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Quinn · Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 8:34 am Post subject:

I too am amazed at how half ass the "study" is/has been. There has been so little done as part of the study to gauge and influence the public. A study about a move of this magnitude isn't supposed to be some secret and overly technical academic study. It needs to be done the same way a company prepares for the launch of a new brand or product. For an upgrade, the public needs to be convinced as part of the study, since the public will be the biggest factor. No public support, no move. A study to move up is a campaign...and UMass fails to grasp that.

I'm also sad that there has been no outside the box proposals regarding the funding aspect. We dont' need a bakesale. We don't need a state handout. There are plenty of options in between. For instance, the state could fund the entire move via a system in which the state recoups the money made over the next decade with interest. In a sense, any profits would then be able to lessen the tax dollars allocated to the Western MA campus.
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InnervisionsUMASS · Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 8:42 am Post subject:

If you build it, they will come.
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UMass1863 · Junior Joined: 16 Jan 2004 Posts: 437

A few years ago I contacted our Athletic Director about establishing a fund that would be used when we became a FBS program. At that time he advised me that he was against it.

If we should become a FBS one of the major expenses will be the coach’s salary. A compromise that might be acceptable would be to establish a football coach’s endowment fund. The interest could be used for the present coach’s salary and would allow us to increase the amount offered to whatever football coach was working for UMass.

The point was made in an earlier post that a few hundred dollar donation per member of this board isn't going to make a major impact. What will make a major impact is what we "baby boomers" decide to do with our bequests within the next few years. We may not live to see UMass play in a FBS conference, but we can make it happen.

http://www.americasbestonline.net/index.php/pages/collegehighestpaidcoaches.html

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/4987/coaching-salaries-in-the-big-east

http://www.coacheshotseat.com/MACCoachesSalariesContracts.htm

(Many articles on coaches salaries can be found on google)

Regarding additional womans scholarships, most women's teams do not offer the maximum scholarships allowed by the NCAA. It would be much more cost effective to increase the scholarships to our present teams to make them more competitive than to add another sport that would not be fully funded.

UMrefuse2lose · Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 3:27 pm Post subject:

A lot of times I think about writing to state reps and senators to tell them to support UMass and public education more, but I end up not doing it for whatever reason. However, with election season upon us, I finally did what I should've done many times for the last few years: write to my reps. For those of you that are lazy like me I put the links to e-mail the state reps below. I think that ultimately UMass will need support from the state to move up to FBS. I tried to convey how the move could create a lot of opportunity for the state in terms of jobs, money, education, etc. Probably did nothing, but who knows? I know most of you are pretty proactive when it comes to stuff like this, but maybe you have some friends in MA who would write to their reps if they had the links right in front of them. Copy and paste the links and send them in an e-mail.

If you don't know your rep, use this Find your Rep page...
http://www.malegislature.gov/People/FindMyLegislator

A list of the state house members w emails
http://www.malegislature.gov/People/House

A list of the state senate members w emails
http://www.malegislature.gov/People/Senate

AGldFinch6 · Junior Joined: 29 Apr 2003 Posts: 641

econalum · Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 3:31 pm Post subject:

econalum · Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 3:33 pm Post subject: Re: Football Endowment Fund

Sheck · Junior Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 743 Location: Inside 128

I came across this article that states a Big East affiliation would not be workable for UCF. It looks like the Big East only wants to add football-only members, not members for all sports. This would leave UCF in a very precarious position regarding their other sports, as they would have to find another conference to join for basketball and everything else. Ditto for ECU and TCU.

The only current FBS program (that is on the Big East's radar) that would accept a football only membership is Temple. However, if Villanova accepts the invite, they are going to block Temple from joining the conference. That leaves the FCS programs like us, Delaware, JMU, and App St. I think we would be a better fit than the other FCS schools because we are a flagship University plenty of alumni residing in the 7th largest TV market in the US.

I still think it's a long shot, but it's a shot. I still would like to see UMass move over to FBS anyway, even if it's as part of the MAC.

Berkman · Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 4:26 pm Post subject:

I will try to look up the AD and the Chancellor before the FB game and see if they have any comments to make about a possible move to the Big East.

photoman · Senior Joined: 26 Apr 2003 Posts: 933 Location: Attleboro

jjmc85 · Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 11:20 pm Post subject:

If people are serious about the Big East, there has to be intermediate steps. As I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong, a reason why people would be against the MAC is moving the basketball team from the A-10.

Is the A-10 even all that good anymore? I remember at least one poster here a year ago comparing it to America East, and when I think basketball power house, I don't think America East.

Also, aren't we worried that the Catholic Schools are going to be absorbed by the Catholic Big East Basketball School if the Big East Splits? Wouldn't that take away most of what is appealing about the Atlantic 10?

UMass Basketball hasn't been that good since the late 90s. I've started and graduated from high school, college and graduate school since the team last made the NCAA tournament. What exactly is the benefit to the A-10 affiliation? Aside from UMass, has an A-10 school actually done anything worthwhile in the NCAA tournament? Is the A-10 affiliation helpful for the non-revenue sports?

I'm not trying to be a jerk, and I know we're a basketball school so UMass Mens Basketball takes priority over all other sports, but I really just don't get it. Confused

Wouldn't basketball also be greatly improved by playing in a better conference? Haven't we seen this summer that football is king in the NCAA with respects to conference affiliation?

Again, I'm not trying to be a jerk and I apologize if I sound like one. I just don't get it.
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MassMan06 · Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 11:36 pm Post subject:

Jackman · Senior Joined: 02 Jun 2006 Posts: 1978

The news out of the Big East, if they follow through on it, obviously represents another gigantic missed opportunity for UMass, but I do not see it as the end of the game. The Big East still has to get formal member approvals, Villanova still has to make a decision, the other candidates need to make decisions and other conference arrangements if they're only offered football-only status, the Big East can still be raided and lose members, and even if everything goes perfectly, the Big East still won't have the 12 football members necessary to hold a championship game. There's still a lot of pieces left in play.

But the above is the biggest reason why, if the Krafts ever offer to pay UMass to move to FBS and play home games at Gillette Stadium, we've just got to sign the papers and go for it, 2 hour trips be damned. The rest of the world is not going to wait for us to get our crap together and fight the huge battle we'd have to win to build a new FBS (nevermind BCS) caliber facility. It would require major fundraising, possibly PSLs to sell, politicians to bribe, academics to placate, students to soak with fees, roadway studies, Amherst nimbys protesting increased traffic and/or road improvements, environmentalists protesting the impact on the spotted salamander's access to its spawning grounds, Boston newspaper writers consuming extra fiber so as to better defecate all over UMass's upgrade plans, taxpayer angst, etc. And we couldn't get any firm commitment from the MAC or any other FBS conference until all the facility issues are settled, which in turn would impede our ability to get those settled. It'd be like trying not to fumble a football made out of jello.

Whereas this is the checklist for playing in Gillette: Can we satisfy Title IX compliance? If yes, can we get football-only admission to the MAC? If yes, sign papers. That's it.

If the Krafts and the MAC gave us the green light, there wouldn't be a single damn thing that could stop us from moving to FBS tomorrow other than Title IX (and the NCAA moratorium on subdivision movements which expires next year). That's our "Easy Button". No begging for money. No placating anyone. No fighting with all our enemies that want to hold UMass back. The stadium already exists. The team already exists. The scholarship increase would already be paid for. And maybe the women's increase could be covered or partially covered too. If not, it still puts the anti-football crowd in the position of having to protest against an increased emphasis on women's sports. I'd love to see that. None of them would dare make a peep if the target isn't big bad football.

The push for an on-campus stadium could start the same day, but in the meantime we would be idiots not to grab the opportunity to get the clock running on the football program's FBS transition before missing any more conference upgrade opportunities. If Gillette calls, we have to answer.