable. Do you really consider St. Joes, LaSalle etc as our peers?eldonabe wrote: ↑Wed Dec 20, 2017 1:28 pmUnder the current climate Umass will not be invited to any P5.
Give me a new Stadium then maybe we can talk........ Until then, the best they could get is the AAC and by the time that comes around, that conference will have been pillaged to the point that it will be an undesirable destination anyways....
Go UMass!!
Re: State of the Progam
Granted, single game comparisons are brutally worthless, but I noticed that Appalachian State defeated MAC champion Toledo 34-0 in the Dollar General Bowl. I'm liking the fact that we defeated Happy Appy, and are still searching for options (for all sports) for a conference a notch or two above the MAC.
Re: State of the Progam
When the next big alignment change happens and the aac gets pillaged it will be no more than conference USA 2.0.Steve81 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 23, 2017 10:44 pmSays who, you. The AAC will always be as strong if not stronger than the A10. Football wise it will mainain being a top G5 conference. There are many scenarios but only one has UConn leaving. The AAC would still have have a strong East Coast presence. How is this undesirable. Do you really consider St. Joes, LaSalle etc as our peers?eldonabe wrote: ↑Wed Dec 20, 2017 1:28 pmUnder the current climate Umass will not be invited to any P5.
Give me a new Stadium then maybe we can talk........ Until then, the best they could get is the AAC and by the time that comes around, that conference will have been pillaged to the point that it will be an undesirable destination anyways....
Umass’s dreams are pinned to a stadium. Until that is a reality, the P5 is a fantasy, and the AAC is only a faint possibility.
Re: State of the Progam
I don't think building a 40K seat stadium will be all that hard with a P5 invitation in hand. UMass does not need to have the stadium built to get an invite as we can use Gillette for a few years. The day will come when 68K+ see UMass stun #1 Ohio St or Michigan.. haha.
Lets circle back for the naysayers.. If the Big ten decides it will expand to 16 or 18 and they cant get their top choices (Texas, NC, Virginia, Ga Tech or even BC) because those schools decide to stick with their current conferences or in the case of Texas move to P12 or SEC, where would they turn besides UConn/UMass?
1. Kansas
2. Iowa St
3. WV
4. VaTech
5. Duke
I cant even think of anyone else, because they will not go west or deep south or to a low rank academic school
Lets circle back for the naysayers.. If the Big ten decides it will expand to 16 or 18 and they cant get their top choices (Texas, NC, Virginia, Ga Tech or even BC) because those schools decide to stick with their current conferences or in the case of Texas move to P12 or SEC, where would they turn besides UConn/UMass?
1. Kansas
2. Iowa St
3. WV
4. VaTech
5. Duke
I cant even think of anyone else, because they will not go west or deep south or to a low rank academic school
Re: State of the Progam
If I were the Big Ten I would push for adding NC and Virginia, but I don't think those schools would do it.