Moderates, delete this thread if you view inappropriate or pimping.

Think we all assume nothing will happen with UMass or the MAC in the near term, but as a former associate member and a university that would be on the short list, with others if the MAC ever lost a team.

Hockey scheduling with MAC teams. None to date, but several MAC teams are very active with Div I Hockey. UMass had a sudden rise this past season and made it to the Frozen Four Championship game. We've lost a number of players to the pros, but have been able to keep our coach.

Basketball scheduling with MAC Teams. UMass will be playing a game at Akron on Dec 30th and the Zips will return a game in 2020. UMass basketball has never been so low. The coach is on the hot seat and better produce. UMass has only been to the NCAA once in recent years in 2014. It has made it to the NIT Final Four in 2012 and 2008.

Football scheduling with MAC Teams:
2019 Akron visits McGuirk with 10M in improvements this year, but the lions share is for a new IPF.
2020 at Akron.
2021 Eastern Michigan and Toldeo visits McGuirk.
2022 at EMU, at Toledo and Buffalo visits McGuirk.
2023 at EMU and Miami visits McGuirk.
2024 at Buffalo, at NIU, at Miami and EMU visits McGuirk.
2025 Buffalo, NIU, and Bowling Green visit McGuirk.
2026 at Buffalo and Bowling Green.
2027 Buffalo visits McGuirk.
2028 at Buffalo.

Well UMass Football as been slowly improvement and we are going with our third head coaching crew since going FBS. Like these young bloods. UMass has beaten BYU at BYU and the Sun Belt Champs App State at home in double OT. However Sept 07,2019 game against SIU caused me to look into the abyss and almost never made it back. The abyss will continue to be in view.

Adding July 12 construction update of the new 48 by 20.4 main video board going in and will add a picture from the balcony of the Hunts Hospitality suite. Kit-Cat seem to enjoy his time up there during the Ohio game. The additional hospitality area will be completed before the season in front and around the new video board along with others on the Performance center.

Video
https://twitter.com/i/status/1149671764072398848




Adding a link to a Visitors Guide to UMass.
UMass Visitors Guide

Added Bowling Green to the 2025 and 2026 schedules, but really want Ohio added as well! Also comment of Sept 07, 2019 was really, really bad!

(07-22-2019 02:37 PM)zibby Wrote:  

You might care when we kick your a$$ in FB, bb idk or really care as much.

(07-22-2019 05:07 PM)Steve1981 Wrote:  You might care when we kick your a$$ in FB, ...

Maybe. Maybe not. But even then, at most Buffalo, Akron, EMU, Toledo, Miami and NIU would care ... so for the other half of the MAC, yeah no, nobody cares.

We'll see Akron in 6 weeks and just about everything is complete. Seen the new scoreboards in practice video and the new turf is in for the the new air supported bubble schedule for completion in November.

The IPF and scoreboards were paid for through donations from two great supporters Martin Jacobson 5.58M and Paul '87 and David Manganaro made a $500,000 gift in December to support the video board that will be 48-feet wide by 20.4-feet high. UMass has again partnered with Daktronics, the leader in video board technology, to bring this significant upgrade to the in-stadium atmosphere on game days. Originally Martin Jacobson's 5.58M was going to pay for both, but the new turf field added to the IPF budget and Paul and David Manganaro stepped up to pay for the video boards.



From RFP and note through the donations, the scoreboard is bigger, see above. The location of the IPF is next to the field in the below picture, near the Key.

UMass who built a new 5,800 square foot Press and Sky Box along with 55,000 square foot performance center, which opened in 2014 for 36.5M

UMass RFP proposals are due by the end of this month with construction beginning in March 2019 and completion by June of 2020 for an IPF Bubble, 20 by 42 foot HD Video board, new shot clocks, and displays on the Performance Center, removal of south wall for fan/visitor hospitality area, ADA upgrades to existing bathrooms, new bathrooms and concession areas, ADA upgrades (hand railings, ramp access, and walkways) to the east side of the stadium, which will pave the way for future expansions in an incremental fashion.



https://247sports.com/college/massachuse...-118199415

Good for you, but you had your chance to be in the MAC. You said no, that's that.

Acknowledge your point of view. Things change and the timing of the MAC issuing the ultimatum was unfortunate. But understand the CFP provided a boat load of money and the ESPN contract dramatically changed as well. It was the MAC preference to cut UMass out when Temple left. All split milk as post #1 said, we'll be playing you guys regularly and perhaps in multiple sports, so keeping an eye on us, or any team that does the same is all good.

We are still growing as an independent, so we will compete with you all. Enjoy visiting fans with a relationship as opposed to Tom, Dick, and Harry universities. Hope you enjoy throwing the barbs as well. Football starts in less than 2 weeks!

Hope Ohio can win the MAC Championship, right Love and Honor. Where is Miami (OH!). Have not seen him post lately.

(08-17-2019 01:04 PM)Steve1981 Wrote:  Hope Ohio can win the MAC Championship, right Love and Honor. Where is Miami (OH!). Have not seen him post lately.

Miami will crush OU. Ohio is 2nd rate to Miami in everything. Our little brother.

(08-19-2019 08:39 AM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  

(08-17-2019 01:04 PM)Steve1981 Wrote:  Hope Ohio can win the MAC Championship, right Love and Honor. Where is Miami (OH!). Have not seen him post lately.

Miami will crush OU. Ohio is 2nd rate to Miami in everything. Our little brother.

Like the spirit, but will go with Ohio.

Oh, for the record, we are going to kick UConn butt!

It would be nice if the new restrooms are ready for the Akron game. Family day promotion for Akron will allow additional discounted tickets. Also on the schedule page has the start time as 3:30PM EST and not 1PM. (Looks like they reversed the Coastal Carolina and Akron start times.)

Quote:Sat., Sept. 28 • Akron • 1 p.m. • Hall of Fame Game & Flagship Families Day

The four UMass Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2019 honorees and their families, friends and former teammates will be in attendance following the morning induction ceremony.

Former UMass Athletics Hall of Fame inductees will also return to participate in the day's celebration.

Flagship Family Day includes two tickets to the game against Akron, with more available for purchase at a discounted rate. The Flagship Family ticket package includes one adult ticket and one youth ticket.

Quote:PREGAME CROWD-SOURCED SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
Fans can contribute song suggestions to a Spotify playlist that will be used during pregame warmups at each of the six home games.

Limit of five song suggestions per fan.
The playlist will be in-use on shuffle during all pregame activities while UMass is not warming up on the field.
Contribute song ideas via Spotify

Quote:COMMONWEALTH CLUB – SOUTH ENDZONE PAVILION
The Commonwealth Club has moved inside the stadium and will have a permanent presence beyond the South endzone at McGuirk Alumni Stadium

Season passes have sold out for the 2019 season; however, a limited number of individual passes for each gameday will be sold beginning with the Sat., Sept. 21 contest against Coastal Carolina

Food and beverage will be available for purchase within the Commonwealth Club, a space which offers fans a unique, field-level view of the action.

For more information on the Commonwealth Club, contact the UMass Athletics Tickets Office at 1-866-UMASS-TIX

STADIUM IMPROVEMENTS
UMass Athletics will debut its new, state-of-the-art videoboard and sound system as well as the Commonwealth Club with the Sat., Sept. 7 game against Southern Illinois.

Fans will also see the addition of the North endzone's auxiliary scoreboard for the first time on Sat., Sept. 7 against Southern Illinois.

The restroom facilities on the Northeast and Northwest sides of the stadium will not be completed or available for the Sept. 7 home game against Southern Illinois. The project team is working to complete the restroom facilities as quickly as possible for use at future games this season.

Link to full article

For the life of me, I could never figure these guys out
I have no doubt that Conn & Mass FB would help this conf
ESPN would prorate this contract to cover TV, travell, & playoff money
MAC would get extra bowl game, help with wk night games, improved atten
Recruiting students

Quote:Miami will crush OU. Ohio is 2nd rate to Miami in everything. Our little brother.

I'd put Ohio as the MAC East favorite, with Miami being the sleeper. History's for the birds.

Quote:Things change and the timing of the MAC issuing the ultimatum was unfortunate.

I think the main thing was that UMass' football team, well, just wasn't progressing as good as they promised (even to themselves from the get-go I'm sure). It was basically, hey, join for basketball. Many years we're not much below the A10. And it's not the 90s anymore, so asking UMass to join the MAC in basketball wasn't like asking Boise State to join the MAC in football, ya know? So I think our position was "We definitely waited long enough. We don't think you're going to join ever, really."

Quote:I have no doubt that Conn & Mass FB would help this conf

I think that's a tale of two different situations. UConn has no draw to join the MAC. Of course it'd help the MAC despite them not being a great football team. If anything, like Temple, it could help them transition to be a better football team being in a football conference not as good (although was a bigger drop for Temple in Big East days; and Temple was worse then lol).

But UConn's not going to the MAC -- dunno where that'd come into play.

I think the MAC's position is: Join basketball unless your football team is Stellar. Maybe we'll take Two $$-bringing teams by fan-watching for football only who desire a better conference for basketball, but your football teams better be decent, and your basketball teams better be More than decent (wishing to stay out).

(09-03-2019 04:26 AM)toddjnsn Wrote:  

Quote:Miami will crush OU. Ohio is 2nd rate to Miami in everything. Our little brother.

I'd put Ohio as the MAC East favorite, with Miami being the sleeper. History's for the birds.

Quote:Things change and the timing of the MAC issuing the ultimatum was unfortunate.

I think the main thing was that UMass' football team, well, just wasn't progressing as good as they promised (even to themselves from the get-go I'm sure). It was basically, hey, join for basketball. Many years we're not much below the A10. And it's not the 90s anymore, so asking UMass to join the MAC in basketball wasn't like asking Boise State to join the MAC in football, ya know? So I think our position was "We definitely waited long enough. We don't think you're going to join ever, really."

Quote:I have no doubt that Conn & Mass FB would help this conf

I think that's a tale of two different situations. UConn has no draw to join the MAC. Of course it'd help the MAC despite them not being a great football team. If anything, like Temple, it could help them transition to be a better football team being in a football conference not as good (although was a bigger drop for Temple in Big East days; and Temple was worse then lol).

But UConn's not going to the MAC -- dunno where that'd come into play.

I think the MAC's position is: Join basketball unless your football team is Stellar. Maybe we'll take Two $$-bringing teams by fan-watching for football only who desire a better conference for basketball, but your football teams better be decent, and your basketball teams better be More than decent (wishing to stay out).

Seems like a good summary of the situation. Agree that UConn has no interest and UMass seems content with being Indy through the mid 2020's. A lot can happen between now and then. Eventhou we lost by a lot against Rutgers, like and optimistic about the new coaching staff. The old coach did not recruit well on the defensive side and a lot of graduations. In a few years expect us to be entering the decent range and a lot can happen during the next 5 years or so. Hope we continue scheduling you guys and would really like scheduling Ohio in both sports and WMU in hockey. Like to see us add Buffalo basketball as we are already scheduled for football.

Quote:Bucci Mane
@Buccigross
·
1h
NEW 2019 Preseason BucciMane #CawlidgeHawkey Top 16????
1 UMD (Minnesota-Duluth)
2 Denver
3 Minnesota St
4 Penn State
5 Cornell
6 Boston College
7 UMass
8 Clarkson
9 Wisconsin
10 Quinnipiac
11 Western Michigan
12 Bowling Green
13 Providence
14 Ohio State
15 North Dakota
16 AIC

Hope Steve1981 is ok after today’s game.

Quote:Hope Steve1981 is ok after today’s game.

Hope all kitchen knives and razors have been emptied out of his place! I myself would be in the mood for some wrist cutting, getting sloshed like that by Southern Illinois.

(08-19-2019 08:39 AM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  

(08-17-2019 01:04 PM)Steve1981 Wrote:  Hope Ohio can win the MAC Championship, right Love and Honor. Where is Miami (OH!). Have not seen him post lately.

Miami will crush OU. Ohio is 2nd rate to Miami in everything. Our little brother.

(09-07-2019 06:29 PM)toddjnsn Wrote:  

Quote:Hope Steve1981 is ok after today’s game.

Hope all kitchen knives and razors have been emptied out of his place! I myself would be in the mood for some wrist cutting, getting sloshed like that by Southern Illinois.

It was very painful and will be a painful season and beyond. Not enough to walk over the ledge, but close, real close. Thanks for your thoughts, but the depth of hopefulness is pretty strong for the season plus. Put on a strong face on a post in the game thread. But shiiiiit and it will be shiiiit for some time.

On a cheerer note did see an old UMass MAC t-shirt today with the schedule for 2012. Took a picture.

Nice effort against Pitt today Ohio! More than all other teams miss playing Ohio.

Update Monday---

Walked back from the abyss with tequila bottle in hand. Yesterday thought heavily about drinking deeply from it all afternoon and evening. The abyss will always be in view this seasons, except if we beat the Convicts.

On other UMass news.

UMass Amherst Moves Up to No. 24 Among Public Universities in Latest U.S. News Rankings

https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article...ong-public

Also edited post #1 MAC Football schedule with UMass and comment about the disaster opening of the new coaching staff and depleted roster from several poor recruiting years, especially defense and large number of graduated players.

No one will shred a tear and the abyss is now my partner and friemd. This is kind of for you all amusement.

The cupboard is so bear we only have 56-57 players able to practice.

Quote:Josh Walfish reports on this Tuesday's practice. UMass only had about 56 or 57 healthy scholarship players. QB Andrew Brito is still in the concussion protocol and starting center Jaylen Larry is out with a knee injury.

Reserve OL freshman Xavier Graham has been moved to DL for the time being and true freshman walk-on Grant Laws is practicing with the first team DL.

In addition, starting OG Ray Thomas-Ishman has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.

The gem, writtten by Dan Morrison on UnderDogDynasty titles,
UMass football, welcome to rock bottom
Through three games, UMass is worse than the lowest of any fan’s expectations.

This is a pretty good summary:

https://www.underdogdynasty.com/2019/9/2...sachusetts

Picked a terrible time to stop drinking.

(08-17-2019 01:04 PM)Steve1981 Wrote:  Acknowledge your point of view. Things change and the timing of the MAC issuing the ultimatum was unfortunate. But understand the CFP provided a boat load of money and the ESPN contract dramatically changed as well.

And UMass could have been a part of that. But they left, adding them back to the MAC now is of *NO* benefit the to the MAC.

Quote:It was the MAC preference to cut UMass out when Temple left.

When Temple left we were *BACK* to an odd number of teams. The MAC didn't want an odd number of teams (that's why you were invited in the first place).