FIRE WALT BELL!

Get ready for some MACtion
vanmeter
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by vanmeter » Sun Nov 03, 2019 4:18 pm

I had my doubts about Walt Bell when he was hired but we need to see what happens next year. Hopefully we will see significant improvement.

When he was hired, there were those who said getting a coordinator from a Power Five school like Florida State was a coup. I looked at it as Bell getting out of town before the hammer fell on the Head Coach Willie Taggert.

And the hammer fell today for Taggert. $20,000,000 buyout raised privately.

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Old Cage
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Old Cage » Sun Nov 03, 2019 4:28 pm

So much for Bell vs. Taggart in 2021. Taggart lasted 1 1/2 years.
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Used to be VOR
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Used to be VOR » Sun Nov 03, 2019 6:51 pm

Just a question for the group.

Is there anything that could ever convince certain members of this board that getting out of FBS football would be the right move?

I am honestly curious.
Turns out, just because you write your name on a baby doesn't mean you get to keep it."

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by minutefanjsf » Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:22 pm

Used to be VOR wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 6:51 pm Just a question for the group.

Is there anything that could ever convince certain members of this board that getting out of FBS football would be the right move?

I am honestly curious.
For me it’s either stay in FBS or drop football completely, which I can’t see happening and wouldn’t support. There is no FCS or lower like DII that I think is acceptable. FCS is a money suck more than what we are doing now.

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Rolling Ridge
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Rolling Ridge » Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:23 pm

Used to be VOR wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 6:51 pm Just a question for the group.

Is there anything that could ever convince certain members of this board that getting out of FBS football would be the right move?

I am honestly curious.
For me personally, there would have to be an argument that having FBS football was truly hurting the University in some meaningful way, presumably financially. At this moment, I don't see that being the case and I don't think the financial drain is any worse than it was when we were in FCS, but at FBS we have a much more significant upside. I don't see the level of giving to the program that has produced the practice facility, scoreboard, and other improvements happening at the FCS level. Nor do I see the infrastructure commitments the University have made happening (press box, Football Performance Center, etc.).

I also don't see winning at the FCS level to be enough of a plus to really help the University. We did that, and it largely fell on deaf ears. We could suck for 20+ years, like countless FBS programs have, and then get the right coach at the right moment and have a great run and reap the benefits like we did when the basketball team did exactly the same thing. Other programs have done this, why can't we, and why shouldn't we? As someone said earlier, there's lot's of hungry coaches out there. Maybe we have the wrong one right now, but who's to say the next one won't be better? If we throw in the towel, all that potential up-side is lost, and in the meantime the investment is not exactly dragging the University down.

Other than having to watch a bad football team for some undetermined period of time, why exactly should UMass opt out of FBS? I have yet to see a compelling case for it, and the simple fact that the team stinks today is not enough for me to want to quit. The administration of this University was dreadful for decades, and look at us now.

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by SJGMoney » Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:34 pm

Well said
UMass '87

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Quann
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Quann » Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:50 pm

I don’t mean to be crass but I have two words for the whiny babies that keep wanting to drop fbs football. “Fuck” and “you”. UMass is one of the elite institutions in the northeast when it comes to size, quality of education, alumni base, and overall brand name. We should be striving to be like a Penn State (sans the child diddling cover up). I believe in a UMass Football program that can elevate our exposure nationally to places we’ve never seen. Take your small time thinking back to places like UNH or Vermont I’m not having it.

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by pk77 » Sun Nov 03, 2019 8:02 pm

This is my biggest concern with the entire coaching staff. Why are we not seeing any improvement with the team. we seem to get worse as the season goes on. I understand we have a young team, but we should be seeing improvement in the young talent and we are not. So is our talent that bad that coaches can't even develop them or do our coaches not know how to develop players. if it is one or both of these our program is in big trouble !! I also get a kick out of Bamford, on TV saying that " Bare with the program, we are exactly where we want to be in turning the program around".

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by McKinney » Sun Nov 03, 2019 10:17 pm

Steve81 wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 3:37 pm So have some balls and admit reject the All sports invite was a bad decision!
But really the worst decision involving the MAC was agreeing to a contract that made our membership contingent upon Temple's.
Class of 2019 - @StatsMass

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by McKinney » Sun Nov 03, 2019 10:21 pm

Used to be VOR wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 6:51 pm Just a question for the group.

Is there anything that could ever convince certain members of this board that getting out of FBS football would be the right move?

I am honestly curious.
I don't know, but hearing new arguments would likely be more persuasive than the ones we've all heard time and time again.
Class of 2019 - @StatsMass

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Refuse2Lose83
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Refuse2Lose83 » Sun Nov 03, 2019 10:47 pm

If Bell gets fired any time in the next season and a half, I do not think Bamford should be in charge of hiring his replacement.
Hire Matt McCall!

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Camby4Life » Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:11 am

As much as it would make sense to give Bell a couple of years, the embarrassing way we are losing is changing my mind by the game. It feels like we see a new low point every week. All but 2 games were decided by halftime. Umass is a field goal away from giving up exactly 35 1st half points a game. 312 points through 9 games is just sad to look at.

Also, agree that Bamford should resign after firing Bell. Figure it out.

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by kd68 » Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:24 am

I just have the feeling Bell is not the answer, especially after his former coach at FSU, Taggart got fired. Always felt we should not have hired him do to his Maryland association. On Bamford, the up coming basketball season should shed more light on his ability to make good hires.

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Used to be VOR » Mon Nov 04, 2019 7:06 am

Quann wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:50 pm I don’t mean to be crass but I have two words for the whiny babies that keep wanting to drop fbs football. “Fuck” and “you”. UMass is one of the elite institutions in the northeast when it comes to size, quality of education, alumni base, and overall brand name. We should be striving to be like a Penn State (sans the child diddling cover up). I believe in a UMass Football program that can elevate our exposure nationally to places we’ve never seen. Take your small time thinking back to places like UNH or Vermont I’m not having it.
Thanks for contributing to a civil discussion ; )

I am not saying the answer is to drop football, but to say it does not merit consideration is pretty silly as well.

FBS football is great if you are in a conference where revenue is generated even in years where you might be down. Being an independent that relies on paid road games to survive is basically relegating yourself to existence as a glorified sparring partner Add to that the fact that we have a stadium that is poor by FCS standards and little to no fan interest. I can only imagine our recruiting pitch is we have an amazing school, and new training facility, and oh by the way that thing is where we play.

I would love to see a predictive model based on taking all the money we have put into football and allocating it to hockey and basketball and seeing how much it truly would affect alumni interest and donations. My guess is, at this point, not a whole lot.

But, as I said, I do not have all the answers.
Turns out, just because you write your name on a baby doesn't mean you get to keep it."

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by stevemaz » Mon Nov 04, 2019 7:45 am

I am going to end up looking like the genius that I am.. ..For I am the Sports Psychic!

One thing though is that Bell MUST find a grad transfer QB buried somewhere on P5 bench that wants to play and can/is willing to run the ball.

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