Ryan Bamford

[stevemaz]

I believe by 2030ish we will be down to 80 or so P3s (B1G, SEC, and Big 12) and a few stragglers in the ACC and Pac12. Umass will be one of them in the ACC. Eventually it may be just two super conferences. Im not sure who blinks first between B1G and SEC, but my guess is the B1G goes to 24 schools (adding VA, NC, Cal, Stanford, Duke, and Ga Tech) using a 4 div pod system for non football sports. I can see SEC responding by going to 20 (Clemson, Fla St, Houston, and maybe Baylor or Va Tech). Big 12 does what it can to add. ACC will be BC, Pitt, Cuse, WF, Louisville, UConn, Umass, South Fla and even ND, who holds on to the Indy fb status.

Bamford needs to go.

JFC Maz, you gotta stop this delusional posting.

What does Umass bring to the table that keeps them in the group of 80? They had to beg to get back into an FBS conference which is already the worst one to add insult to injury. They have a pathetic football stadium which would become THE WORST in FBS-80 - it is probably bottom 10 right now if not the worst. UMass is historically cheap.... HISTORICALLY. And they do not have almost any support from the state. This smoke screen of spending all kinds of money is BS. Sure you are paying up a little for coaches, but the lipstick they applied to the building the last 8 years is starting to wear off and all they are doing is putting on a clean coating.

I have not even gotten to Bamford. He is the start of the problems here not the end.


HOW do you honestly believe they can survive that kind of purge?

From a state with lots of cash and a mentality of becoming a top 10 public U..

[stevemaz]

Mark my words.. there are thousands of sports fans in Massachusetts who have no idea they are about to become UMass fans..

[eldonabe]

Mark my words.. there are thousands of sports fans in Massachusetts who have no idea they are about to become UMass fans..

Have you gotten even one of your predictions about this program correct?

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Mark my words.. there are thousands of sports fans in Massachusetts who have no idea they are about to become UMass fans..

Have you gotten even one of your predictions about this program correct?

Maz has buried himself so deep into your head.

[Steve81]

Wow, during Joe's Monday press conference, Ryan came on. He is blowing up the 3 year plan. After a decade of deferred investment in the program, we are going to over invest to get out of this hole. Joe talked about flipping from portal heavy to freshman and building a culture. The stadium investment in the next 3 years. With commencement in May, infrastructure changes will be year 2 and 3. Basically how the stadium looks coming down and eat side

[ZooMass84]

I call this progress over the insanity of P4 conferences, and the withering of the next 5. Good for Temple.

Outside of the P4, second-tier athletic programs will undoubtedly determine that the expenses outweigh the revenues and return to a more sane, perhaps limited, model of regional competition, some probably dropping football completely and sharing the expenses more equitably due to Title 9. It worked 'just fine' for BU and Northeastern, for sure.

This may start at the MAC, the worst of the G5, where many of their universities are under enormous pressure to downsize academic programs and athletics, as state legislatures cut budgets, and the 'demographic cliff', meaning there are many fewer graduating high school grads over the next 10 years or so, continues to erode total demand for a college education.

Higher Education is facing very challenging times, including my employer, UNH.

Peruse www.insidehighereducation.com or www.Chronicle.com to see the challenges.

https://whyy.org/articles/pennsylvania- ... offs-cuts/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltni ... versities/

Excerpted from the Forbes article, in part. "Temple University President John Fry has projected a possible $60 million budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year. In his June 18 budget update for the campus, Fry said that while Temple had been able to reduce an ongoing shortfall to $19 million during the current fiscal year, it had done so primarily through the use of university reserves, which he admitted was “not a sustainable practice.”

Leading to Temple’s financial woes is a decrease in enrollment of almost 10,000 students since 2017, reducing gross tuition revenue by approximately $200 million. In addition, Temple’s state appropriation has remained basically flat for the past six years despite significant increases in operating costs."

Sorry, but the P4 'club' will not share its TV revenue bonanza much further.

Finally we agree on something. You have been beating the FCS drum since the move-up but now you see the light. With NIL and GOR and 2030 looming, major college football will be the 24 x 2 = 48 breakoff. Of the 136 teams now we will see 88 go by the wayside. College football has ALWAYS been the haves and have-nots. and its not just the MAC, its all the G5's and half of the P4's. basically the A2 and M2. its going to shake out something like this:
the schools with stadiums of at least 65k to 70k and past national championships and huge endowments will be in the 48.

[eldonabe]

Finally we agree on something. You have been beating the FCS drum since the move-up but now you see the light. With NIL and GOR and 2030 looming, major college football will be the 24 x 2 = 48 breakoff. Of the 136 teams now we will see 88 go by the wayside. College football has ALWAYS been the haves and have-nots. and its not just the MAC, its all the G5's and half of the P4's. basically the A2 and M2. its going to shake out something like this:
the schools with stadiums of at least 65k to 70k and past national championships and huge endowments will be in the 48.

That is about as reasonable a prediction of the future for all of this that I have seen.

Umass has no shot at that group of 48.


Again, if they were serious, a 50K stadium would have been on the campus by now (by 2017 really).

[Steve81]

Wow, during Joe's Monday press conference, Ryan came on. He is blowing up the 3 year plan. After a decade of deferred investment in the program, we are going to over invest to get out of this hole. Joe talked about flipping from portal heavy to freshman and building a culture. The stadium investment in the next 3 years. With commencement in May, infrastructure changes will be year 2 and 3. Basically how the stadium looks coming down and eat side

After the initial post, had difficulty getting back into UMassHoops.
Wanted to post the videos so you can see the adjustments. This is a copy past post frm csnbbs.

This is an all new coaching staff with the HC being hired on signing day or as the train was moving and only had 3 signees. We did add 10 more later but had to fill the 67 positions for a combination of being portal heavy the last 3 years, graduations and players transferring. Our secondary is almost none existent and taking 2nd and 3rd string corners to start as safeties. We will go High School heavy and signed 20 during the summer.

So glad we are making adjustments that started with going into the MAC. We are correcting the delayed maintenance on investing in the program. We will no long strive to be near the top of the MAC to well over invest to get us out of this position. Here is the AD portion from Monday Press conference. Questions are asked why now and not 3 years ago etc.
[video=youtube]https://youtu.be/0110cq6htLI[/video]
Going into the MAC is our biggest growth opportunity.

For for those that want to hear Coach H portion of the Monday press conference.
[video=youtube]https://youtu.be/NWO_wEOmwZU[/video]

[jjmc85]

I think if someone is upset about leaving the A-10 they should want Bamford fired. I think pulling off that move and then firing him before any sort of adjustment period to the conference would be a bad move-unless the reason for the firing again is because people are upset about the conference move.

Although I am have the opposite opinion of the conference move as JoleonLescottsHair I agree with him when he posts that he is confused as to why the people who-like me- for so long were shouting for an FBS conference- any FBS conference- are now calling for Bamford to be fired after getting what we wanted.

If anyone thought just by joining the MAC it would fix everything, I question whether they were around in 2012. The conference joining was the first important step of a many step process. It was also one of if not the very hardest step. Firing a guy who did that such a short time later does not make sense in my opinion.

And yeah- if you hated the move to the MAC, like I said above I get calling for Bamford to be fired. At least you have a reason that makes sense-even though I don’t agree with it.

[jjmc85]

I forget who the poster was, maybe jj something, who said years ago that our problems were "structural". He was right.
Who thinks Bamford should be replaced ASAP? And who do we get after that?

I don’t know if this was me or not, but I’ve often written here whenever anyone compared Independent UMass football to UMass hockey that they were missing the mark by far- and a much more adequate hockey comparison would be Alabama-Huntsville. They are in a non-traditional market and didn’t have a conference. I’ve never been to their rink but can’t imagine it’s that great. They ended up cutting D1 hockey (for a second time) a few seasons ago-around the Covid season. UMass football as an independent would have most likely eventually faced that same fate.

[stevemaz]

National Champs 2034!

[Steve81]

jj, I support our AD and will focus on football. 2024 was a reset for me with the hire of our Chancellor. Until then, he did not have the support from his bosses to invest in the football program or commit to leaving the A10.

Quoting from the daily collegian article on Ryan's Monday Press conference appearance.

“Candidly, we’re going to have to overinvest to win,” Bamford said. “We’ve had sort of deferred maintenance of this program for more than a decade, and it means that you have to invest more maybe than some others do to get out of it. And, the only way out is up. So, we’re focused on making sure we put the key investments in the right places.”

The athletic director attributes the “deferred maintenance” of catching the program up with the current times to not being in a conference since 2015. He said that rejoining the Mid-American Conference is igniting the supposed revitalization process that the team has required for so long. To him, it was difficult to quantify and justify the long-term aspirations of the program while the Minutemen were an independent team.

https://dailycollegian.com/2025/09/athl ... -football/

[inthescoop]

jj, I support our AD and will focus on football. 2024 was a reset for me with the hire of our Chancellor. Until then, he did not have the support from his bosses to invest in the football program or commit to leaving the A10.

Quoting from the daily collegian article on Ryan's Monday Press conference appearance.

“Candidly, we’re going to have to overinvest to win,” Bamford said. “We’ve had sort of deferred maintenance of this program for more than a decade, and it means that you have to invest more maybe than some others do to get out of it. And, the only way out is up. So, we’re focused on making sure we put the key investments in the right places.”

The athletic director attributes the “deferred maintenance” of catching the program up with the current times to not being in a conference since 2015. He said that rejoining the Mid-American Conference is igniting the supposed revitalization process that the team has required for so long. To him, it was difficult to quantify and justify the long-term aspirations of the program while the Minutemen were an independent team.

https://dailycollegian.com/2025/09/athl ... -football/

Okay, but what about 2025? The chancellor was hired in mid 2023.

So, let's say Bamford gets the school to "over invest" and we still suck, and again, no real changes have been made. Then what?

[Steve81]

I enjoy good tequila.

[ZooMass84]

jj, I support our AD and will focus on football. 2024 was a reset for me with the hire of our Chancellor. Until then, he did not have the support from his bosses to invest in the football program or commit to leaving the A10.

Quoting from the daily collegian article on Ryan's Monday Press conference appearance.

“Candidly, we’re going to have to overinvest to win,” Bamford said. “We’ve had sort of deferred maintenance of this program for more than a decade, and it means that you have to invest more maybe than some others do to get out of it. And, the only way out is up. So, we’re focused on making sure we put the key investments in the right places.”

The athletic director attributes the “deferred maintenance” of catching the program up with the current times to not being in a conference since 2015. He said that rejoining the Mid-American Conference is igniting the supposed revitalization process that the team has required for so long. To him, it was difficult to quantify and justify the long-term aspirations of the program while the Minutemen were an independent team.

https://dailycollegian.com/2025/09/athl ... -football/

Okay, but what about 2025? The chancellor was hired in mid 2023.

So, let's say Bamford gets the school to "over invest" and we still suck, and again, no real changes have been made. Then what?

Then what? vodka and Jack Daniels and Capt Morgan......Hey UMass is ranked #58 in USNWR and an Apple exec alum just gave $50M to the engineering dept. maybe we're destined to go 3-9 for infinity.