First reaction: UMass to the MAC

[minutefanjsf]

All the good vibes I had about the hoops revival have suddenly made me nauseous. If we can't hold on to Frank and recruit the better players moving forward, and resort to DK 2.0, I'll never go out there again for hoops

On the radio this morning Frank said he was all in as the coach for UMass. He said he doesn’t make decisions about conference etc. He said he was hired by great people to coach at a great university. He said this on Lazer 99.3 around 8:30 AM. He said this in reaction to the question about the move to the MAC.

[kdogg8173]

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Certainly i understand the logic above But here it is. what makes us think we will be at the top of the MAC in football? there seems to an assumption that the football team is going to be competitive right out of the gate. our history at this level says otherwise. recruiting good talent in both sports is going to be extremely hard.

I never get this either. That somehow being in a conference is going to make umass more competitive. We’re in an area that could give two shits about college football. A few more bucks is great for the dept, I’d be shocked if it made the team any significantly better. At least as an independent they could schedule some interesting teams. Who’s getting jacked up for ball and Kent state.

[doubledribble]

Don’t like it !

[doubledribble]

Bring back the Yankee Conference for the football team !

[Merlin Samuels]

The WCC is clearly a superior conference, and in the years Gonzaga found success (mid to late 90s), you had BYU and St Mary’s there to pick up at-large bids. In other words, the competition improved. The MAC hasn’t had an at-large bid since 1999, and I doubt any other team in that conference was close to snagging an at large bid over that time. Sure you can win the MAC, but your reward is a 13 seed and a likely first round exit. I agree the only way out of that pigeon hole is if the non conference is strong.

Just a few seasons ago, Buffalo was ranked throughout the entire season and would have earned an at-large, but they won the MAC tourney. The Bulls were a 6 seed and won their 1st round game vs Arizona State. They only played three power programs outside the MAC: WVU, Syracuse, and Marquette and went 2-1

[thecaptain]

The WCC is clearly a superior conference, and in the years Gonzaga found success (mid to late 90s), you had BYU and St Mary’s there to pick up at-large bids. In other words, the competition improved. The MAC hasn’t had an at-large bid since 1999, and I doubt any other team in that conference was close to snagging an at large bid over that time. Sure you can win the MAC, but your reward is a 13 seed and a likely first round exit. I agree the only way out of that pigeon hole is if the non conference is strong.

Just a few seasons ago, Buffalo was ranked throughout the entire season and would have earned an at-large, but they won the MAC tourney. The Bulls were a 6 seed and won their 1st round game vs Arizona State. They only played three power programs outside the MAC: WVU, Syracuse, and Marquette and went 2-1

but they won the conference. thats all that matters. meaning no other team was close to an at-large bid.

[Minutemaniac74]

The question Is, if and when Frank Martin decides to leave, does Umass continue to pay $1.7 million/year for a MAC basketball coach? Here's the top 5 coaching salaries in the MAC in 2023:

1 - John Groce (Akron) - $650k
2 - Jeff Boals (Ohio) - $581k
3 - Tony Barbee (C. Michigan) - $420k
4 - Michael Huger (Bowling Green) - $415k
5 - Tod Kowalczyk (Toledo) - $415k

Is Bamford (or whoever the AD is two years from now) going to be able to convince the Chancellor (or whoever signs off on the coach's contracts) that we should be paying our coach the same salary as the next three highest salaries COMBINED in the conference?? Also,are you going to be able to attract the same level of player that you can currently get in the A-10? You're not getting the NEC Player of the Year (Cohen) to transfer to a MAC school. You're also not getting high-major transfers (Cross, Diggins, Hankins-Sanford) to come to the MAC. NIL plays a factor, but is it enough to draw higher-level talent to the MAC?

[BR72]

What makes this particularly hard to swallow is that they finally have the program moving back to the top of the A10 and getting fans interested again, as exemplified by the 7K fans at Saturday’s game. If this had happened under McCall’s tenure, it still would have been disappointing but may have been a little easier to accept.

[Sheck]

Players are here for the coach and for the bag. The conference is a tertiary consideration in today's landscape.

So the reason that the MAC doesn't get a lot of 3, 4 or 5 star recruits is that they have bad coaches?

I can't really speak to the other schools but I don't think any MAC school places importance on their hoops program the way we do with ours. Even with the move to a lesser hoops league we're going to presumably have at least the same budget we have now for basketball. Also the collective came out in support of the move so from an NIL standpoint we're in a good space.

Hopefully we have some good marketing people to get fans and students out to see us play Bowling Green and Northern Illinois but I think if we're consistently playing for a conference title / tourney bid every season the opponents are going to matter less and less.

[thecaptain]

The question Is, if and when Frank Martin decides to leave, does Umass continue to pay $1.7 million/year for a MAC basketball coach? Here's the top 5 coaching salaries in the MAC in 2023:

1 - John Groce (Akron) - $650k
2 - Jeff Boals (Ohio) - $581k
3 - Tony Barbee (C. Michigan) - $420k
4 - Michael Huger (Bowling Green) - $415k
5 - Tod Kowalczyk (Toledo) - $415k

Is Bamford (or whoever the AD is two years from now) going to be able to convince the Chancellor (or whoever signs off on the coach's contracts) that we should be paying our coach the same salary as the next three highest salaries COMBINED in the conference?? Also,are you going to be able to attract the same level of player that you can currently get in the A-10? You're not getting the NEC Player of the Year (Cohen) to transfer to a MAC school. You're also not getting high-major transfers (Cross, Diggins, Hankins-Sanford) to come to the MAC. NIL plays a factor, but is it enough to draw higher-level talent to the MAC?

the answer is no and no. this move sets the program back years...

what coach, worth $1.5-$2 million is going to come to the MAC. if they're worth that kind of money, they arent coming to the MAC. and if you get one, say like Pitno to Iona, that coach builds the program quickly and is gone within 3 years. and then were back at square one. like i said, were back to Stepping Stone University.

as for the players, its pretty straightforward. among several other reason, i come back to location. i get that the A10 isnt the bright lights of the Big 12 or Big 10, but at least players could play is major cities like DC, Boston, Philly, NYC. In the MAC you can play in Ohio, Ohio, or Ohio. Doesnt really move the needle for the type of player we can get now.

[stevemaz]

THIS IS PLANET EARTH TALKING TO EVERYBODY ON THIS SITE...Div 1 college basketball will not have 32 conferences and 362 teams in the very near future. I am hoping that it will be at least 10 conferences and 140 teams. The NCAA is going to do this to appease the Big Ten, SEC, and BIg 12/ACC merged conference so that they wont form their own thing. The Atlantic 10 will be pushed out like the Yankee conference was in football back in 1978.

There remains a real possibility that the Big East reforms a Football league with the remanants of the ACC (maybe we catch a huge break and get an invite to this) in order to be a part of it.

[NDR18]

Last time we went to the MAC it was football only….why didn’t we do the same this time? Moving basketball out of the A10 to a lesser conference is a huge mistake. I don’t foresee recruits being excited to play in the MAC. The 3/4 star recruits we barely get now will certainly be turned off to playing in the MAC.
This move exposes the pressures and desperation Umass Athletics felt to find their identity, much more in football than basketball. You are sacrificing a storied, maybe not the most successful recently, but storied basketball program and throwing it under the bus for one of the worst football teams in FBS. This is the wrong move all the way around. The MAC is a good conference, but so not right for Umass on many levels.

[Big Guy]

What was the alternative ? Remaining independent in football was a non starter.

Were all of you ready to drop football to stay in the A-10 ?
UMASS was not going to return to FCS and the CAA for football.

I say this as a hoops fan.

[rt63]

The move to FBS has been a failure! 24-112 in 12 years. Go back to 1AA. Don’t compound the issue by make the other sports suffer.

[Jackson96]

Talk about a plot twist that would surprise even M Night Shimalayan: this whole time, Stevemaz has actually the one on earth while the rest of us have apparently been living on some other planet.