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Berkman · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 8:30 pm Post subject:

^ ^

I have always been told that Gavett and mumbles were blocking us from joining the Big East. A couple of months ago I was talking to a person that knows a lot about UMass athletics and he told me that when Bob Marcum became the AD, after Frank McInnery, that when Marcum was going through paper work in the AD's office he found two letters from the Big East inviting us to join. As far as he could find out they were never replied to. Not sure of what year that was but Marcum started in 1993. We were in the Yankee Conference until the Eastern Eight was started for the 76/77 season. The A 10 started in 82/83 so it probably was somewhere in the early 80's that the invite was made and ignored.

DEM · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 8:35 pm Post subject:

Len, pretty sure you're wrong. UMass's athletic budget isn't much different than Temple's, and the Big East doesn't care a whole lot about those exact numbers anyway. What UMass needs to go to the Big East has little to do with budgets, and maybe not even a lot to do with basketball...it's more about success in football at the FBS level and finding some way to overcome messy Big East politics and receive an invite to the conference.

InnervisionsUMASS · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 8:39 pm Post subject:

MikeUMA · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 8:42 pm Post subject:

Floyd · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 8:44 pm Post subject:

DrG · Hall of Fame Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 2176 Location: MA

Notwithstanding the fact that McInerney was incompetent, I have heard that story in the past and I have never been able to confirm it. It might be urban legend because the Big East in the early 80's was a made-for-TV league and mostly interested in the big Northeastern media markets, and therefore not interested in UMass. Not to mention the fact that UMass basketball had fallen to rock bottom in Division 1 in the early 80's, as Floyd noted. If there was ever a small window of opportunity, which I doubt, it would have been at the inception of the Big East in 1978.

Jackman · Senior Joined: 02 Jun 2006 Posts: 1978

uz2b-len · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:20 pm Post subject:

TheInsider · Hall of Fame Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 2070

Berk, I've heard that story many times. We had the chance to b in the big east in the 70's.

krkess · Senior Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 1314

uz2b-len · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:14 am Post subject:

I think you said "I" where you meant "he."
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Gaber205 · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:46 am Post subject:

sleepy sheep · Senior Joined: 01 Dec 2007 Posts: 943 Location: Boston

Some attendance thoughts from 2010 attendance data:
ttp://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2011/Attendance.pdf

Average attendance by conference:

CAA:
2006: 9,199
2007: 9,145
2008: 8,954
2009: 8,523
2010: 11,205

MAC:
2006: 17,696
2007: 17,334
2008: 16,727
2009: 15,317
2010: 15,609

Big East:
2006:39,043
2007: 41,456
2008: 43,145
2009: 44,804
2010: 45,028

I couldn't find historic school data but here is 2010 data for UMass and target peers along with % capacity of stadium filled (). Sorted by % capacity.

Connecticut: 38,248-95% of capacity
Boston College: 38,369-86% of capacity
Rutgers: 46,195-88% of capacity
Syracuse: 40,064 -81% of capacity
Massachusetts: 13,005-75% of capacity
Temple: 20,515-30% of capacity

75% capacity at Gillette Stadium is 51,000. That's some food for thought.

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Big_John_Studd · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 1:02 pm Post subject:

Since Syracuse is leaving for the ACC and West Virginia is going to the Big 12 I think even the future of the Big East is uncertain. College athletics has become such a craven money-grab at the top levels that nothing seems stable or predictable.

uz2b-len · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 1:16 pm Post subject:

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/201...er-conference/
I take back my suggestion of Hofstra.
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