http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/colle...urn_to_mac

Quote:"If they wanted to take us back, absolutely. We would entertain that," Bamford told the Herald. "They were good colleagues, good schools, good football, and they’ve proven that they can hang with some of the schools and what they’ve done over the years with Bowling Green and Toledo and Northern Illinois, they’ve been able to make their mark. That would be a good result for us. We wouldn’t be opposed to that at all."

(09-03-2016 11:32 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/colle...urn_to_mac

Quote:"If they wanted to take us back, absolutely. We would entertain that," Bamford told the Herald. "They were good colleagues, good schools, good football, and they’ve proven that they can hang with some of the schools and what they’ve done over the years with Bowling Green and Toledo and Northern Illinois, they’ve been able to make their mark. That would be a good result for us. We wouldn’t be opposed to that at all."

Oh heeeeeey

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If they get UConn to come along for the ride, maybe. Otherwise, it's all sports or none.

(09-04-2016 12:00 AM)uakronkid Wrote:  If they get UConn to come along for the ride, maybe. Otherwise, it's all sports or none.

UConn football is hot garbage. no thanks.

I say they should be either ALL IN or ALL OUT----enough already of this tip-toeing around the middle grounds.

I am tired of the MAC playing wet nurse to teams who aspire to greater heights than the MAC and only use the conference as their personal developmental league and as a safe haven and stepping stone for their train wreck football team to mature to the point of moving on while at the same time refusing to subject their basketball program to the squalor that they consider MAC basketball to be.

Enough charity work for awhile---it time to look out for the conference's best interests for a change and let these wannabe programs fend for themselves.

UMass is just trying to follow in Temple's footsteps and use the MAC without having to give very much in return (knowing that fact about Temple made the Boca Raton Bowl all that more enjoyable last season). The same could be said of UCF although they did join for basketball as well but that was ONLY because their bb program was is terrible shape---much worse than their football program and playing in the Atlantic Sun Conference as I recall---anyway it was in bad need of improvement.

Although Marshall also used the MAC as a stepping stone, at least it was not all take and no give back that it was with the other three. Marshall football actually raised the bar for football in the MAC at that time (the MAC's best year in football is arguably 2003) and also brought a good deal of outside attention to the conference----good, positive publicity at first (no so much so toward the end as they were on their way out the door).

(09-04-2016 07:44 AM)T-Town Wrote:  The same could be said of UCF although they did join for basketball as well but that was ONLY because their bb program was is terrible shape---much worse than their football program and playing in the Atlantic Sun Conference as I recall---anyway it was in bad need of improvement.

UCF was FB only BB was in the ASun
Full membership was never on table for UCF until Cusa and BE were calling. Once BE took USF and fb only there went away, UCF chose CUSA full membership over MAC full.

To be honest, I don't see what even an all sports UMass would do for the MAC. Their basketball just isn't anything special, and they are living on past glory. They would be upper middle of the MAC, but I don't think they would win the conference consistently. They would just be another mouth to feed even if they came all sports.

In other words, their AD will be waiting by the phone for a LONG time.

(09-04-2016 08:23 AM)goodknightfl Wrote:  

(09-04-2016 07:44 AM)T-Town Wrote:  The same could be said of UCF although they did join for basketball as well but that was ONLY because their bb program was is terrible shape---much worse than their football program and playing in the Atlantic Sun Conference as I recall---anyway it was in bad need of improvement.

UCF was FB only BB was in the ASun
Full membership was never on table for UCF until Cusa and BE were calling. Once BE took USF and fb only there went away, UCF chose CUSA full membership over MAC full.

Thanks for the correction. When UCF joined the MAC they were just coming off the Culpepper years and it was actually their BB program more so than their FB program that appeared to be in need of help.

UCF football actually got worse during its time in the MAC, and for that reason I never felt that UCF exploited (at least not successfully) the MAC the way Temple and UMass tried to do. UCF is one of those rare examples where the school was able to upgrade* its conference (not just once, but twice) based not on its current performance but on its potential

*Moving to C-USA may have been a slight upgrade at that time---but this was before the Big East/AAC, having already severely damaging C-USA, finished plundering it. Moving to the AAC was a definite upgrade.

(09-04-2016 08:24 AM)IULurker Wrote:  To be honest, I don't see what even an all sports UMass would do for the MAC. Their basketball just isn't anything special, and they are living on past glory. They would be upper middle of the MAC, but I don't think they would win the conference consistently. They would just be another mouth to feed even if they came all sports.

In other words, their AD will be waiting by the phone for a LONG time.

Cough, all major programs will be on an upswing starting this year. We had a 4 star recruit, LuWane Pipkins from the Chicago area sit out last year. We have two great recruits in this years class with Baldwin and top 100 Dejon Jarreau.
Full 2016 class

We hung tough with #25 Florida last night, were the defense did start to tire in the 4th qtr missing some tackles, but still very respectable and destroyed the 36 point spread.



That said 3 years of independence will be uncertain. The best thing we can do is improve attendance with improved playing and especially sell-out McGuirk so the expansion plans can precede. We don't know what the future is and was a bit surprised that our AD mentioned the MAC possibility, no matter how remote it maybe.

Footnote: The one program that I miss head and shoulders above the others is Ohio.

Think Ryan Bamford is a great AD for us. He gave up money for exposure in our TV contract, which will are all games on NESN. Most games are NESN National. The actual contract is through ASN, which enables other markets to pickup the feed, like the Tulane game on campus. If your not traveling to an away game, the Boston College - UMass game is on a noon time EST.
NESN National listing by major cities

Heard coach Whipple say that we are up to 85 scholarships for the first time.

That's not a fair subject line, perimeterpost. The AD was directly asked that question by the reporter. It was a stupid question that received an honest answer. Of course UMass would take a football-only spot in the MAC. That's what we originally had. UMass didn't choose independence over football-only status. But for whatever reason the reporter seemed to think that football-only membership in the MAC was some new idea that nobody ever thought of before, so the AD gave a polite and I'd say rather complimentary answer. What answer would you have preferred? "No, anything is better than having any association with the MAC"? We don't burn bridges up here, that's not our thing.

Quote:To be honest, I don't see what even an all sports UMass would do for the MAC. Their basketball just isn't anything special, and they are living on past glory.

That's what makes it more insulting for them to "pshaw" us on an all-sports level. I can understand starting out as football-only for whatever reason, but after several years of their football team Not rising to what they thought (or anywhere close to it), and their BBall team not being close to what it was in yesteryear -- it was a slap for them to then still say they just wanted football only.

One mistake the MAC did our BB games was distributing them to all the teams. IMHO it should have been with the projected top RPI teams, where we could have help raise their RPI so the MAC could get an at large bid.

Again we all think it's a remote chance the MAC would give us a football-only invite.

(09-04-2016 12:21 PM)toddjnsn Wrote:  

Quote:To be honest, I don't see what even an all sports UMass would do for the MAC. Their basketball just isn't anything special, and they are living on past glory.

That's what makes it more insulting for them to "pshaw" us on an all-sports level. I can understand starting out as football-only for whatever reason, but after several years of their football team Not rising to what they thought (or anywhere close to it), and their BBall team not being close to what it was in yesteryear -- it was a slap for them to then still say they just wanted football only.

Understand it if you are talking about the past. Even so in BB, we made to the NIT as an at large or NCAA in 5 of the past 9 seasons. This year we are finally making progress on the Football front. Did you guys give up on us to early. No, understand the money angle and conference pride.

(09-04-2016 12:13 PM)LastMinuteman Wrote:  That's not a fair subject line, perimeterpost. The AD was directly asked that question by the reporter. It was a stupid question that received an honest answer. Of course UMass would take a football-only spot in the MAC. That's what we originally had. UMass didn't choose independence over football-only status. But for whatever reason the reporter seemed to think that football-only membership in the MAC was some new idea that nobody ever thought of before, so the AD gave a polite and I'd say rather complimentary answer. What answer would you have preferred? "No, anything is better than having any association with the MAC"? We don't burn bridges up here, that's not our thing.

its a fair subject line because it's non-serious, just as the topic is for all the reasons you stated.

UMass for FB only would be on the table IF and ONLY IF:

1). MAC wanted another FB-Only program to join. Esp. if that school was in the East.

2). Resumption of the bball scheduling alliance. Those games really helped MBB and WBB with good OOC games.

(09-04-2016 01:06 PM)emu steve Wrote:  UMass for FB only would be on the table IF and ONLY IF:

1). MAC wanted another FB-Only program to join. Esp. if that school was in the East.

2). Resumption of the bball scheduling alliance. Those games really helped MBB and WBB with good OOC games.

3) The MAC lost a school to the AAC and needed to get back to 12 members.

If Toledo were to get an AAC bid, than UMass FB only might be entertained over adding an FCS upgrade. Then again it might not.

(09-04-2016 03:22 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(09-04-2016 01:06 PM)emu steve Wrote:  UMass for FB only would be on the table IF and ONLY IF:

1). MAC wanted another FB-Only program to join. Esp. if that school was in the East.

2). Resumption of the bball scheduling alliance. Those games really helped MBB and WBB with good OOC games.

3) The MAC lost a school to the AAC and needed to get back to 12 members.

If Toledo were to get an AAC bid, than UMass FB only might be entertained over adding an FCS upgrade. Then again it might not.

If we lost a school I don't think we would be between UMass or an FCS school. There would be at least one CUSA and/or SunBelt schools interested in the open spot.

(09-04-2016 03:26 PM)IULurker Wrote:  

(09-04-2016 03:22 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(09-04-2016 01:06 PM)emu steve Wrote:  UMass for FB only would be on the table IF and ONLY IF:

1). MAC wanted another FB-Only program to join. Esp. if that school was in the East.

2). Resumption of the bball scheduling alliance. Those games really helped MBB and WBB with good OOC games.

3) The MAC lost a school to the AAC and needed to get back to 12 members.

If Toledo were to get an AAC bid, than UMass FB only might be entertained over adding an FCS upgrade. Then again it might not.

If we lost a school I don't think we would be between UMass or an FCS school. There would be at least one CUSA and/or SunBelt schools interested in the open spot.

Its too expensive for Marshall to shift into the MAC. Long term they'll be happier in a conference with WKU, MTSU and Charlotte.

SBC has a 3 million dollar exit fee. Only 10 football playing members so they split the revenue less ways than the MAC.

Yes the MAC has more TV money than CUSA/SBC but may not within a few years.

there is no scenario where I would support any school joining the MAC as football only.

^^^^ Well, I have to agree with the MAC losing teams to AAC. UMass was starting to, and now looks as if, they are going to not be a near-winless team ever again, and will at least be a somewhat challenging mid-major over the years. As long as the line up many BBall OOC games with us, I could see it not being such a bad deal to bring them in.