FIRE WALT BELL!

Get ready for some MACtion
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by 78 » Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:12 am

While big boy football has been an unmitigated disaster, dropping the sport would be nearly impossible. It would cause significant issues re: title IX, and the school would have to add several male sports or cut some women sports in order to stay in compliance. It’s could be done, but it wouldn’t be easy.
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by McKinney » Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:28 am

Used to be VOR wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 7:06 am 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.
I think there's a false narrative with the argument about "well we could have invested in basketball and hockey". Because UMass IS investing in basketball and hockey. I think we now have some of the best practice and gameday facilities in the A10 and Hockey East. I also think the compensation packages UMass was able to offer were quite competitive for their respective leagues.

I'm genuinely curious. What other investments towards basketball and hockey are UMass missing out on?
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by econalum » Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:49 am

kd68 wrote: 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.
errr...Hockey is doing pretty well, right?
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by econalum » Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:51 am

78 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:12 am While big boy football has been an unmitigated disaster, dropping the sport would be nearly impossible. It would cause significant issues re: title IX, and the school would have to add several male sports or cut some women sports in order to stay in compliance. It’s could be done, but it wouldn’t be easy.
So, it frees up 20 schollies or so, assuming we drop to FCS. that would allow us to add men's sports, or fully fund schollies in sports such as baseball or soccer that are under-resourced. Seems easy.
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Steve81 » Mon Nov 04, 2019 9:20 am

Need to leave so this is short.

No longer believe there is an acceptable argument that is realistic for both football and basketball.
Think we need to wait on UConn but right now believe a fb only with UConn is the only possibility for a fb conference home.

Been posting but also listening. The MAC is a non starter from hearing you all.
Don't believe the AAC is realistic period. With UConn gone, they want NO presents in the North East. A few team like us there but not enough to EVER get 2/3 never mind 3/4 needed votes.
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Steve81 » Mon Nov 04, 2019 9:21 am

econalum wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:51 am
78 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:12 am While big boy football has been an unmitigated disaster, dropping the sport would be nearly impossible. It would cause significant issues re: title IX, and the school would have to add several male sports or cut some women sports in order to stay in compliance. It’s could be done, but it wouldn’t be easy.
So, it frees up 20 schollies or so, assuming we drop to FCS. that would allow us to add men's sports, or fully fund schollies in sports such as baseball or soccer that are under-resourced. Seems easy.
What 20 women sports scholarship should be cut to balance things out??
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Mon Nov 04, 2019 9:41 am

We have some institutional problems that need to be addressed to fix this. As far as Coach Bell is concerned, I don't know.
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by km109 » Mon Nov 04, 2019 10:33 am

Exactly what kind of coach is going to take the UMass job if we fire Coach Bell after 1 year? This isn't Florida State where there's tradition, broad fan support and a huge budget. I'd also be willing to bet that there's a stronger talent base in the program at Florida State than Whipple left in Amherst. Tougher competition for whoever replaces Taggert, but more likely guys in the program that can be coached up.

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by jjmc85 » Mon Nov 04, 2019 11:35 am

McKinney wrote: 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.
Re leaving the MAC: from a football perspective leaving the MAC was bad. Would have also probably helped baseball to go there, as it’s a pretty good baseball conference IIRC. For basketball it’d be a step back. Not as big as some might have you believe, but it would be. Not gonna pretend to know enough about MAC vs A10 for nonrevenue to comment on the rest. But those teams fly to St. Louis and Ohio in the A10. Who cares if they instead fly to Ohio/ Michigan?

Re tying the agreement to Temple: UMass has no other move. Northeastern has just stolen football from the A-10 banner and cut their program immediately. Same with Hofstra. Rhode Island has announced plans to move to the NEC. The CAA was expanding further and further south, and the northern schools only had votes for football only members. The all conference members in the south were voting to replace the departing northern schools with teams in Virginia and Georgia and the Carolinas all sports, including football. It was unclear how long Maine and New Hampshire would be able to hold on. UMass was about to be the sole northern outpost of the conference.

Then UNH saved UMass’ ass by coming up with the Colonial Classic. Play one game at Gillette. 35K show up to this once in a lifetime opportunity, many of the UNH fans and some idiot thought that this could happen every week and decided to extend an invite to UMass from the MAC. Northeast FCS football was sinking fast at the time and there was a life jacket extended to the program. UMass absolutely had to take the deal. And being tied to Temple was what the school wanted. They were a big A10 rival anyway. And besides, where were they gonna go? They were kicked out of the Big East not even 10 years before and left to die before the MAC saved them. And they were a pretty mediocre MAC team anyway. Who could have rationally said they’d get an invite anywhere, nevermind to a BCS conference?

Granted URI changed their minds before playing a down of NEC, and the CAA threw a bone to the Northern schools by admitting some SUNYs after UMass left, but there was no way for anyone to know that.

We can second guess a lot of things, but UMass played the absolute best hand they had at the time by taking the invite. Even if it is an unmitigated disaster which eventually kills the program, based on everything anyone knew, that was the only move they had at the time that made any sense.
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by eldonabe » Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:26 pm

Nobody is firing Bell at this moment. This is a 3 year plan wrapped into a 5 year contract.

Until the guy can suit up 85 players he gets a pass. That should be 3 years. At that point he has upperclassmen who have been in his system and hopefully decent recruiting from which he is building longevity....

Next season will be bad too, 1 or 2 wins tops..... year three will be the telling season for Walt's future and his vision. If they get 3 or 4 wins, that will be the corner for him and Umass football.

McCall already proved you can't just bring in a bunch of transfers just so you have warm bodies and you can't just recruit 35 freshmen into one class either.

As for the Molnar comparisons, there are no comparisons. Molnar was in over his head and most could see that from the eyeball test alone. Bell has his issues and shortcomings but he looks undermanned and under skilled, not in over his head.

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by MJatUM » Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:44 pm

This aint Tuscaloosa folks.

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Jeff90 » Mon Nov 04, 2019 7:54 pm

I'm disgusted also but we need to give him at least 3 years get his recruits a chance to develop. Agree with Eldonabe's post in that regard. Also agree with Stevemaz "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"...….I would add someone over 5-8 who can see over the line enough to make a mid range throw over the middle. QB MUST be willing to run or the read option offense is a waist of time.

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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Used to be VOR » Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:05 pm

Just a couple questions for those who think that eventually with the right hire that we could run a successful football program.

1) What is the most successful FBS program in the northeast?

2)How does that schools facilities compare to UMass?

3)What would it cost to get our facilities on par with that school?

4) Would we have any chance of an invite to even a mid-level (MAC or better) conference in the next several years?

In my opinion our BEST case scenario is we catch lightning in a bottle for a couple years like UConn did a few years ago. But they had the advantage of a much better conference affiliation that allows them to generate revenue even when they have been bad.

To be truthful UMass was too late to the party with FBS football. Combine the fact that college sports in Massachusetts are an after-thought, and your ceiling is not Penn State as someone mentioned, but more like a watered down version of BC or UConn.
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Steve81 » Wed Nov 06, 2019 6:42 pm

Used to be VOR wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:05 pm Just a couple questions for those who think that eventually with the right hire that we could run a successful football program.

1) What is the most successful FBS program in the northeast?

2)How does that schools facilities compare to UMass?

3)What would it cost to get our facilities on par with that school?

4) Would we have any chance of an invite to even a mid-level (MAC or better) conference in the next several years?

In my opinion our BEST case scenario is we catch lightning in a bottle for a couple years like UConn did a few years ago. But they had the advantage of a much better conference affiliation that allows them to generate revenue even when they have been bad.

To be truthful UMass was too late to the party with FBS football. Combine the fact that college sports in Massachusetts are an after-thought, and your ceiling is not Penn State as someone mentioned, but more like a watered down version of BC or UConn.
WTF - Why do you want to compare us to a P5 conference team. The discussion has always been a G5 conference, hopefully the AAC. But with UConn leaving think that is impossible. (Just 3 AAC teams have to not vote for us to block as SMU and two others.) The MAC has little supporters. UConn going independent does open the door a crack for a FB only with CUSA or a serious bend over job for the MAC.

Nobody thinks we'll be joining a P5 conference any time in the next decade or much more. You are not an idiot and that you know who the best team in the Northeast is a P5 team. Nobody is going to play your leading questionnaire crap.
Last edited by Steve81 on Wed Nov 06, 2019 7:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: FIRE WALT BELL!

Post by Used to be VOR » Wed Nov 06, 2019 6:53 pm

Quann wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:50 pm 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.
My Penn State comment referred to this.....

My point is that BC is the best we can look at as far as football in the Northeast, and even that is not very good. Without a conference affiliation like that, UConn was the next best example.
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