POLL: What would you choose for UMass football?

[Merlin Samuels]

I think the AAC is the foreseeable ceiling unless something absolutely chaotic happens, which seems unlikely.

An AAC football schedule would provide a yearly game in FL vs either FAU or USF and a yearly game in NC vs either ECU or former conference foe, Charlotte. It would be nice to maintain a presence in talent rich states.

We’d also get old A10 rival, Temple, and the chance to be THE New England school in a somewhat national conference.

My only gripe would be missing out on a NYC basketball conference tournament. But this might be pacified by a rotating conference tournament in a destination location like Florida or New Orleans (or Brooklyn possibly—A10 deal ends next year AFAIK). Plus we can always use our non-conference schedule to play local teams in both basketball and football.

Here is a hypothetical football schedule:

vs Maine*
at BC*
vs Army*
at ECU
vs FAU
at Rice
vs Charlotte
at UAB
vs Tulane
at USF
vs Temple
vs UConn at Fenway*

* non-conference game

The AAC would provide much needed football stability in a conference with similarly funded athletic departments. Plus, baseball would get a huge upgrade!

[rsox1221]

The AAC would provide much needed football stability in a conference with similarly funded athletic departments. Plus, baseball would get a huge upgrade!

Baseball would almost assuredly get cut

[jjmc85]

People who want football to move to D2 or D3 should be prepared to see the flagship set sail along with football. Can’t wait for the UMass vs. Westfield State rivalry basketball game to determine the MASCAC winner! Just ask a University of Hartford alum how that transition is going!

02: The poll is about FOOTBALL!

Unless the NCAA changed their bylaws in the last few years, institutions are not allowed to play down in sports. The only way UMass could be D2 in football is if they are D2 in everything except perhaps one non-basketball and non-football men’s and women’s sport. You are allowed to play up in a sport especially if there is no championship at your level in that sport-but that sport can’t be basketball or football.

TLDR- if football is D2 so is basketball.

[Quann]

The person who voted for d2 is either a moron or an excellent troll.

[ZooMass84]

I rule and all of you drool... LOL from that cinematic treat Cats and Dogs..

The fact remains there is a chance Football is separated and the door will open for new conferences to form as the main reason for all of the conference movement the past 20 years is football. Like minded institutions will group themselves together with geography in mind so BC and UConn will solely not be able to keep a rival from being in a conference with them. BC would be far better off being in my conference than they are in the ACC sans football.

In The Old Days pre-Big East there was the Eastern Athletic Association:

1 Villanova 9 1 .900 13 13 .500 70.1 67.2 2.3 1.0 Reg. Season Champion
2 Rutgers 7 3 .700 22 9 .710 70.0 65.4 4.6 0.0 NCAA Tournament; Conf. Tournament Champion
2 West Virginia 7 3 .700 16 12 .571 71.3 71.9 -0.4 0.3
4 Pittsburgh 6 4 .600 18 11 .621 76.5 70.0 4.4 -0.6
5 George Washington 5 5 .500 13 14 .481 78.9 73.7 -0.3 -0.7
6 Penn State 4 6 .400 12 18 .400 58.2 61.6 -2.7 1.3
7 Duquesne 2 8 .200 13 13 .500 73.4 73.7 -3.1 -0.6
8 Massachusetts 0 10 .000 5 22 .185 64.9 75.1 -10.7 -0.8

Dave Gavitt saw this and screwed us. He combined the P5 schools with the old Catholic schools who were P5 at least in basketball plus UConn.

Wasn't that the old Eastern 8 conference?

Yes it was and it was the last time we were in a conference with P5 schools. like I said, Dave Gavitt either intentionally or probably unintentionally killed UMass athletics. The Big East was created right after this then we were relegated to a bunch of little schools who were good and nationally relevant generations ago. Still applies today. hate to say this but we moved up 20 years too late. CUSA wanted us badly in the Camby/Coach Cal days. Still a chance with Portal kids to win a couple games but we missed out/missing out on the TV money.

[ZooMass84]

As much as I hate UConn (hate them more than any other school) they actually have a pretty good model. Being a charter member of the Big East is their saving grace. CT is a basket case of a state (take out Fairfield County and they are basically all poverty stricken run down hood type cities). All the Fortune 50 companies are long gone. I know they wanted to be big time when they built the 'Rent but an off campus stadium 25 miles away is a little ridiculous.

[Merlin Samuels]

In The Old Days pre-Big East there was the Eastern Athletic Association:

1 Villanova 9 1 .900 13 13 .500 70.1 67.2 2.3 1.0 Reg. Season Champion
2 Rutgers 7 3 .700 22 9 .710 70.0 65.4 4.6 0.0 NCAA Tournament; Conf. Tournament Champion
2 West Virginia 7 3 .700 16 12 .571 71.3 71.9 -0.4 0.3
4 Pittsburgh 6 4 .600 18 11 .621 76.5 70.0 4.4 -0.6
5 George Washington 5 5 .500 13 14 .481 78.9 73.7 -0.3 -0.7
6 Penn State 4 6 .400 12 18 .400 58.2 61.6 -2.7 1.3
7 Duquesne 2 8 .200 13 13 .500 73.4 73.7 -3.1 -0.6
8 Massachusetts 0 10 .000 5 22 .185 64.9 75.1 -10.7 -0.8

Dave Gavitt saw this and screwed us. He combined the P5 schools with the old Catholic schools who were P5 at least in basketball plus UConn.

Wasn't that the old Eastern 8 conference?

Yes it was and it was the last time we were in a conference with P5 schools. like I said, Dave Gavitt either intentionally or probably unintentionally killed UMass athletics. The Big East was created right after this then we were relegated to a bunch of little schools who were good and nationally relevant generations ago. Still applies today. hate to say this but we moved up 20 years too late. CUSA wanted us badly in the Camby/Coach Cal days. Still a chance with Portal kids to win a couple games but we missed out/missing out on the TV money.

The AAC today isn’t much different than the original CUSA. Cincinnati and Louisville are gone, but Temple is in there.

Alluding to your Eastern 8 post, the current A10 just doesn’t feature schools with our athletic mission or school profile. Mason and VCU are large public schools, but neither has football, which is why they were invited. Fordham, Duquesne, GW, and UR gave up big time football long ago.

[ZooMass84]

Wasn't that the old Eastern 8 conference?

Yes it was and it was the last time we were in a conference with P5 schools. like I said, Dave Gavitt either intentionally or probably unintentionally killed UMass athletics. The Big East was created right after this then we were relegated to a bunch of little schools who were good and nationally relevant generations ago. Still applies today. hate to say this but we moved up 20 years too late. CUSA wanted us badly in the Camby/Coach Cal days. Still a chance with Portal kids to win a couple games but we missed out/missing out on the TV money.

The AAC today isn’t much different than the original CUSA. Cincinnati and Louisville are gone, but Temple is in there.

Alluding to your Eastern 8 post, the current A10 just doesn’t feature schools with our athletic mission or school profile. Mason and VCU are large public schools, but neither has football, which is why they were invited. Fordham, Duquesne, GW, and UR gave up big time football long ago.

Which is why I have to wonder why we stick around in the A10. UConn has done a similar thing with the Big East (doesn’t feature schools with their athletic mission or school profile) but the Big East is big time basketball. Something has to give with us in the A10: either we leave to the MAC or CUSA or a G5 conference or we drop back down to 1AA.

[Merlin Samuels]

Yes it was and it was the last time we were in a conference with P5 schools. like I said, Dave Gavitt either intentionally or probably unintentionally killed UMass athletics. The Big East was created right after this then we were relegated to a bunch of little schools who were good and nationally relevant generations ago. Still applies today. hate to say this but we moved up 20 years too late. CUSA wanted us badly in the Camby/Coach Cal days. Still a chance with Portal kids to win a couple games but we missed out/missing out on the TV money.

The AAC today isn’t much different than the original CUSA. Cincinnati and Louisville are gone, but Temple is in there.

Alluding to your Eastern 8 post, the current A10 just doesn’t feature schools with our athletic mission or school profile. Mason and VCU are large public schools, but neither has football, which is why they were invited. Fordham, Duquesne, GW, and UR gave up big time football long ago.

Which is why I have to wonder why we stick around in the A10. UConn has done a similar thing with the Big East (doesn’t feature schools with their athletic mission or school profile) but the Big East is big time basketball. Something has to give with us in the A10: either we leave to the MAC or CUSA or a G5 conference or we drop back down to 1AA.

Yes, the Big East and football as an independent or affiliate with UConn somewhere would be ideal. 100%

I like the AAC because it would be a great conference for football to grow into and the basketball slate could be pitched as “national” with normally strong programs Temple, Memphis, and Wichita State. Plus you’ve got some other schools that are usually decent like Charlotte, UAB, and Tulsa. I don’t know what to think about Fl. Atlantic (a buddy is a professor there), but they will be joining soon.

Perhaps luring VCU and Dayton/St. Louis would be possible too. I have to admit, I am sort of attached to the idea of UMass being the premier northeastern school in a conference. It’s the way all this conference realignment is trending: national > regional. Temple leaving was the writing on the wall.

[stevemaz]

The AAC today isn’t much different than the original CUSA. Cincinnati and Louisville are gone, but Temple is in there.

Alluding to your Eastern 8 post, the current A10 just doesn’t feature schools with our athletic mission or school profile. Mason and VCU are large public schools, but neither has football, which is why they were invited. Fordham, Duquesne, GW, and UR gave up big time football long ago.

Which is why I have to wonder why we stick around in the A10. UConn has done a similar thing with the Big East (doesn’t feature schools with their athletic mission or school profile) but the Big East is big time basketball. Something has to give with us in the A10: either we leave to the MAC or CUSA or a G5 conference or we drop back down to 1AA.

Yes, the Big East and football as an independent or affiliate with UConn somewhere would be ideal. 100%

I like the AAC because it would be a great conference for football to grow into and the basketball slate could be pitched as “national” with normally strong programs Temple, Memphis, and Wichita State. Plus you’ve got some other schools that are usually decent like Charlotte, UAB, and Tulsa. I don’t know what to think about Fl. Atlantic (a buddy is a professor there), but they will be joining soon.

Perhaps luring VCU and Dayton/St. Louis would be possible too. I have to admit, I am sort of attached to the idea of UMass being the premier northeastern school in a conference. It’s the way all this conference realignment is trending: national > regional. Temple leaving was the writing on the wall.

Maz prediction alert... Florida Atlantic with big run in the tournament.. could even cut down the nets..

[Steve81]

Was replying to JoleonLescottsHair post at the bottom of page 1. Did not expect it to bring me to the first page.

It is a fairly common refrain from FBS boosters that 1AA is a financial loser. Maybe so. But can anyone share the actual numbers of the last eleven years? I’ve heard the argument, but never seen the numbers. What does our FCS v FBS balance sheet look like? Do “buy” games offset 22 more scholarships and poor attendance or other associated coats? Does getting hammered by, say, a Florida State put us in the black? Given the argument that FBS is a financial necessity, how do our 14 A10 brethren, 10 of the 11 teams in the Big East, and every team but BYU in the West Coast Conference mange to survive without playing FBS football?

Don't think there is a huge difference with being slightly better with FBS, not in a conference, hence a fraction of the CFP money being part of a G5 conference. The highly successful CFP will be expanding from 4 teams to 12 teams and the dollars are expanding. Also note that you are comparing some of our best years as a FCS along with the long slide, which started when Don Brown left, to our unprepared FBS move and being a Independent receiving a 0.5% slice with all other independent teams. So better under the worst conditions and still as advertise a much higher ceiling being FBS.

We did not invest, except for a FBS buy game in the FCS years, which paid for stadium lights and field turf. Since going FBS donations are much higher and you can look around as people have donated funds for the Video Boards and Indoor Practice Facilities used by many sports. In fact currently institutional support to the football is lower today than for FCS football days. Sadly there has been significant inflation to boot.

[UMass'96]

This is as good a place as any for this article...

https://www.natickreport.com/2023/04/no ... -football/

Despite being a massive state school and having a decently large recruiting program, many analysts argue that UMass shouldn’t play at the FBS level and should at the very least be moved down to the Football Conference Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I – AA. However, the incredible competition that UMass faces has helped develop its players substantially, especially those with dreams of the NFL, including Atwood.

[minutefanjsf]

This is as good a place as any for this article...

https://www.natickreport.com/2023/04/no ... -football/

Despite being a massive state school and having a decently large recruiting program, many analysts argue that UMass shouldn’t play at the FBS level and should at the very least be moved down to the Football Conference Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I – AA. However, the incredible competition that UMass faces has helped develop its players substantially, especially those with dreams of the NFL, including Atwood.

Who are these analysts?

[eldonabe]

This is as good a place as any for this article...

https://www.natickreport.com/2023/04/no ... -football/

Despite being a massive state school and having a decently large recruiting program, many analysts argue that UMass shouldn’t play at the FBS level and should at the very least be moved down to the Football Conference Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I – AA. However, the incredible competition that UMass faces has helped develop its players substantially, especially those with dreams of the NFL, including Atwood.

What the actual fuck are these "analysts" smoking?

[minutefanjsf]

This is as good a place as any for this article...

https://www.natickreport.com/2023/04/no ... -football/

Despite being a massive state school and having a decently large recruiting program, many analysts argue that UMass shouldn’t play at the FBS level and should at the very least be moved down to the Football Conference Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I – AA. However, the incredible competition that UMass faces has helped develop its players substantially, especially those with dreams of the NFL, including Atwood.

What the actual fuck are these "analysts" smoking?

Yup. Giving credit to the awesome teams they play, but they shouldn’t play them….WTF?