Conference realignment

[Sheck]

I think eventually it's going to get to that point but TV contracts between the different leagues and grant of rights and so forth make it hard to do that now. But by the mid 2030s we'll either have 1 giant super league for college football or maybe two (one managed by the Big Ten and the other by the SEC). Some programs that are in P5 leagues are going to be weeded out as well; already starting to see that with what happened with the 4 Pac-12 schools that were left behind.

[Quann]

Any shot the big east would consider us? I know it doesn’t solve the football issue but it would be pretty nice to be in the same conference as providence and UConn.

[DoctorJ]

Any shot the big east would consider us? I know it doesn’t solve the football issue but it would be pretty nice to be in the same conference as providence and UConn.

No. Sorry.

[Bob1975]

Football TV and money have rendered College sports as we know it (particularly for those of us old enough to remember the Yankee Conference) changed forever, especially for non-revenue sports. It makes no sense for a team from NJ and a team from California to play each other in anything but football in the regular season.

Here's a wacky idea. Hockey East works great for Hockey, and in my opinion, would be the ideal conference for all other sports except Football and Basketball. For non-revenue sports regional conferences like this would seem to make sense for everyone. Even Basketball and Football in the same league doesn’t always make sense, thinking about conferences like the A10 and Big East. My idea is to have a separate conference for Football and a separate conference for Basketball following the hockey model. That way teams that have football can be in the Big East for Basketball and play Football in another conference, same with A10.

UMASS could be in a Football only conference with UCONN, BC, Syracuse, Pitt, Temple, Army, Navy, and I’m not sure who else. I’m assuming the ACC teams don’t make the final cut for the Power 3. With a 12-team playoff, the non power conferences always can dream of an at large bid.

I know it will never happen, but it seems a lot more logical than the road we are currently on.

[minutefanjsf]

Football TV and money have rendered College sports as we know it (particularly for those of us old enough to remember the Yankee Conference) changed forever, especially for non-revenue sports. It makes no sense for a team from NJ and a team from California to play each other in anything but football in the regular season.

Here's a wacky idea. Hockey East works great for Hockey, and in my opinion, would be the ideal conference for all other sports except Football and Basketball. For non-revenue sports regional conferences like this would seem to make sense for everyone. Even Basketball and Football in the same league doesn’t always make sense, thinking about conferences like the A10 and Big East. My idea is to have a separate conference for Football and a separate conference for Basketball following the hockey model. That way teams that have football can be in the Big East for Basketball and play Football in another conference, same with A10.

UMASS could be in a Football only conference with UCONN, BC, Syracuse, Pitt, Temple, Army, Navy, and I’m not sure who else. I’m assuming the ACC teams don’t make the final cut for the Power 3. With a 12-team playoff, the non power conferences always can dream of an at large bid.

I know it will never happen, but it seems a lot more logical than the road we are currently on.

Many football schools were independent in the 80s and early 90s. It was the creation of the football conferences attached to (mostly) basketball leagues that led to the craziness. UMass was/is left behind because of its ties to the A10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Divi ... nt_schools Take a look at the list of schools that are now P5 that were independent maybe stopped in CUSA etc.

[stevemaz]

And it's official, the Pac as we know it is dead.

https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1 ... 3111187456


Pac-4 is all that remains. Their best best is to merge with the MWC and keep Nevarez as the commissioner. Cal and Stanford are hoping like hell to get that B1G invite. Failing that, they'd probably take an ACC one at this point.

Gross. College football is ruining everything. Tradition means zilch now.

This is why the NCAA should have consulted the great mind of Steve Maz.. Football should have been separated from NCAA and conferences meaning football would have no conference affiliations. Then, we could go back to normal. Our conference should be (BC, UMass, UConn, Cuse, Rutgers, Temple, Pitt, WV, Va Tech..)

[Bob1975]

https://sports.yahoo.com/heres-an-idea- ... 44420.html

[eldonabe]

https://sports.yahoo.com/heres-an-idea- ... 44420.html

WOW - common sense? Who knew...

[Scott O]

Getting into the AAC would be incredible. Good basketball schools and it would bring the Temple rivalry back on the schedule. Can we at least get some kind of update from Bamford? There's a lot of talk about what Bamford does and does not deserve credit/blame for, but if he was to secure a conference he could silence a lot of doubters.

Bamford has been in Amherst for nine years. Its his department, they are not in a conference after nine years. this is 100 percent on him.

How about the UMass administration? If they set a goal of upgrading conferences and Bamford has not achieved that, why would they allow him to stay? My guess is they deserve a slice of the blame pie.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

How about the UMass administration? If they set a goal of upgrading conferences and Bamford has not achieved that, why would they allow him to stay? My guess is they deserve a slice of the blame pie.

Great question... this issue has spanned not only multiple Athletic Directors, but also multiple Chancellors, multiple System-wide Presidents, and multiple integrations of the System-wide Board of Trustees.

[ZooMass84]

Getting into the AAC would be incredible. Good basketball schools and it would bring the Temple rivalry back on the schedule. Can we at least get some kind of update from Bamford? There's a lot of talk about what Bamford does and does not deserve credit/blame for, but if he was to secure a conference he could silence a lot of doubters.

Bamford has been in Amherst for nine years. Its his department, they are not in a conference after nine years. this is 100 percent on him.

How about the UMass administration? If they set a goal of upgrading conferences and Bamford has not achieved that, why would they allow him to stay? My guess is they deserve a slice of the blame pie.

Bamford has done a pretty good job of being AD. He got us our only Div 1 Men's national championship in hockey (sorry 1AA football 1998).

[LS71]

I posted this in the Football Forum as well. This column was in today’s Springfield paper:

https://triblive.com/sports/tim-benz-li ... meltdowns/

[UMass'96]

Bamford has been in Amherst for nine years. Its his department, they are not in a conference after nine years. this is 100 percent on him.

How about the UMass administration? If they set a goal of upgrading conferences and Bamford has not achieved that, why would they allow him to stay? My guess is they deserve a slice of the blame pie.

Bamford has done a pretty good job of being AD. He got us our only Div 1 Men's national championship in hockey (sorry 1AA football 1998).

He also got us bowl tie-ins... I would say that he has done an overall commendable job. He receives alot of the blame here on this board but I'm not sure that anyone could have done a better job overall. It's always easy to sit on the outside and cast stones.

Actually, considering the political environment in Massachusetts, lack of general public support, and for all of the reasons that people say is difficult reasons to recruit players to UMass, I'm not sure that anyone could have done a better job.

[Quann]

Here's my dream football conference:

UMass
BC
UConn
Syracuse
Temple
Penn State
Pitt
West Virginia
Rutgers
Maybes: Maryland, Buffalo

A true northeast football conference.

[minutefanjsf]

Here's my dream football conference:

UMass
BC
UConn
Syracuse
Temple
Penn State
Pitt
West Virginia
Rutgers
Maybes: Maryland, Buffalo

A true northeast football conference.

Army?