2021 Season

[PreecherJenkins]

That's what I was saying, in almost two years we haven't heard from him...Can't wait to hear your questions!

I am going to start off with a softball: What were the expectations for the football program coming into the year, and if they are not met what are the actionable items that will be taken to improve performance? If he mentions lettings WB4 go, my follow up is, why as a fan should we trust him to make another hire when his two biggest revenue sports have not performed.

[dennisdent]

^Expect some technical difficulties to happen before he answers.

[vanmeter]

The first thing that needs to be done in Athletics is to relieve Ryan Bamford of his duties as Athletic Director. As I understand it his contract is coming up and he should not be extended.
Get a new and,hopefully, competent AD in and go from there. Bamford absolutely needs to go

[dennisdent]

Bamford canceled it for now...When he was first hired he was really transparent and open, now we need to put his picture on a milk carton.

[wmmmfan]

The first thing that needs to be done in Athletics is to relieve Ryan Bamford of his duties as Athletic Director. As I understand it his contract is coming up and he should not be extended.
Get a new and,hopefully, competent AD in and go from there. Bamford absolutely needs to go

Bamford needs to go but the first thing that needs to be done is Swammy and Marty need to agree on what the short and long term goals for UMass athletics are going to be so they can define the search for a new AD. Any quality AD will want to know what the expectation are and if they are realistic.

[vanmeter]

^
Very good point

[jjmc85]

The first thing that needs to be done in Athletics is to relieve Ryan Bamford of his duties as Athletic Director. As I understand it his contract is coming up and he should not be extended.
Get a new and,hopefully, competent AD in and go from there. Bamford absolutely needs to go

I mean, UMass has been competing in intramural athletics since like the 1880s and has won a total of 3 national championships. Ryan Bamford was a big part of one of them-which is arguably also the most prestigious of the three. And we’re saying he’s not competent? That hockey job was an absolutely mess. Go back and read Fear The Triangle Spring to Fall of 2012 and see what happened with the Michelletto hire and how many people turned that down from really bad conferences. No one wanted to come here and Bamford turned that around. Also big donations come in under him and he’s putting together a independent schedule every year with 5-6 home games in football. I never once dreamed either UConn or BC would play at McGuirk and he got them both to come the same year. What do we expect from him?

Football results has been terrible. No nice way to slice it. What realistic things are we expecting from an Athletic Director that Bamford isn’t doing to improve it? If we can’t come up with anything then he isn’t the problem. Football is a long term fix. No AD is walking through that door that can flip a switch and make it bowl eligible.

Basketball has not lived up to expectations either. I think he messed up by extending McCall after year one but also he had a coach who by all accounts would have been great leave him at the alter too. I think if Kelsey hadn’t ditched UMass then the mood around here would be a lot better. Basketball is an easier mess to clean I think than hockey was, and we’ve seen what Bamford was able to do with that. I think Bamford deserves a chance to see if he can turn the hockey success into basketball success. I think that means giving him the shot to hire someone after this season if McCall doesn’t have a good enough season to warrant being the head coach.

[Roadtrip]

Go back, go back to where you once belonged. This is just no fun any more. Admit it was a mistake and move on. IAA was fun for fans and players, this abomination is not.

[dennisdent]

Got this today from the Gridiron Club, usually I would donate to the new campaign, not this year...

Good morning! I wanted to share several updates to start the week:
Yesterday, we posted a video online with Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford - discussing conference realignment. I wanted to make sure all the Gridiron Club members had a chance to see it.

The athletic department launched its Flagship Forward campaign this morning. It’s an opportunity to help support the football program and encourage others to get involved and make a difference in the overall experience of the student-athletes. Please visit the Flagship Forward Football website to learn more.

[eldonabe]

The first thing that needs to be done in Athletics is to relieve Ryan Bamford of his duties as Athletic Director. As I understand it his contract is coming up and he should not be extended.
Get a new and,hopefully, competent AD in and go from there. Bamford absolutely needs to go

I hate to break it to you Van but the first thing that needs to happen is to get a grip and have some realistic expectations. As I was alluding to in the Fire Walt Bell thread; Bamford can only hire someone who has an interest to come here in the first place. Calapari was lightning in a bottle - and that is about the only thing that will save the football ship. UMass has a lot working against it - making finding a successful hire that much harder for any AD.

A new AD is not changing the available pool of HC candidates. Walt may have been a bad hire in hindsight, but at the time, his qualifications and resume were as decent as anyone else who was at least interested. Maybe a new guy has a different approach to narrow down the field, but the overall group to choose from ain't gonna look much different regardless of who gets to say "You're Hired"....

Maybe a fresh start in the corner office is needed, but there are no guarantees that a new AD will be any better than the current one. To be fair, that could be said about any school hiring a new AD; but most other schools who we "think" we are as good as (but are not) are going to have a much better pool of candidates to choose from most likely.



The chances of scoring an AD with prior experience at another FBS school (as AD) are slim and none - or about the same chances as a legit and established FBS head football coach coming here. In other words, right now Umass needs be lucky - not good!

[Roadtrip]

Corollary to the above: If a legit, competent FBS coach did come to UMass and had success, he would leave for a better job, and you would be right back to the mess you are in now. There is no win for UMass FBS football. Old yankee saying, anything worth doing, is worth doing well. Well, news flash; UMass is not doing well in FBS football, not well at all. Which, if you follow the saying, it's just, flat out, not worth the doing. Sorry to all who have hope for better days, but I choose not to entertain your delusion. 1AA was worth doing, and doing well, which UMass did.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Corollary to the above: If a legit, competent FBS coach did come to UMass and had success, he would leave for a better job, and you would be right back to the mess you are in now. There is no win for UMass FBS football. Old yankee saying, anything worth doing, is worth doing well. Well, news flash; UMass is not doing well in FBS football, not well at all. Which, if you follow the saying, it's just, flat out, not worth the doing. Sorry to all who have hope for better days, but I choose not to entertain your delusion. 1AA was worth doing, and doing well, which UMass did.

If the University is not going to do this right, then you are 100% correct. We cannot continue to half-ass this thing.

[Floyd]

I'm just not a fan of the "spend tons of money, then we'll be good" theory. I'm all about building it up. No way anyone can tell me theres not a lower tier guy, or an up and comer who would take this job and build the program to be successful. No way. Its about finding the right guy, with some experience or vision to get it done.

The location thing, I somewhat agree with, but I'm pretty sure if they were good, people would come out. Look at hoop under Cal. Its not like theres so much to do in western mass that people are distracted, the team is just bad. Start to win, be competitive, create excitement, and people show up.
When people show up, money flows. Then spend more to build up. The whole pay me more, then I'll produce game, is backwards and getting old.

I think Whip could have gotten it done, and probably would have stayed here. He's won before, and is a sharp football mind. A strong defensive coordinator on his staff and I think we'd be in much better shape than we are now

[InnervisionsUMASS]

^

Yeah, it's not just a money thing. Sure, that will help, but this University needs a major mindset reset regarding Football. The issues are systemic.... we need the right people to get it done, not just the Coach, but from the System President to the Chancellor to the AD to the Coach.

[ZooMass84]

Corollary to the above: If a legit, competent FBS coach did come to UMass and had success, he would leave for a better job, and you would be right back to the mess you are in now. There is no win for UMass FBS football. Old yankee saying, anything worth doing, is worth doing well. Well, news flash; UMass is not doing well in FBS football, not well at all. Which, if you follow the saying, it's just, flat out, not worth the doing. Sorry to all who have hope for better days, but I choose not to entertain your delusion. 1AA was worth doing, and doing well, which UMass did.

WRONG: 1AA is a non-starter. We have moved up to FBS. flagship state universities in states with a population of over 1,000,000 play FBS football, not FCS. The move has been made. Live with it.