FIRE WALT BELL!

[dennisdent]

You don't want to replace head coaches because that is insanity but you want to replace assistant coaches--you never played football did you--assistant coaches mean everything to the players!!!

My suspicion on the willingness to replace ACs over HCs is that the cost to buy them out and replace them with someone else is lower. I'm not even sure, are all assistants contract employees or are some at-will? I'd imagine multi-million coordinators at the Power 5 level are contract, but I'm not sure how things are done at UMass' level.

Assistant coaches are on contract--usually two years at UMass, some have been one. They usually run out at the end of the calendar year. Wish some one knew where to find the contracts for the assistants.

[BostonBert]

Yes, McCutcheon said that it would be paid by outside sources but why was CM paid off by state funds in the end?

Because the donors donated the money to the dept, took the charitable write-off and then UMass used the money for the payoff. The donation is made with an understanding that it will be made for the specific purpose of getting rid of a coach. Good luck to UMass Athletics when they come to realize the program will need a similar bailout to escape this Walt Bell mess.

[dennisdent]

Yes, McCutcheon said that it would be paid by outside sources but why was CM paid off by state funds in the end?

Because the donors donated the money to the dept, took the charitable write-off and then UMass used the money for the payoff. The donation is made with an understanding that it will be made for the specific purpose of getting rid of a coach. Good luck to UMass Athletics when they come to realize the program will need a similar bailout to escape this Walt Bell mess.

Thanks. After I retire, I will have more time to do a FOIA to see how the process goes down with buying out the coach. Bell may leave UMass football by making millions for one win...And I thought CM getting over a million for two was sad.

[Jack]

Jack just likes to continue a common theme of many on this board to name call and ridicule any poster with a counter viewpoint. We are all Umass diehards, we will not agree on everything.

oh relax C4L its nothing personal and its all banter in good fun and w/the highest sense of hilarity. We definitely are not going to agree on buying out and firing a young coach after 2yrs with a roster full of underclassmen, no spring or summer training of any significance and then going out and playing a makeshift schedule against more talented and experienced opponents. We are in the middle of a 5 yr process of restocking, recruiting and building which is exactly what Bamford committed to when he hired Bell. There is nothing even remotely feasible on any level w/the notion that Bamford is going to turn on Coach Bell, buy him out and then start a new hiring process as we head towards NLOI and the hopes that we might be able to practice in the spring.... Its totally laughable.... Anybody who's screaming "fire the coach" given the aforementioned circumstances has absolutely no pragmatism whatsoever and has no clue what he or she is talking about. Not Gonna Happen.

[BostonBert]

Thanks. After I retire, I will have more time to do a FOIA to see how the process goes down with buying out the coach.

A former associate AD once complained to me about a former beat writer having filed a FOIA request with the department. He said “that’s not how we do things around here.” To this day I have no idea why he thought I would be sympathetic to his situation or why he thought UMass was above getting those requests. The absurdity of it has me laughing to this day.

Good luck with it when you reach retirement! They will inevitably balk at the request and demand ridiculous amounts of money for photocopies.

[ZooMass84]

Jack just likes to continue a common theme of many on this board to name call and ridicule any poster with a counter viewpoint. We are all Umass diehards, we will not agree on everything.

oh relax C4L its nothing personal and its all banter in good fun and w/the highest sense of hilarity. We definitely are not going to agree on buying out and firing a young coach after 2yrs with a roster full of underclassmen, no spring or summer training of any significance and then going out and playing a makeshift schedule against more talented and experienced opponents. We are in the middle of a 5 yr process of restocking, recruiting and building which is exactly what Bamford committed to when he hired Bell. There is nothing even remotely feasible on any level w/the notion that Bamford is going to turn on Coach Bell, buy him out and then start a new hiring process as we head towards NLOI and the hopes that we might be able to practice in the spring.... Its totally laughable.... Anybody who's screaming "fire the coach" given the aforementioned circumstances has absolutely no pragmatism whatsoever and has no clue what he or she is talking about. Not Gonna Happen.

Jack, enough already. Do you have any pride at all? 0-4 with 12 pts for, 161 pts against..........Stop the excuses: No one had spring or summer training. Program will be dropped at the end of 5 years, hopefully before that. 0-12 next year and trust me; Bell will be gone or program dropped or both.

[ZooMass84]

Well, he’s in his second season, so I’m not grabbing my pitchfork just yet. I’d like to see if he can build the offense he’s talked about. I’m of the mind a coach usually deserves three full seasons, but maybe he just gets one more. Otherwise, I’d like to see a coach like Al Golden, who did very well at Temple.

I’m honestly still sad that Whip didn’t work out.

Only reason Whip didn't "work out" was because Bamford fired him. You can watch Whip coach Pitt now on TV as OC there. Oh, they went to a bowl game last year and will this year.

[ZooMass84]

In the past 15 years, we had 5 head Coaches, FIVE of them. Replacing head coaches has not bared any fruit. The definition of insanity is to keep doing something and expect a different result. UMass Football is not in a conference, or does it have ANY bowl tie-ins. It is not a desirable job so the list of candidates will be sub par. My opinion is that Walt Bell is a good person and needs to build a strong team. It is what is done with all professions.

The recruiting has been good, defense and special teams show some positives. It's the offense that is under performing and think replacing some of those assistant coaches is the best bet. Defense is the hardest to recruit for and improve on so have faith with the right hires we could have something good.

Has the strategy of replacing assistant coaches worked at UMass? Hmm, how is it working out with basketball.

Recruiting has been good: We're #100. Recruiting SUCKS. Bell SUCKS.

[ZooMass84]

I'm going to make this real simple for guys like Jack: we were 1-11 last year; should've been 0-12 but we played Akron who was 0-12 and was the worst team in FBS and FCS and alot of D2 & D3.
We went 0-4 this year and were the worst team in FBS and FCS per Massey's Ratings. We are better than only Akron again. We are going to be 0-12 next year. We even lose to URI and Maine. Walt Bell is either a Manchurian Candidate sponsored by Max Page or the worst head coach in the history of college football. No more excuses: Bell does not know what he is doing and there will never be enough practices or recruiting classes for that clown.

[capezona]

I'm going to make this real simple for guys like Jack: we were 1-11 last year; should've been 0-12 but we played Akron who was 0-12 and was the worst team in FBS and FCS and alot of D2 & D3.
We went 0-4 this year and were the worst team in FBS and FCS per Massey's Ratings. We are better than only Akron again. We are going to be 0-12 next year. We even lose to URI and Maine. Walt Bell is either a Manchurian Candidate sponsored by Max Page or the worst head coach in the history of college football. No more excuses: Bell does not know what he is doing and there will never be enough practices or recruiting classes for that clown.

Other than that, you like him, right?

[Upstate10]

I'm going to make this real simple for guys like Jack: we were 1-11 last year; should've been 0-12 but we played Akron who was 0-12 and was the worst team in FBS and FCS and alot of D2 & D3.
We went 0-4 this year and were the worst team in FBS and FCS per Massey's Ratings. We are better than only Akron again. We are going to be 0-12 next year. We even lose to URI and Maine. Walt Bell is either a Manchurian Candidate sponsored by Max Page or the worst head coach in the history of college football. No more excuses: Bell does not know what he is doing and there will never be enough practices or recruiting classes for that clown.

Wanna bet?

[ZooMass84]

I'm going to make this real simple for guys like Jack: we were 1-11 last year; should've been 0-12 but we played Akron who was 0-12 and was the worst team in FBS and FCS and alot of D2 & D3.
We went 0-4 this year and were the worst team in FBS and FCS per Massey's Ratings. We are better than only Akron again. We are going to be 0-12 next year. We even lose to URI and Maine. Walt Bell is either a Manchurian Candidate sponsored by Max Page or the worst head coach in the history of college football. No more excuses: Bell does not know what he is doing and there will never be enough practices or recruiting classes for that clown.

Wanna bet?

yes, PM me and we'll set up the bet. Guaranteed we lose to EITHER URI or Maine.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Set the bet up in public... no need for a PM.

[Steve81]

Agree with Jack and two year average of around 100 for recruiting is middle of the pack for G5 programs and that is for a team, with no conference or bowl tie-ins, making it doing well under the conditions. Will post from the other board.

Walt Bell won the job with his recruiting plan! We had fcs level scholarships in the 50's when Bell started, totally unacceptable for the 7 year of FBS. Been disappointed with the offense but feel positive else where. Bell has been executing with recruiting and academics where our APR was terrible. Hopefully the offense can be fixed with some changes.

[dennisdent]

Agree with Jack and two year average of around 100 for recruiting is middle of the pack for G5 programs and that is for a team, with no conference or bowl tie-ins, making it doing well under the conditions. Will post from the other board.

Walt Bell won the job with his recruiting plan! We had fcs level scholarships in the 50's when Bell started, totally unacceptable for the 7 year of FBS. Been disappointed with the offense but feel positive else where. Bell has been executing with recruiting and academics where our APR was terrible. Hopefully the offense can be fixed with some changes.

Another asinine, blatantly wrong post!

Walt Bell didn't win anything! He was given the job for some reason that only Bamford seems to know. I have posted over the past two years on how Bell was never around any program long enough to see if his supposedly great recruiting pays off. He can sell himself, but I have yet to see how he has sold any decent offensive recruits.

We never had FCS level scholarships numbers in the 50's under Whip, I don't know where you came up with that crap but it is wrong that you even post that lie here. How could they be in the 50's when FCS level is 63 and UMass was at that level when it was FCS!!! UMass may not have been at 85 but it has always been above 63!

Your APR comment is also a joke: https://collegefootballnews.com/2020/05 ... ings-1-130

UMass had an APR of 937 in 2018 (Whip's last year) and 938 in Bell's first. ONE POINT! Bell hasn't been here long enough to know if he has been making any changes in academics or the APR.

Finally, I don't like recruiting numbers but Whip had UMass in the 80's at one point and Bell is barley breaking the hundred's. Whip was able to recruit/keep NFL level talent six, (the most UMass has ever had in the NFL at the same time) with all the negatives that you and Jack post. Bell will be going into year three without ONE player that he has recruited that looks like they could play in the XFL!