Just saw this story:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...-fbs-fails

I wonder if UMass drops down to FCS if they become interesting to the C7. Location wise, they would be perfect balance to losing UConn and even before that BC. They're one that you could see with the C7 bump them making a move fairly quickly.

(02-01-2013 01:50 PM)stever20 Wrote:  Just saw this story:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...-fbs-fails

I wonder if UMass drops down to FCS if they become interesting to the C7. Location wise, they would be perfect balance to losing UConn and even before that BC. They're one that you could see with the C7 bump them making a move fairly quickly.

If UMass drops to FCS, then sure, they become interesting to the C7. I know that my brain might be wired differently, but I have less of an issue with inviting UMass (which is a flagship institution in a large and wealthy state in the C7's region) compared to VCU (who I see as a pure recent-on-the-court-performance addition as opposed to a long-term revenue generator). In fact, maybe the C7 should be looking at UMass regardless of whether they're FBS or FCS if they're willing to look at VCU.

Now, that being said, I highly doubt that UMass drops back down from FBS to FCS if only for one reason: the revenue from the new college football playoff system. In fact, any call for a school to willingly drop from FBS to FCS at this point will fall on deaf ears by administrators because of the new playoff revenue. You don't really save that much money running an FCS program compared to an FBS program and get virtually no TV revenue at all. I have a hard time seeing why anyone would want to be an FCS program going forward - either nudge up your scholarships to play FBS football in order to participate in the new playoff kitty or drop down to Division II or III to cut your costs dramatically. FCS is a no man's land with relatively high expenses and no revenue.

Finally, faculty senate votes mean as much as an online poll on this message board. That's probably the single most anti-athletics group you'll find on any college campus and administrators know it. At the end of the day, it simply doesn't make financial sense for UMass (or anyone, for that matter) to drop from FBS to FCS with the new playoff revenue coming through.

Without football, the C7 should definitely take a long and hard look at UMass. I don't think that will happen, but it would give a public school to match with VCU and a fairly large/wealthy institution in a fairly/large wealthy state.

They do have the Calipari-era scandal, but I would still say that they have a relatively recent history of success. It worries me that they haven't made it to the tournament since 1998 though. If this was 1999, they'd be a sure-fire add with consecutive tournaments between 1992-1998 and fair amount of success (1 FF, 2 EE, 3 SS in 8 appearances).

Sigh. UMass is exactly what you worry VCU would be--a hot coach hiding the reality of a dud of a program.

If UMass and state flagships are so great, let the Big Ten have them.

(02-01-2013 02:49 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  Sigh. UMass is exactly what you worry VCU would be--a hot coach hiding the reality of a dud of a program.

If UMass and state flagships are so great, let the Big Ten have them.

Agreed - I'm GLAD they have football so we don't even think about them as an option.

Nope, just like their cousin UConn they made their bed with the pigskin.